GAME NOTES (PDF)
THE MATCH-UP: East Stroudsburg University travels to Lock Haven for a 9 p.m. game on Saturday night. Both schools are looking for their first wins of the season following season-opening losses. The Warriors fell 26-3 in their opener on Monday, Aug. 27 at California (Pa.), while Lock Haven lost 20-0 at NCAA Division I Football Championship Subdivision (FCS, formerly I-AA) member VMI on Saturday. ESU won last year's meeting 45-14 on the second weekend of the season.
LAST TIME OUT: No. 21-ranked California (Pa.) held ESU to 53 yards of total offense and -38 yards rushing in a 26-3 win to open the season on Monday, Aug. 27. The Warriors trailed just 6-3 at halftime after a 24-yard field goal by Greg Knauss on the final play of the half, but the Vulcans scored three second-half touchdowns, including a 20-yard interception return, to seal the victory. Redshirt sophomore quarterback Tom O'Brien, making his first career start, was sacked nine times by the PSAC's top defense but managed to complete 16-of-28 passes in the game. The Warriors defense yielded just 244 yards of offense to a unit that returned All-PSAC West QB Joe Rueggiero and TB Brandon Lombardy.
THE HEAD COACHES: Denny Douds (Slippery Rock '63) is in his 34th season as head football coach at ESU, and his 42nd season at ESU overall. Last season, Douds became just the 10th active college football coach to pass the 200-win plateau and enters today's game with a career record of 206-135-3. Douds has led the Warriors to nine PSAC titles and three NCAA Playoff appearances, including the Northeast Region championship in 2005 when ESU advanced to the national semifinals.
John Klacik (Lock Haven '88) is in his third season at his alma mater after spending all but one year of his collegiate coaching career at NCAA Division I-AA power Youngstown State. Klacik was a member of the coaching staff for all four of the Penguins' I-AA national championships working for current Ohio State head coach Jim Tressel. He has a 4-18 record at Lock Haven following a pair of 2-9 seasons in his first two years.
PSAC PRESEASON POLL: ESU was picked to repeat last year's third-place finish in the PSAC East in the 2007 PSAC Coaches Poll, which was released earlier this month. The Warriors went 4-2 in the East last season. West Chester was the top choice, followed by 2006 champ Bloomsburg, with Millersville (4th), Kutztown (5th) and Cheyney (6th) rounding out the list.
In the West, Cal was picked first with IUP and Slippery Rock tied for second. Cal and IUP shared the PSAC West title in 2006, and ESU will play all three teams this season. Edinboro was fourth, followed by Shippensburg, Lock Haven and Clarion.
THE 2007 SCHEDULE: ESU is slated to play nine games in 2007, with five on the road and four at home. The Warriors lost their 10th game when Mansfield discontinued its football program following the 2006 season, and were unable to fill the vacant spot despite their best efforts. While the NCAA requires that schools play 10 games to maintain postseason eligibility, ESU has petitioned the NCAA for a waiver should its record and strength of schedule merit playoff consideration.
PSAC CHAMPIONSHIPS: ESU has won a share of nine PSAC titles under head coach
Denny Douds, and 15 in school history. The most recent championships came in 2002 and 2003, when the Warriors tied for the PSAC East championship. Outright PSAC titles came in 1964, 1965, 1975, 1978 and 1982. ESU has a 197-92-1 (.681) record in PSAC games for the third-best winning percentage since the first on-the-field championship was awarded in 1960.
ESU IN THE DIVISION II PLAYOFFS: ESU has made three appearances in the Division II Playoffs, with the first coming in 1991, followed by back-to-back trips in 2004 and 2005. The Warriors are 4-3 all-time in playoff games. Their first Division II Playoff victory was a 36-32 win over Edinboro in 2004, while the 2005 playoff run included wins over Southern Connecticut State (55-33), Bloomsburg (52-39) and C.W. Post (55-28) to earn the Northeast Region championship. The run finally ended with a 55-20 loss to eventual national champion Grand Valley State.
RETURNING ALL-PSAC PLAYERS: The Warriors return three players who earned All-PSAC East honors in 2006, including one first-teamer on both sides of the ball. On offense, senior LT Mike Habel has started 34 games on the offensive line in his career at ESU. Senior LB Jayson Frank (1st team) and junior OLB David Pacchioni (2nd team) lead a group of five experienced linebackers. Frank had a team-leading 86 tackles last season, and Pacchioni made 47 tackles with four sacks.
WHO'S GONE: Five ESU seniors were named All-PSAC East last season. QB Jimmy Terwilliger, WR Evan Prall and DE Greg Thoman were on the first team, and TB Matt Brunetti and DT Andrew Marsteller were on the second team.
ESU lost 10 starters in all off last year's team. WR Wes Lindsay and RG David Biever were also starters on offense, while DE John Vetter, CB Mike Macksoud and S Michael Wiggins were members of the defense. K Eric Petters is also no longer on the team.
ON OFFENSE: Redshirt freshman TB Brant Quick started in his first career game at Cal and ran for 54 yards on 21 carries. Junior TB Joe Partridge, who had 424 all-purpose yards (259 rushing, 165 receiving) and four TDs as the backup in 2006, missed the game due to injury but is expected to return for duty this week.
Redshirt sophomore QB Tom O'Brien made his first career start and was 16-of-28 for 91 yards with two interceptions. Sophomore WR Sam Shuman was the top target with four catches for 38 yards, while sophomore TE Matt Brown started and caught the first three passes of his career for 23 yards.
The Warriors offensive line, which returned four starters off last year's team, was expected to be the strength of the offense but surrendered nine sacks against the Vulcans. Sr. LT Mike Habel is a four-year starter, Sr. RG Thomas Sugden is in his third year a starter, and Sr. C Mike Parshley and So. RT Morgan Thomas were in the lineup a year ago. Jr. LG Anthony Glover made his third career start at Cal.
ON DEFENSE: ESU gave up just 244 yards of total offense against Cal and harassed Harlon Hill candidate QB Joe Ruggiero all night, sacking him four times and intercepting two passes. Ruggiero threw just five interceptions and was sacked only five times in 2006. The Warriors also limited first team All-PSAC West TB Brandon Lombardy to 95 yards rushing.
The Warriors four starting linebackers accounted for 30 tackles, five TFL and three sacks. Steve Van Alstine led ESU with nine tackles, senior inside linebackers Jayson Frank and
Dave Lotier both had eight tackles and a sack, and David Pacchioni made five tackles (2.5 TFL) and had a sack. Fred Rice, who had 132 tackles as a sophomore in 2005, made four tackles in limited action against the Vulcans.
The defensive line also played well, where defensive ends Dave Iobst (6 tackles) and Matthew Faas (four tackles, sack) both made their first career starts. Junior DT Miguel Rivera is the only returning starter on the line, and junior Jeff Shrive had four tackles in the second start of his career.
In the secondary, sophomore FS Mike Gnall and senior CB Mike Gowen both had interceptions, and sophomore CB Nicholas Artinger also started for the Warriors.
SPECIAL TEAMS: The special teams were a bright spot for ESU at Cal, as the Warriors yielded just 16 punt return yards on 10 punts to first team All-PSAC West return specialist Jermaine Moye and blocked two extra points. Freshman DB David Castillo had the first block to keep the score at 6-0 in the first quarter, and junior LB Fred Rice blocked the PAT following the Vulcans final touchdown.
Junior P Nick Krut averaged 38.2 yards on 10 punts, including one that was partially blocked but crossed the line of scrimmage. Even with that punt, Krut had a 36.7 net punting average and put three inside the 20-yard line. ESU was third in Division II in net punting (36.0) in 2006.
Senior LB Brock Williard is in his fourth year as the long snapper and sophomore Greg Knauss is in his first year with the Warriors and is the only kicker on the 2007 roster. Knauss made a 24-yard field goal on the final play of the first half and was short on a 52-yarder in the fourth quarter.
WARRIORS ON TV: All four of the Warriors' home games will be broadcast on Blue Ridge TV 13, the 17th season that Blue Ridge will broadcast ESU football. Chris Doty handles play-by-play and Blue Ridge Sports Director Bob Capasso is the color commentator. Additionally, the Oct. 27 match-up with Bloomsburg is the PSAC Game of the Week on PA SPORTSfever TV, which will be broadcasting a PSAC game across the state each week during the 2007 season. The broadcast outlets in the Poconos are WQMY-53 (channel 16 on Blue Ridge Cable) and WSWB-38 (channel 11 on Blue Ridge).
WARRIORS ON RADIO: WVPO 840 AM has broadcast ESU football for 42 years, with Chuck Seese and Bob Brittain forming the broadcast team once again in 2007. WESS 90.3 FM, ESU's campus radio station, will also broadcast selected games.
TERWILLIGER AND PRALL: QB Jimmy Terwilliger, the 2005 Harlon Hill Award recipient as the most outstanding player in Division II, started all 48 games in his career at ESU before graduating last May. Terwilliger left with 15 ESU and 14 NCAA records, including tying the NCAA all-division record with 148 touchdown passes. He also set Division II standards for passing yards (14,350) and total offense (16,064). Terwilliger was a three-time recipient of the PSAC East Offensive Player of the Year (2003, 2004 and 2006), and set PSAC records with 4,571 passing yards, 4,960 yards of total offense and 50 passing touchdowns as ESU won the Northeast Region championship in 2005.
WR Evan Prall set PSAC records with 4,093 receiving yards and 50 touchdowns in his career at ESU from 2003-06. He teamed with Terwilliger for 164 catches, 2,940 yards and 40 touchdowns over his final two seasons and also holds ESU's all-purpose yardage record with 5,682 all-purpose yards when adding in more than 1,000 yards as a kick returner and 500 yards as a punt returner. Prall made it to the final cut with the New York Jets before being released on Saturday.
