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Highlights: Mercer 94 yd KR  l  Jackson 54 int return  l  Jackson defensive 2-pt return
Hallman 63 pass from Daniels  l  Tippett 49 pass from Soltes  l  Williams 3 run

Douds talks about coaching 400 games at ESU

EAST STROUDSBURG – Senior tailbacks Eric Deery (167 yards) and Kendrick Williams (151 yards) were the first teammates to rush for 150 yards in the same game in East Stroudsburg University history, and head coach Denny Douds became the 15th college football coach and first at the Division II level to coach 400 career games in the Warriors' 59-27 win over Cheyney on Saturday afternoon at Eiler-Martin Stadium.

Douds moved into sole possession of fifth on the Division II wins list with 234 and ESU became the fourth football program in the PSAC to record 450 wins. Douds joins Eddie Robinson (Grambling), Joe Paterno (Penn State), Roy Kidd (Eastern Kentucky) and Tubby Raymond (Delaware) as the only coaches with 400+ games to spend their entire career at one school.

The Warriors rolled up 582 yards on 54 plays and scored on a 94-yard kick return (R-Fr. WR Brandon Mercer), a 54-yard interception return (Jr. OLB Darius Jackson), a defensive two-point conversion (Jackson) and a safety. ESU scored defensive and special teams touchdowns in the same game for the first time since a 28-0 win over Cheyney in 1991.

ESU ran for 334 yards on 36 carries, its highest total since gaining 337 yards at Cheyney in 2007, and Deery and Williams both had career-highs. Deery had 19 carries for 167 yards and a touchdown for his fourth career 100-yard game and went over the 1,000-yard mark for his career. Williams had 11 carries for 151 yards and two TD's, recorded his fifth 100-yard game and moved into eighth in school history in career rushing yards (1,849). His 13.7 yards per carry are second-best in school history.

Deery and Williams combined for the third-most rushing yards by two teammates in school history with 318. The Warriors had two 100-yard rushers for the sixth time under Douds and first time since Derek Lucas (218) and Jimmy Terwilliger (115) against Southern Connecticut in the 2005 NCAA Playoffs.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Soltes entered in the second quarter and went 7-for-10 for 171 yards and a touchdown, a 49-yarder to redshirt junior fullback Thomas Tippett. Soltes and his father, Andy, join Mike and Jimmy Terwilliger and Brian and Matt Marshall as father-son duos to throw TD passes for the Warriors in Douds' 39 years as head coach.

Of the game's 11 touchdowns, nine covered 20 or more yards – including six of more than 40 yards. There were five TD passes, three runs, a kick return, blocked punt return, interception return, safety, defensive two-point conversion and two field goals among the 15 combined scoring plays.

Cheyney (1-3, 0-2 PSAC East) led 13-12 after the first snap of the second quarter, but ESU (2-1, 1-1) put up a 28-point quarter to seize control.

The Wolves struck first on a 38-yard blocked punt return by Thomas Stewart, but Mercer got it right back on the ensuing kickoff. ESU's freshman record holder in the 60m and 100m dashes found a seam and went 94 yards for the Warriors' first kick return touchdown since 2002, and finished with 163 all-purpose yards on the afternoon.

A 41-yard field goal by junior Taylor Groff gave ESU a 10-7 lead late in the first quarter, but Cheyney got a 21-yard TD pass from Blaze Wasserleben to Khalif Dandy on the first play of the second quarter after an ESU turnover. The score gave Cheyney a 13-10 lead, but the Warriors' redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Bryan Thomson blocked the extra point and Jackson returned it the length of the field for ESU's second defensive two-point play vs. Cheyney in as many seasons.

Soltes put ESU in front with his 49-yard TD pass to Tippett after completing his first pass of the day for 23 yards to junior wide receiver Dusty Reed.

Jackson picked off Wasserleben and took it 54 yards for the score on Cheyney's next offensive series, and after the Warriors got the ball back on an interception by freshman cornerback Teron Dobbs, Williams scored from three yards out to make it 33-13 with 4:10 left in the first half.

The Warriors' defense scored again just over a minute later. A false start and sack by redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Josh Przywara backed Cheyney up to its 13-yard line, and the next snap went over the head of Cheyney backup QB Leroy Stanford for a safety.

Cheyney made it 35-20 on a 23-yard TD pass from Wasserleben to Nahum Purdie with 39 seconds left in the first half. The Warriors were on the move when a 25-yard pass from Soltes to redshirt senior wide receiver Jordan Hallman ended with Cheyney's Shannon Burch returning a fumble 63 yards deep into ESU territory.

Groff nailed a 39-yard field goal to close the first half after Soltes hit a 22-yard pass to redshirt junior wide receiver Robert Bleiler and scrambled for a 26-yard gain to move the Warriors into field goal range.

After a 38-20 opening half, the second 30 minutes were relatively calm – but still featured three scoring plays of more than 50 yards.

Williams ripped off a 56-yard touchdown run on ESU's first play of the third quarter, and nearly had another 50-yard TD run two possessions later but was stripped of the ball at the goal line.

A Cheyney fumble and ESU punt resulted in the Wolves pinned at their eight-yard line, but Wasserleben hit a streaking Justin Watkins for a 92-yard touchdown to make the score 45-27 with just under four minutes left in the third quarter.

The Warriors drove 66 yards on nine plays – their longest sustained drive of the game – with Deery racking up 62 yards on seven carries, capped by a two-yard TD run on the second play of the fourth quarter.

ESU finished the scoring on a 63-yard pass from redshirt junior quarterback Nate Daniels to Hallman with 11:20 left. Daniels made his fourth career start and was 4-for-8 for 77 yards on the afternoon.

Deery went over the 100-yard mark on ESU's second-to-last possession, ripping off a 48-yard gain on the first snap. He ran for 71 yards on seven carries on the drive, which stalled on downs inside the Cheyney 10-yard line.

The Warriors limited Cheyney to 256 total yards, 190 passing and 66 rushing on 43 attempts. Cheyney fumbled eight times, losing two, and the Warriors had two interceptions. ESU lost three fumbles and neither Daniels or Soltes threw an interception.

ESU extended its NCAA all-division record of consecutive wins in an uninterrupted series to 33, improving to 56-1 all-time against Cheyney.

The Warriors hit the road for the first time this season next weekend, traveling to Clarion for a 6 p.m. kickoff.

Game Notes
* Douds is 234-163-3 in his 39th season at ESU. The PSAC's all-time winningest coach, he has coached in 97 more games than the second-most in conference history. He set the Division II record for most games coached last year (Oct. 22) with his 394th games, and became the first DII coach with 400 games exactly 11 months later.
* Douds has coached in 279 of the 450 wins and 468 of the 768 games in program history, including 45 wins and 68 games as assistant coach under Charlie Reese from 1966-73. He took over as the 8th head coach in program history in 1974.

* ESU joins West Chester (542 wins entering Saturday), IUP (504) and Slippery Rock (452) as PSAC schools to reach 450 wins. Douds is a 1963 graduate of Slippery Rock and was a senior on the Rock's 1962 state championship team that beat ESU.

* ESU's 334 rushing yards are the 7th-most under Douds. This marks the 15th time the Warriors have run for 300 yards under Douds.
* The Warriors have won 30 straight games when running for 200 yards. They are 78-6-2 under Douds when running for 200 yards. Their last loss when running for 200 yards was 2000 vs. Kutztown (L 17-16).

* Deery and Williams combined for 318 rushing yards, 3rd-most in school history. Joe Partridge (284) and Brant Quick (62) combined for 346 in 2007 at Cheyney, and Derek Lucas (218) and Jimmy Terwilliger (115) teamed for 333 vs. Southern Connecticut in the 2005 NCAA Playoffs.

* Deery ran for 163 of his 167 yards in the 2nd half. That total is the 4th-best in a half for an ESU back since 1974 (Douds' first season) -- Joe Partridge (212, 1st half, 2007 at Cheyney), Derek Lucas (173, 2nd half, 2003 at Kutztown) and Andre Myers (165, 1st half, 1998 at Cheyney) are the others.

* The offensive line that paved the way for 334 rushing yards has combined for 99 career starts - R-Sr. LT Wrenton Wright II (36), So. LG Pete Wolmart (5), R-Jr. C Greg Blue (21), R-Sr. RG Seve Rivers (34) and Fr. RT Cody Laubach (3).

* ESU had 3 players make their first career starts, all on defense - So. DE Tarik Haddad, Fr. OLB Greg Jones and Fr. DB Teron Dobbs.
* 7 players also saw their first career action, including 4 true freshmen - WR Gerard Wendowski, OL Eric Burleson, DB Pete Wilson and FS Jon Neiman. Redshirt freshmen seeing their first time were OL Raymond Ocasio, Jr. , DL Steven Wright and DE Antoine Ray.
* Of the 53 players who have seen action this year, 24 have seen their first career action, including 13 true freshmen and 7 redshirt freshmen.
* 5 true freshmen have made starts this year, the most for the program since at least 2003. RT Cody Laubach is the only one to start all 3 games.
* 12 Warriors have made their first career starts so far this year.

* Mercer's 94-yard kick return TD was ESU's first since Michael Glover went 93 yards vs. Millersville in 2002.
* The return is the 5th-longest kick return in school history. Matt Kacanda (1998 at Bloomsburg) and Dick Merring (1956 vs. Mansfield) share the record at 98 yards.
* Mercer's kick return average of 48.0 (144 yards on 3 returns) is 3rd-best in school history (min. 125 yards). Dennis Mailhot averaged 70.0 yards on 2 returns vs. West Chester in 1989, which included an 83-yard return.

* Jackson played in 21 games and made 5 starts at fullback in his first two years before moving to OLB this season. He scored 3 offensive TD's, 1 rushing and 2 receiving, and had 13 carries for 60 yards and 11 catches for 89 yards.
* He also had 5 tackles (2.5 TFL) and a forced fumble along with his 54-yard interception return and defensive 2-point return. He is 2nd on the team with 20 tackles and has 3.0 TFL through 3 games.

* ESU has had 5 defensive 2-point conversions under Douds, including the last two years. Taylor Cave returned a blocked PAT (also by Thomson) in a 10-6 win at Cheyney in 2011. Other defensive 2-point plays came from Michael Glover at Cheyney in 2000, Rob Flores vs. West Chester in 1998 and Mike Rhine vs. IUP in 1996 (lateral from Ian Geffers).

* In the 28-0 win at Cheyney in 1991, Derrick Deburow returned a block punt 9 yards for a TD and Bobby Swift fell on a fumble in the end zone to account for ESU's special teams and defensive TD's.

* Groff's 41-yard field goal in the 1st quarter was his 11th career kick from 40+ yards. He is one away from tying the school record of 12 set by Ed Detwiler from 1989-92.
* Groff's 39-yard field goal at the end of the 1st half makes him 7-for-7 in the final minute of the first half in his career.
* He was 2-for-3 for the day, missing from 50 yards in the 3rd quarter. Groff is 30-for-41 in his career, tied with Matt Seagreaves (1994-96) for 3rd in school history. His percentage ranks first.
* Groff moved into ESU's top 10 in career points with 160, surpassing kicker J.D. Stern (156, 1996-99). He ranks 5th in points by a kicker and is 19 away from tying Joey Pingitore (179, 1982-84) for 3rd-most. Mark Brubaker holds the school record for a kicker and ranks 3rd overall with 287 (2002-05).

* Hallman's 63-yard TD from Daniels is the third 60+ yard TD between the two this season. They connected for 79 and 61-yard TDs in the season opener vs. Lock Haven. Hallman also caught a 72-yard TD from Daniels vs. Millersville last year.
* Hallman has 6 career TD's of 50+ yards, joining Mike Mancuso (9), Tim Strenfel (8), Evan Prall (7) and Tim Bishop (7) as Warriors with 6 or more.
* Only Mancuso (from Damian Poalucci), Tim Strenfel (from Jimmy Terwilliger) and Evan Prall (from Terwilliger) have had more 60+ yard TD's between a quarterback and receiver. All three listed above had 5 60+ yard TD's.

* Williams had his 2nd career 50+ yard TD run. That is tied for the most in modern-day school history with Derek Lucas, Jason Killian, Rick Sterner and Bob Lester.

* Of ESU's first 3 games, the closes was decided by 31 points (31-0 vs. Lock Haven in the opener). This marks the first time since 1999 that ESU has played 3 straight games decided by 30+ points.  In 1999, the Warriors played 4 straight games with that margin.