Box Score

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Blue Ridge TV-13 Broadcast (ESU Warriors All Access)

EAST STROUDSBURG – Redshirt junior quarterback Nate Daniels threw for 355 yards, redshirt senior wide receiver Jordan Hallman caught seven passes for 179 yards and three touchdowns and East Stroudsburg University posted its sixth shutout in 39 season openers under head coach Denny Douds with a 31-0 victory over Lock Haven on Saturday night at Eiler-Martin Stadium.

Daniels was 17-for-26 with four touchdown passes in his second career start, connecting with six different receivers and helping Hallman record his fifth career 100-yard receiving game. The only receiver in Division II with back-to-back 200-yard games last year, Hallman went over 1,500 career receiving yards and has 15 TD.

ESU led 24-0 at halftime and scored on its first four possessions. Junior kicker Taylor Groff got the Warriors on the board with a 37-yard field goal and Daniels threw three first-half TD passes - 68 yards to redshirt junior wide receiver Robert Bleiler (three catches, 81 yards) and 10 and 79 yards to Hallman. Daniels was 9-for-13 for 250 yards in the first half.

Daniels' 61-yard TD to Hallman early in the fourth quarter was the only scoring of the second half and put him over the 300-yard mark. His 355 passing yards are fourth-most in a season opener in school history.

Douds, coaching his 398th career game to extend his Division II record that he set last season, moved into a tie for fifth on the DII wins list with 233, matching Arnett Mumford, who coached four schools from 1924-61. Previous shutouts in season openers under Douds came in 1975 (7-0 at Slippery Rock), 1976 (14-0 at Montclair), 1989 (24-0 at Southern Connecticut), 2003 (58-0 vs. Lenoir-Rhyne) and 2010 (57-0 at Pace).

The Warriors' defense held Lock Haven to 235 yards on 67 plays, 151 passing and 84 rushing. Lock Haven's deepest penetration was the ESU 25-yard line.

Freshman outside linebacker Mike Kinney, one of three true freshmen starting the season opener, led the Warriors with 12 tackles. Sophomore linebacker Don Kinney, Jr. had eight tackles, including 3.0 for a loss of yardage. Junior outside linebacker Darius Jackson, who moved over from fullback in the spring, had eight tackles in his first career defensive start. ESU had six tackles for a loss and two sacks, by senior defensive end Waverly Harris and redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Jon Noble.

Redshirt sophomore free safety Anthony Singlar had his first career interception to end Lock Haven's final drive of the first half. Both teams had one turnover, with ESU losing a fumble on a punt in the second quarter.

Daniels completed his first three passes for 32 yards before the drive stalled and Groff came on to open the scoring with a 37-yard field goal. The junior improved to 18-for-20 inside 40 yards in his career. He missed a 49-yard field goal, just wide to the left, that would have been the second-longest of his career.

The Warriors' defense forced four punts, a turnover on downs and had Singlar's interception on Lock Haven's six first-half possessions. The Bald Eagles gained one first down on their opening drive before punting, and after two carries for seven yards by senior tailback Eric Deery, Daniels connected with Bleiler, who broke a tackle and went 68 yards for the Warriors' first touchdown of the season.

ESU went 73 yards on nine plays on its third possession, capped by the first of Daniels' three TD passes to Hallman on the second play of the second quarter.

Lock Haven drove to the ESU 25-yard line on its next drive, but the Warriors stuffed Lock Haven tailback Brandon Brader (23 carries, 84 yards) on fourth-and-one to turn it back over.

Hallman was in the end zone again three plays later, this time a 79-yard pass from Daniels that made it 24-0. Hallman averaged 24.4 yards on 35 catches last year and had 13 plays of 30 yards or more.

The Bald Eagles punted after a short drive on their next possession, but recovered a fumble on the punt to set up shop at the 25-yard line. Singlar ended the threat on the second snap, picking off LHU quarterback Jarrett Kratzer at the 10-yard line to preserve the first-half shutout.

Neither team scored in the third quarter, with Lock Haven's Noah Heimer missing a 44-yard field goal and Groff missing from 49 yards on the first two drives, both lengthy. Lock Haven chewed up 6:41, going 48 yards on 13 plays, and ESU's drive of 5:30 covered 41 yards on 13 plays.

Daniels and Hallman completed the scoring early in the fourth quarter, scoring on their third offensive play of the period. The 61-yard TD made it 31-0, put Daniels over the 300-yard mark and Hallman over the 150-yard mark on the evening.

Daniels' 355 passing yards in a season opener have only been eclipsed by Damian Poalucci (527 at New Haven, 1996 and 429 vs. American International, 1995) and Ray Wagner, who threw for 375 yards and six touchdowns in the first half of last year's opener vs. Pace. The Warriors have had seven 300-yard passing games in season openers.

Daniels is also the fourth ESU quarterback with three 50+ yard TD passes in a game, joining Ray Wagner (2011 vs. C.W. Post), Jimmy Terwilliger (2005 at C.W. Post) and Damian Poalucci (1996 vs. Southern Connecticut). Daniels and Wagner are the only two to have all three TD passes cover 60+ yards, and Hallman accounted for four of the six TD's in those two games.

Redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Soltes made his debut in the fourth quarter.

Seven Warriors made their first career starts, including three true freshmen – Mike Kinney at outside linebacker, Brandon Pearce at inside linebacker and Cody Laubach at right tackle. Only two true freshmen had started ESU's season opener in the last 10 years.

Other players making their first career starts were redshirt senior defensive tackle Sam Hull, sophomore linebacker James Lancellotti, senior cornerback Brandon Phillips and redshirt sophomore cornerback Andrew Coyle.

A total of 15 of the 43 Warriors who played on Saturday night saw their first career action.

ESU plays the second of three straight home games to open the 2012 season next Saturday, hosting Shippensburg at 6:05 p.m. at Eiler-Martin Stadium. The Red Raiders have opened 2-0, beating No. 19 Shepherd, 38-28 and defending PSAC West champion Slippery Rock, 55-35.


Game Notes
* ESU recognized two members of its football family, Derek Brown and Matt Deery, the brother of Sr. TB Eric Deery, with a moment of silence before the national anthem.
* Brown died on July 5 from injuries suffered in an automobile accident on June 30. A sophomore linebacker and starter on last year's team, Brown was the second member of his family to play at ESU. Matt Brown was a four-year letterwinner at tight end and graduated in 2011.
* Matt Deery, who had completed his freshman year at Lipscomb (Tenn.), died in an automobile accident on August 1. Eric Deery had six carries for 33 yards, averaging 5.5 yards per carry, against Lock Haven. He finished the 2011 season with his third career 100-yard game, 106 yards on 11 carries, in a 27-26 win over Edinboro.

* The Warriors improved to 28-11 in their 39 season openers under Denny Douds. ESU is 53-31-1 all-time in its 85 season openers.
* ESU has won 12 of its last 14 season openers.
* ESU is 3-0 in season-opening night games at Eiler-Martin Stadium, beating Pace 56-14 last year and Virginia Union 14-11 in 2008. The Warriors are 6-3 overall in home night games since 2008.

* Douds set the Division II record for most games coached last year and extended it to 398 games on Saturday. Douds is slated to become the 15th coach in college football history to coach 400 games, and will be the fifth to coach every game at one institution
* Douds entered the season ranked second among active Division II coaches and seventh among all active college football coaches with 232 career wins, the PSAC record.
* Douds is in his 50th year of coaching, and 47th at ESU. He began his career in 1966 as an assistant coach under Charlie Reese, and became head coach in 1974.

* ESU can become the fourth PSAC school with 450 wins next week against Shippensburg. Douds has coached in 278 of the 449 wins in program history, 233 as head coach and 45 as an assistant coach.
* ESU had its 28th shutout under Coach Douds.

* ESU improves to 8-6 in the all-time series with Lock Haven and won its fourth straight game in the series.
* Lock Haven's 44-game losing streak, since the final game of the 2007 season, is two away from the longest in Division II history. The Bald Eagles dropped their opener at Division I FCS Fordham, 55-0, on August 30.
* LHU 2nd-year head coach John Allen was the 99th head coach to face Douds on the opposing sideline. Mercyhurst's Marty Schaetzle will be the 100th on November 10.

* Daniels is the 12th quarterback with a 300-yard game for the Warriors under Douds. ESU quarterbacks have combined for 77 300-yard games overall since 1974.
* Daniels is the 18th quarterback to start a season opener under Douds. Last year at Shippensburg, Daniels was the 30th quarterback to start under Douds' leadership.
* Daniels surpassed his 2011 (and career) passing yardage. He was 17-for-36 for 329 yards, 2 TD and 2 interceptions while throwing passes in four games last year.

* Jr. WR Dusty Reed, R-Sr. WR Jordan Hallman and R-Jr. WR Robert Bleiler ranked 1-2-3 among returning PSAC wide receivers entering the 2012 season, combining for 130 catches, 2,442 yards and 17 TD last year.
* The trio had 13 catches for 288 yards and 4 TD vs. Lock Haven – Hallman (7-179, 3 TD), Bleiler (3-81, 1 TD) and Reed (3-28). Reed also carried twice for 12 yards.
* Hallman has 1,557 career yards and 15 TD on 81 catches. Last year, he had games of 239 yards vs. C.W. Post and 221 yards vs. Millersville in back-to-back weeks.
* Daniels has thrown three long TD passes to Hallman, including a 72-yarder vs. Millersville last year and 61 and 79-yard TD's vs. Lock Haven. Of Daniels' 684 career passing yards, 212 have come on those three plays.
* Reed has 1,334 yards on 96 catches through the first game of his junior season. He was ESU's most accomplished receiver through his sophomore year and can become the 20th Warrior with 100 career catches.
* Bleiler also scored a long TD in last year's season opener, a 97-yard pass from Ray Wagner that was the second-longest pass play in school history. His TD vs. Lock Haven covered 68 yards.

* The Warriors' offensive line featured three veterans and two newcomers. R-Sr. LT Wrenton Wright II (34), R-Sr. RG Seve Rivers (32) and R-Jr. C Greg Blue (19) have combined for 85 career starts.
* So. LG Pete Wolmart made his 3rd career start after opening at left tackle in two games last year.
* Fr. RT Cody Laubach was just the 2nd true freshman to start the season opener on the offensive line in the last 10 years. The other was Jeff Kocsis in 2004.

* Sr. TB Kendrick Williams (10 carries, 46 yards) and Sr. TB Eric Deery (6 carries, 33 yards) both had strong starts to their final seasons. Williams has 1,691 career yards, 23 from tying Jimmy Terwilliger's 1,714 yards for 10th-most in school history. He moved into 11th on the all-time list, passing Dell Walker (1,685, 1981-83), Orlando Williams (1,680, 1993-96) and Joe Partridge (1,658, 2005-08)

* On defense, six of the Warriors' 11 starters were in the lineup for the first time – along with Jr. OLB Darius Jackson, who had made five career starts at fullback.
* R-Sr. DT Sam Hull, So. LB James Lancellotti, Fr. LB Brandon Pearce, Fr. OLB Mike Kinney, Sr. CB Brandon Phillips and R-So. CB Andrew Coyle all made their first career starts.
* Pearce, Kinney and Phillips all played their first career game. Phillips played his first career game at any level, as he played basketball for one season and did not play football at Pocono Mountain East.

* ESU entered the season with only 30 of its 85 players having seen game action for the Warriors. 28 of those returners got in Saturday's game, while the other 15 saw their first career playing time.

* As mentioned, ESU started three true freshmen in the opener in RT Cody Laubach, OLB Mike Kinney and LB Brandon Pearce. The other two true freshmen starters since 2003 were OL Jeff Kocsis in 2004 and FS Kevin Antol last year.