Complete Game Notes (PDF)  l  PSAC Week 2 Notes

SATURDAY  l  6:05 p.m.  l  EILER-MARTIN STADIUM

Follow: TV and online (links below)  l  redzonemedia.com  l  Live Stats  l  Twitter

TV: Live on the SPORTSfever TV Network, including ESPN3 and locally on Blue Ridge TV-13. For detailed distribution information, please see the following link. Play-by-play man Chris Doty, in his 25th season, is joined in the booth by Jim Riley (7th season) and STN's Phil Schoener. (STN Distribution for 9-13-14) ... for those who do not have access to ESPN3, the broadcast will also air live on ESU Warriors "All Access".

Radio: Live on WVPO (ESPN Poconos) 840 AM for the 52nd season, and redzonemedia.com. Chuck Seese, the 2009 PSAC Heaslip Media Award recipient, is in his 26th season as the voice of the Warriors, with Bob Brittain in his 14th year providing the color commentary. Pre-game begins at 5:30 p.m.


1st & 10 ...  Complete Game Notes (PDF)

1 • ESU hosts Slippery Rock in its home opener under the lights at Eiler-Martin Stadium. ESU is 29-11 in home openers under head coach Denny Douds, who has coached in the most games (419) among active NCAA football coaches.

2 • Tonight's game, a mandated PSAC crossover game, counts in the PSAC standings for the first time. Previously, only PSAC East or PSAC West games determined the divisional champions.

ESU, picked 2nd in the PSAC East, and SRU (3rd in the West) meet in one of this week's marquee PSAC games. Elsewhere, California (2nd in the West) travels to Bloomsburg (3rd in the East).

3 • Douds (SRU '63) faces his alma mater for the 12th time and the first since 2009. The Rock is 8-3 against Douds (11-3 vs. ESU overall), but the Warriors have won the last two - 54-28 at home in 2009, and 38-21 at the Rock in 2008.

4 • Douds' final collegiate game for the Rock was the 1962 State Game against ESU, won by SRU, 13-6. Douds was a 2-way lineman and an All-PSAC, All-State and NAIA All-America selection.

5 • Douds is 2nd among active DII coaches in wins (245) and SRU's George Mihalik ranks 4th (177). Entering 2014, they had 66 combined years of PSAC experience (Douds 40, Mihalik 26). The other 14 PSAC head coaches had 49 combined years.

6 • Both teams had big comebacks to win their season openers last Saturday. ESU rallied from a 35-23 deficit with 20 unanswered 4th-quarter points in a 43-35 win at LIU Post which included a long lightning delay. That night, Slippery Rock trailed Kutztown, 20-0, early in the 2nd quarter before scoring 37 straight points in a 37-26 win.

7 • ESU R-Jr. QB Matt Soltes, the only returning Harlon Hill candidate in Super Region 1, was the PSAC East Offensive Player of the Week with 467 total yards (384 passing, 83 rushing) and 5 TD (4 pass, 1 rush) at LIU Post - his 5th career honor.

8 • Slippery Rock gained 2 weekly awards in R-So. TB Shamar Greene (195 rushing yards, 2 TD) and Sr. OLB Austin Miele (12 tackles, 2 TFL, 1 Int., 3 PBU).

9 • A trio of ESU defensive players rank among Division II's active career leaders. Jr. CB Teron Dobbs ranks 3rd with 10 career interceptions, and R-Sr. DE Brandon Gattelli and R-Sr. DL Bryan Thomson are t-8th with 16.0 career sacks.

10 • ESU named the playing surface at Eiler-Martin Stadium "Gregory-Douds Field" on Oct. 30, 2010. Tonight, that name is dedicated on the turf. Jack Gregory, the Warriors' head coach from 1959-65, was 49-11-2 in 7 years and won consecutive PSAC titles in 1964 and 1965. Douds has led ESU to 9 overall or PSAC East titles since 1974. Gregory coached against Douds in the 1962 State Game.

For more ... Complete Game Notes (PDF)


THE SERIES: Slippery Rock holds an 11-3 advantage in the all-time series, but ESU's three victories have all been significant. In 1975, ESU won 7-0 at the Rock to open a 10-0, PSAC championship season under 2nd-year head coach Denny Douds ... In 2008, ESU won 38-21 at Slippery Rock to finish a 9-2 season ... In 2009, ESU beat the Rock 54-28 at home to earn its most recent trip to the NCAA Division II Playoffs ... this is the 10th meeting between Douds and SRU's George Mihalik, the only 2 coaches in the PSAC who are also faculty members at their respective schools ... Mihalik holds a 7-2 edge with ESU winning the last 2 games ... Douds' 1st career game was a 47-20 loss vs. SRU in 1974 ... after a 5-5 season, ESU was 19-0-1 in 1975-76.

UNDER THE LIGHTS: ESU is 8-4 in night games at Eiler-Martin Stadium since lights were installed in 2007. The Warriors' home opener will be played under the lights for the 8th straight season, going 5-2 in the first 7 games.

5 TAKEAWAYS FROM 43-35 WIN at LIU POST
1. ESU overcame a 12-point 4th-quarter deficit (35-23), its 3rd-largest 4th-quarter comeback in 419 games, 245 wins and 41 seasons under head coach Denny Douds.
2. ESU waited out a lightning delay of almost 1:30 when the game was halted with 11:27 left in the 4th quarter. After the break, ESU outscored LIU Post 20-0 - scoring on all 3 of its offensive posessions.
3. The defense forced a 3-and-out, got an interception and had a goal-line stand in the final minute after LIU Post had 2nd-and-goal from the 3-yard line.
4. Jr. CB Teron Dobbs had 2 interceptions in a season-opening win for the 2nd straight year. He is the only PSAC player with 2 interceptions on the opening weekend. R-Sr. DE Brandon Gattelli is one of 2 players with 2.0 sacks.
5. R-So. TB Robert Healy, last year's PSAC East Freshman of the Year, caught TD passes of 62 and 28 yards in the 1st half. Healy (4 catches, 103 yards) had his 1st career 100-yard receiving game after posting 5 100-yard rushing games as a redshirt freshman in 2013.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR vs. SLIPPERY ROCK
1. Slippery Rock lost a prolific pass-catch tandem that led SRU to the PSAC West title last fall. QB Nigel Barksdale, a Harlon Hill candidate, had 4,199 yards total offense (4th in PSAC history). WR John Schademan had 77 catches for 1,484 yards and 15 TD.
2. SRU returned its top 2 rushers in R-So. TB Shamar Greene (727 yards, 4 TD), who ran for 195 yards vs. Kutztown to earn PSAC West Offensive Player of the Week, and R-Sr. TB Teddy Blakeman (498 yards, 14 TD).
3. Defensively, SRU lost 5 players who earned 1st team All-PSAC West honors. The only returner is Sr. OLB Austin Miele, who was an All-PSAC West 1st team defensive back before moving to linebacker this fall.
4. R-Jr. RT Cory Tucker, a 1st team All-PSAC West selection as a sophomore, leads the offensive line.
5. SRU was picked 3rd in the PSAC West despite being the defending divisional champion.

DOUDS' MILESTONES: Last year, Douds became the 13th man to reach 40 seasons as head coach in NCAA football history, the 9th to coach 40 years at one school, and the 5th to spend all of his 40+ year career at the same institution. He joins Eddie Robinson (Grambling, 1941-42, 45-97), John E. Dorman (Upper Iowa, 1905-06, 09-42, 45-59), Joe Paterno (Penn State, 1966-2011) and Jim Malosky (Minn.-Duluth, 1958-97).

Entering this week, Douds: has coached more games (419) than any active coach in NCAA football ... ranks 1st in DII history in games coached (set in 2011), and 12th in NCAA history ... ranks 3rd in career wins (245) among active NCAA coaches ... ranks 1st in the PSAC in career wins (set in 2008), 3rd in DII history and t-22nd in NCAA history ... has 46 career wins since turning 65 - more than 10 of the other 15 PSAC coaches have in their careers.

DOUDS DWARFS PSAC EAST: Douds' 244 career wins entering 2014 were almost double the PSAC win total (130) of the other 7 coaches in the PSAC East - WCU's Bill Zwaan (90), Ship's Mark Maciejewski (25), Bloom's Paul Darragh (10), LHU's John Allen (4), Mill's Greg Breitbach (1) and Cheyney's Anthony Johnson and KU's Jim Clements (0) ... Douds coached 40 seasons in the PSAC entering 2014 (other 7 - combined 19).

THE HEAD COACHES: Denny Douds (Slippery Rock '63) has a career record of 245-171-3 (.588) in his 41st season. He is in his 49th season at ESU overall, including 8 years as an assistant coach from 1966-73. He has led the Warriors to 9 PSAC titles and 4 NCAA Playoff appearances since taking over as head coach in 1974. His teams won outright state titles in 1975, 1978 and 1982 before the State Game was discontinued following the 1987 season. His teams have claimed PSAC East divisional titles in 1975, 1976, 1978, 1980, 1982, 1983, 1991, 2002 and 2003. NCAA Playoff appearances have come in 1991, 2004, 2005 - when the Warriors won the Northeast Region title and advanced to the national semifinals - and 2009.

George Mihalik (Slippery Rock '74) has a career record of 177-106-4 (.624) in his 27th season at Slippery Rock. He graduated from the Rock just a few months before Douds, a 1963 SRU grad, coached his first game as ESU's head coach in the fall of 1974. Mihalik has coached Slippery Rock to 6 PSAC West titles (1997-2000, 2011, 2013) and 4 NCAA DII Playoff appearances (1997-99, 2013). He quarterbacked SRU to the 1972 and 1973 PSAC championships and has been a member of the SRU football program for 42 of the last 43 seasons as a player, assistant coach or head coach, taking over in 1988.

PSAC CHANGES: PSAC crossover games vs. Slippery Rock (Sept. 13) and Edinboro (Sept. 20) will count towards the PSAC's divisional standings for the first time in 2014, creating a 9-game PSAC schedule. The final crossover game (Nov. 15 vs. Gannon) will not count. The State Game, in its 7th year after returning in 2008, will be played that weekend.

TRENDING UP: ESU notched a 7-4 record in 2013, building on a 5-5 campaign in 2012 after consecutive 3-8 seasons in 2010 and 2011. Since 2000, the Warriors are 96-59 (.619) with a .500+ record in 11 of 14 seasons.

PRESEASON POLLS: ESU was picked 2nd in the PSAC East preseason poll behind defending regional champion West Chester - the highest the Warriors have been picked since they were the preseason favorite in 2005 ... ESU was 4-3 in the PSAC East in 2012 and 2013, and is seeking its 1st divisional title since 2002 and 2003 ... ESU received votes in the AFCA DII preseason poll - the 5th time in the last 10 years it has been ranked or received votes in the preseason poll.

DOUDS' FOES: Douds has coached against 104 different head coaches in his career at ESU, and will add 3 more in 2014 - Anthony Johnson (Cheyney), Jim Clements (Kutztown) and Brad Rzyczycki (Gannon) ... He is 69-35 against first-time foes ... Douds faced Millersville's Gene Carpenter 27 times, and faced Danny Hale 26 times between his career at West Chester and Bloomsburg ... Among active coaches, his most frequent opponents are WCU's Bill Zwaan (12), SRU's George Mihalik (9) and LIU Post's Bryan Collins (9).

PROGRAM WINS: ESU has a 461-307-19 (.598) record in its 87th year of varsity football. West Chester (561), IUP (523) and Slippery Rock (466) are the only other programs with at least 450 wins.

As head coach, Douds is responsible for 53.2 percent of the program's games (419 of 787), and 53.1 percent of its wins (245 of 461). Including 68 games and 45 wins as an assistant coach under Charlie Reese from 1966-73, he has coached in 487 of the 787 games (61.9 percent) and 290 of the 461 wins (62.9 percent) in program history. There have been at least 4 head coaches at every other PSAC school since Douds was named head coach in 1974.

RETURNING ALL-PSAC EAST: ESU has 7 players who have earned All-PSAC East status in their careers:
QB - R-Jr. Matt Soltes (2013 2nd team, 2012 Freshman of the Year)
TB - R-So. Robert Healy (2013 2nd team, 2013 Freshman of the Year)
WR - Sr. Dusty Reed (2011 and 2012 1st team)
TE - R-Sr. Steven Jones (2013 1st team)
DL - R-Sr. Bryan Thomson (2012 and 2013 1st team, 2012 Defensive Player of the Year)
LB - Sr. Cody Simcox (2013 2nd team)
P - Sr. Jordan Bair (2013 2nd team)