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THURSDAY  l  7:05 p.m.  l  Eiler-Martin Stadium

Follow:  redzonemedia.com  l  Live Video  l  Live Stats  l  Twitter

TV: Live on Blue Ridge TV-13 and esuwarriors.com. Play-by-play man Chris Doty, in his 26th season, is joined in the booth by Jim Riley (8th season).

Radio: Live on WVPO (ESPN Poconos) 840 AM for the 53rd season, and redzonemedia.com. Chuck Seese, the 2009 PSAC Heaslip Media Award recipient, is in his 27th season as the voice of the Warriors, with Bob Brittain in his 15th year providing the color commentary. Pre-game begins at 6:30 p.m.

Tickets: Available at Eiler-Martin Stadium 90 minutes before kickoff. $10 General admission, $15 chairback seating, $5 seniors 65 and older and children under 12.

Presented by: Chili's of Bartonsville


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

1 • ESU opens its 42nd season under head coach Denny Douds, who has coached in the most games (429) among active NCAA football coaches and 9th in NCAA history. Douds holds the PSAC record, ranks 3rd in DII history, 20th in NCAA history and 3rd among active NCAA coaches in career wins (250).
1a • Douds enters his 50th year at ESU, including 8 seasons as an assistant coach from 1966-73.

2 • ESU is 30-11 in season openers under Douds, and has won 7 straight (the 2nd-longest active streak in the PSAC) and 14 of 16 since 1999. ESU is 16-5 in home openers under Douds. The Warriors are 55-31-1 all-time in season openers entering their 88th year of varsity football.

3 • ESU is 9-5 all-time against LIU Post and has won the last 2 meetings, 43-35 in last year's season opener and 45-37 in 2012. The Pioneers were a member of the PSAC East from 2008-12 (going 3-2 vs. ESU). Douds is 6-3 in 9 games vs. LIU Post head coach Bryan Collins, who enters his 18th year.

4 • ESU has 4 returning All-PSAC East 2nd team selections in R-Sr. QB Matt Soltes, R-Jr. TB Robert Healy, R-Sr. WR Jon Schnaars and Sr. CB Teron Dobbs. Soltes and Healy were both honored for the 2nd straight year.

5 • Soltes is a 2-time Harlon Hill candidate, joining 2014 winner Jason Vander Laan (QB, Ferris St) as the only active 2-time candidates. Soltes leads active DII QB's in career total offense/game (342.3 ypg - 4th in DII history) and pass efficiency (163.7).

6 • Healy leads active PSAC players in career yards from scrimmage per game (123.2 ypg) entering his 3rd year at ESU. He was one of 2 DII players with 500+ yards rushing (817) and receiving (561) in 2014 and has 21 career TD in 22 games.

7 • Schnaars (58 rec, 807 yds, 14 TD) has a TD catch in 7 straight games, the longest active streak in DII. He had a TD in 10 of 11 games last year.

8 • Dobbs leads active PSAC players and is t-2nd among active DII players in career interceptions (13). He has made 30 consecutive starts, the most among current PSAC defenders.

9 • Returning starters: ESU returns 14 starters (9 on offense, 5 on defense) ... LIU Post returns 15 starters (8 on offense, 7 on defense).

10 • ESU's first 2 games in 2015 are against defending conference champions. LIU Post won the Northeast-10 title and Slippery Rock won the PSAC title last fall.


For more ... Complete Game Notes (PDF)

THE SERIES: ESU is 9-5 in 14 meetings between the two schools, all under head coach Denny Douds. LIU Post's Bryan Collins, entering his 18th year, has been present for the 9 meetings since 2004. Douds is 6-3 against Collins, including two wins in 2005 - 66-49 at LIU Post in the regular season, and 55-28 at Eiler-Martin Stadium in the NCAA DII Northeast Region championship game.

BIG #'s: ESU quarterbacks have thrown for 500+ yards 7 times in school history - including 3 times against LIU Post.  Jimmy Terwilliger was 20-for-32 for 546 yards and 9 TD in ESU's 66-49 win in 2005 ... Ray Wagner was 24-for-40 for 503 yards and 3 TD in a 34-30 home loss in 2011 ... and Matt Soltes was 26-for-42 for 535 yards and 5 TD in ESU's 45-37 road win in 2012 ... 2 of ESU's top 10 team total offense performances have also come against LIU Post - 828 yards (PSAC record) in 2012, and 672 yards in the 2005 regular season.

WHAT TO LOOK FOR vs. LIU POST
1. ESU is averaging 647.0 ypg (479.7 passing) in its last 3 games vs. LIU Post (PSAC record 828 total yards in 2012).
2. LIU Post is averaging 514.0 ypg (327.0 passing) in its last 3 games vs. ESU.
3. R-Sr. QB Matt Soltes (8,644 career pass yds) is 10 yards from passing Damian Poalucci (8,654) for 2nd-most at ESU. Jimmy Terwilliger holds the school record (14,350). Soltes already ranks 2nd in total offense and pass TD.
4. Soltes (9,928 career yds total offense) is 72 yards from becoming the 8th PSAC QB with 10,000 career yards.
5. R-Jr. TB Robert Healy (1,946 career rush yds) is 54 yards from becoming the 8th ESU player with 2,000 career yards.
6. ESU is 9-5 in night games at Eiler-Martin since lights were installed in 2007, and 4-0 at home under the lights in season openers: 2008 (14-11 vs Virginia Union), 2011 (56-14 vs Pace), 2012 (31-0 vs Lock Haven), 2013 (21-14 vs AIC).

DOUDS' MILESTONES: Douds is one of 13 men 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) on that list.

Entering this week: has coached more games (429) than any active coach in NCAA football ... ranks 1st in DII history in games coached (set in 2011), and 9th in NCAA history ... 3rd in career wins (250) among active NCAA coaches ... 1st in the PSAC in career wins (set in 2008), 3rd in DII history and 20th in NCAA history ... 51 career wins since turning 65 - more than 10 of the other 15 PSAC coaches have in their careers.

DOUDS DWARFS PSAC EAST: Douds has 250 career wins entering 2015 ... the other 7 coaches in the PSAC East have combined for 164 wins while coaching in the PSAC - WCU's Bill Zwaan (101), Ship's Mark Maciejewski (31), Bloom's Paul Darragh (21), KU's Jim Clements (6), Cheyney's Chris Roulhac (3), Mill's Greg Breitbach (2) and LHU's Dave Taynor (0) ... Douds has coached 41 seasons in the PSAC entering 2015 (other 7 - combined for 24).

THE HEAD COACHES: Denny Douds (Slippery Rock '63) has a career record of 250-176-3 (.586) in his 42nd season. He is in his 50th 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.

Bryan Collins (St. John's '87) has a career record of 123-64 (.656) in his 18th season at LIU Post and is also the school's Athletic Director. His teams were 26-28 (20-15 PSAC East) in 5 seasons in the PSAC from 2008-12. The Pioneers were 6-5 (5-2) in 2009, 7-4 (5-2) in 2010 and 7-4 (6-1) in 2011 in a strong 3-year run. He has taken LIU Post to the NCAA Playoffs four times - 2002, 2004, 2005 and 2014.

TRENDING UP: ESU has notched 2 straight winning seasons (6-5 in 2014, 7-4 in 2013), building on a 5-5 campaign in 2012 after consecutive 3-8 seasons in 2010 and 2011. Since 2000, the Warriors are 101-64 (.612) with a .500+ record in 12 of 15 seasons.

DOUDS' FOES: Douds has faced 107 head coaches in his career at ESU ... He will face one new head coach this season in Dave Taynor (Lock Haven) on Sept. 26 ... Douds is 70-37 against first-time foes ... Douds faced Millersville's Gene Carpenter 27 times, and faced Danny Hale 26 times between his career at WCU and Bloom ... Among active coaches, his most frequent opponents are West Chester's Bill Zwaan (13), SRU's George Mihalik (10) and LIU Post's Bryan Collins (9) ... Douds has a 6-3 record vs. Collins entering this week.

PROGRAM WINS: ESU has a 466-312-19 (.597) record in its 88th year of varsity football. West Chester (572), IUP (528) and Slippery Rock (474) are the only other PSAC programs with at least 450 wins (Bloomsburg has 442) ... As head coach, Douds is responsible for 53.8 percent of the program's games (429 of 797), and 53.6 percent of its wins (250 of 466) ... Including 68 games and 45 wins as an assistant coach under Charlie Reese from 1966-73, he has coached in 497 of the 797 games (62.4 percent) and 295 of the 466 wins (63.3 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 4 players who have earned All-PSAC East status in their careers:
QB - R-Sr. Matt Soltes (2013 and 2014 2nd team, 2012 Freshman of the Year)
TB - R-Jr. Robert Healy (2013 and 2014 2nd team, 2013 Freshman of the Year)
WR - R-Sr. Jon Schnaars (2014 2nd team)
CB - Sr. Teron Dobbs (2014 2nd team)

ESU AT SLIPPERY ROCK (Sept. 12, 7 p.m.) NCAA DII SHOWCASE GAME OF THE WEEK
ESU's game at Slippery Rock next Saturday has been selected as the NCAA DII Showcase Game of the Week.
• ESU broadcast area: WQMY (Wilkes-Barre) - channel 16 on Blue Ridge standard and digital cable
• produced by American Sports Network and offered to all networks owned by Sinclair Broadcasting
• will also be streamed nationwide on ncaa.com
• will highlight two of DII's top coaches in ESU's Denny Douds (250 wins) and SRU's George Mihalik (185)
• Douds ('63) and Mihalik ('74) are both SRU graduates
• 1st meeting in 2015 of 2014 Harlon Hill candidates - ESU R-Sr. QB Matt Soltes, SRU Jr. TB Shamar Greene

TWO TERWILLIGERS: Jimmy Terwilliger, the 2005 Harlon Hill Trophy winner as a junior at ESU, joins the Warriors' coaching staff as defensive backs coach ... He joins his father, Mike Terwilliger, ESU's offensive coordinator, on Denny Douds' staff ... Mike Terwilliger enters his 38th year as assistant coach after 4 years as ESU's starting QB from 1974-77 - Douds' first 4 years as head coach ... Mike was a 2-time 1st team All-PSAC East selection, leading ESU to a 30-4-1 record, the 1975 PSAC championship (10-0) and a tie in the 1976 State Game (9-0-1) ... Jimmy was 36-12 in 4 years as ESU's starting QB from 2003-06 and is the only 4-time 1st team All-PSAC East QB in conference history ... he set 18 DII and 2 NCAA all-division records, tying the all-time mark with 148 career TD passes and setting DII records for passing yards (14,350) and total offense (16,064), among other standards.

THE OFFENSE

ESU has routinely fielded one of the top offenses in DII, both in passing offense and total offense. The Warriors are one of 2 teams in DII (along with Colorado Mines) to average 300+ yards passing per game in each of the last 4 years:
2011 - 323.2 ypg ... 2012 - 327.6 ypg ... 2013 - 318.6 ypg ... 2014 - 329.1 ypg

R-Sr. QB Matt Soltes has started 26 of ESU's 32 games since the start of the 2012 season. In that span, ESU ranks:
• 2nd in DII in yards per play (6.9) of 167 teams in the division
• 6th in DII in total offense per game (485.0 ypg)
• 7th in DII in passing yards per game (325.0 ypg)

ESU's offensive returners include the top 2 rushers (Healy 817 yards, Soltes 276 yards) and 4 of the top 6 receivers in 2014:
R-Sr. WR Jon Schnaars - 58 rec, 807 yds, 14 TD
R-Jr. TB Robert Healy - 46 rec, 561 yds, 6 TD
Sr. WR Joe Welk - 20 rec, 423 yds, 1 TD
Sr. WR Gerard Wendowski - 14 rec, 182 yds

2014 PSAC RANKINGS (starting QB Matt Soltes missed final 3.5 games due to injury):
Scoring - 34.3 ppg (6th in PSAC, t-47th in DII)
Total Off - 450.2 ypg (5th in PSAC, 36th in DII)
Passing - 329.1 ypg (2nd in PSAC, 11th in DII)
Rushing - 121.1 ypg (10th in PSAC, 126th in DII)

3,000 - 1,000: R-Sr. QB Matt Soltes and R-Jr. TB Robert Healy are the only active teammates in DII to account for 3,000+ yards total offense (Soltes) and 1,000+ yards from scrimmage (Healy) in each of the last 2 years:
2014 - Soltes (3,054 total yards), Healy (1,378 yards from scrimmage)
2013 - Soltes (3,716 total yards), Healy (1,333 yards from scrimmage)

RECORD-SETTING: Soltes holds 5 ESU records and 4 PSAC records:
• ESU/PSAC - 666 yards of total offense, 2012 at LIU Post
• ESU/PSAC - 211 consecutive passes without an interception, 2013
• ESU/PSAC - 5 career games with 500+ yards total offense
• ESU/PSAC - 2 career games with 500+ yards passing (t-1st)
• ESU - top 2 marks in single-game completion % (record 85.3 vs. Clarion)

Complete Game Notes (PDF)