GAME NOTES (PDF)
THE MATCH-UP: East Stroudsburg University opens the 2007 football season under the lights at California in a Monday night game that is being televised nationally on Fox Sports Net Pittsburgh. The Warriors won last year's meeting 41-34 at Eiler-Martin Stadium as ESU overcame a 31-21 halftime deficit. Cal is ranked No. 21 in the initial AFCA Coaches Poll and was ranked No. 25 entering last year's game. This will be just the fifth meeting in series history, the fewest number of games ESU has played against a fellow PSAC opponent. The Warriors are 3-0-1 all-time against the Vulcans, with the tie coming in the first meeting in the 1968 State Game.
LETS GET IT STARTED: ESU is 23-10 in its previous 33 season openers under veteran head coach Denny Douds. The Warriors had won seven straight season openers dating to 1999 before falling 9-7 to Bentley in the opener last year. ESU is 48-30-1 all-time in its first game of the season entering the 80th season of varsity football.
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 2007 with a career record of 206-134-3. 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 Luckhardt (Purdue '70) is in his sixth season at Cal after leading the Vulcans to back-to-back PSAC West titles in 2005 and 2006. He has a 31-21 record at Cal, and was 137-37-2 in 17 seasons as head coach at Washington & Jefferson, including two appearances in the Division III national championship game.
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: The offensive line figures to be the strength of the ESU offensive unit in 2007, as the Warriors return four starters up front. The group is led by first team All-PSAC LT Mike Habel, who will be joined by seniors Thomas Sugden (LG in 2006) and Michael Parshley (C), along with Morgan Thomas (RT). Michael Glover and Matthew Keller are the top candidates to fill the final starting spot.
Senior FB Joe Kircher and junior WR Doug Ogden are the final two returning starters on offense. Junior Joe Partridge and redshirt freshman Brant Quick are the top two tailbacks and junior Jesse Reider will also see time at FB. Senior LeRyan Dallas, junior Drew Stem and sophomore Sam Shuman lead the rest of the wide receivers.
Douds expects to name the starting quarterback on Wednesday prior to the Cal game. Junior Tim Roken and sophomore Tom O'Brien have both spent time with the first team during the preseason.
ON DEFENSE: The linebackers are the unquestioned leaders of the Warriors' defense in 2007, as all four starters return along with an experienced veteran in Fred Rice, who led ESU with 132 tackles as a sophomore in 2005. Senior Jayson Frank (1st team) and junior David Pacchioni (2nd team) were All-PSAC East selections last season. Frank will be joined by senior Dave Lotier at inside linebacker, while junior Steve Van Alstine will play opposite of Pacchioni on the outside. Rice missed the final eight games last season due to injury and will also play inside linebacker for ESU.
Junior DT Miguel Rivera is the lone returning starter on the defensive line. The top two defensive ends on the depth chart are junior Dave Iobst and sophomore Matthew Faas, while junior Jeff Shrive is penciled in at DT.
In the secondary, junior Scott Christy is a returning starter at CB but will be pushed by senior Mike Gowen, sophomore Nicholas Artinger and redshirt freshman Rob Hartenfels. Sophomore Mike Gnall is the starter at safety, a critical spot in the ESU defense as the Warriors play an eight-man front.
THE SPECIALISTS: Two of the three starters return on special teams, with senior Brock Williard entering his fourth year as the long snapper and junior Nick Krut in his second season as the starting punter. Sophomore Greg Knauss is in his first year with the Warriors and is the only kicker on the 2007 roster.
WARRIORS ON TV: Tonight's game will be the first of at least five appearances for ESU on television in 2007. 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. More details on broadcast outlets for those games will be provided as they are made available.
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 is currently going through training camp with the New York Jets.
