Box Score

MILLERSVILLE - Redshirt freshman Matt Soltes gained 382 yards of total offense and accounted for four touchdowns, two passing and two rushing, as East Stroudsburg University rolled up 588 yards in a 62-14 win at Millersville on Saturday at Biemesderfer Stadium.

Soltes and the ESU offense, which both set PSAC records in last week's 45-37 win at LIU Post, followed up with outstanding performance as the Warriors (5-4) secured at least a .500 season going into Saturday's season finale at Mercyhurst.

Soltes, who set a PSAC record and NCAA freshman record with 666 yards at LIU Post, was 18-for-31 for 256 yards and two touchdowns passing and ran for 126 yards on 10 carries, including TD runs of 54 and 41 yards. He threw for 535 yards and ran for 131 last week and is the first ESU quarterback since at least 1970 with consecutive 100-yard rushing games.

Soltes has gained 1,444 yards of total offense in the last three weeks - 396 vs. Kutztown, 666 at LIU Post and 382 at Millersville - the most in school history, surpassing Ray Wagner's 1,437 yards last season. He has gained at least 300 yards in five of his six starts, has gone over 370 yards four times and is averaging 323.8 yards passing and 392.7 yards total offense since his first career start at Clarion on Sept. 29.

The Warriors' offense had a PSAC-record 828 yards last week and produced 307 yards passing and 281 yards rushing at Millersville. Soltes and senior tailbacks Eric Deery (six carries, 71 yards) and Kendrick Williams (13 carries, 59 yards, 2 TD) gave ESU three 50-yard rushers for the second straight week after doing it last week for the first time since 2001.

The ESU defense held Millersville to 313 yards on 81 plays, an average of 3.9 per play. The Warriors led 41-0 at halftime and 55-7 entering the fourth quarter.

Junior kicker Taylor Groff made two field goals, from 44 and 52 yards, and was 8-for-8 on extra points. Groff hit from 52 yards for the third time in his career and from 50+ yards for the fourth time. He moved into second at ESU with 41 career field goals, including a school-record 16 from 40+, and is the only PSAC kicker with more than one 51+ yard field goals with four.

Junior wide receiver Dusty Reed (three catches, 66 yards) became the 10th player in school history with more than 2,000 receiving yards, and was one of 10 players to catch a pass from Soltes and redshirt junior Nate Daniels (4-for-5, 51 yards, TD).

Soltes threw both of his TD passes to redshirt sophomore tight end Steven Jones (4 catches, 61 yards), who had two TD for the second straight week. Redshirt junior wide receiver Robert Bleiler had four catches for 73 yards, including a 28-yard TD from Daniels in the fourth quarter. Redshirt junior fullback Thomas Tippett added three catches for 50 yards as ESU went over 500 yards of total offense for the fourth time in nine games.

ESU scored five touchdowns and two field goals on its first seven possessions, then scored three touchdowns in the second half. The Warriors were 10-for-13 on third downs in the game and had 26 first downs, 13 rushing and 13 passing.

Soltes opened the scoring with a nine-yard TD to Jones, ran for a 54-yard TD, and Williams scored the first of his two TD's on a one-yard run late in the first quarter.

Groff made a 44-yard field goal early in the second, Williams scored on a five-yard run, Tippett plunged in from one-yard out and Groff made from 52 yards with 1:16 left in the second quarter to give ESU a 41-0 halftime lead.

Soltes had a 41-yard TD run early in the second half and tossed a four-yard TD to Jones to finish the third quarter, and Daniels hit Bleiler for a 28-yard TD in the fourth.

Millersville freshman quarterback Connor Casey was 21-for-42 for 218 yards passing and a third-quarter interception by freshman cornerback Teron Dobbs.

Millersville ran for 95 yards on 39 carries, an average of 2.4 yards per attempt, including six sacks of Casey. Ian Sadon ran for 79 yards on nine carries and Myron Myles ran for 61 yards on 18 carries.

The Warriors had 12 tackles for a loss, including 3.0 TFL and 2.0 sacks by redshirt sophomore defensive end Brandon Gattelli. Redshirt sophomore defensive tackle Bryan Thomson had a sack and a fumble recovery and sophomore linebackers James Lancellotti and Don Kinney, Jr. both had sacks. Lancellotti made a team-high 11 tackles, followed by sophomore linebacker Cody Simcox with 10 and freshman outside linebacker Greg Jones with eight.

ESU (5-4) has put together consecutive wins for the first time this season and will look to finish the year with three straight next Saturday at Mercyhurst. The Lakers (8-2), coming off a 40-7 throttling of California which cost the Vulcans a trip to the State Championship game, shared the PSAC West title with IUP. PSAC East champion Shippensburg (10-0) will travel to IUP (9-1) for the State Game next Saturday.


GAME NOTES
* ESU has been .500 or better in 10 of the last 13 seasons (since 2000), including a stretch of 7 straight from 2000-06.
* Head coach Denny Douds improves to 236-166-3 in 406 games as head coach. He holds the PSAC record for career wins and NCAA Division II record for games coached. He ranks 4th in DII history in career wins.
* Douds improves to 18-20-1 against Millersville. ESU has won 10 of the last 12 meetings.

* The Warriors have 300+ yards passing and 250+ yards rushing in consecutive games for the first time in school history - 552 yards passing and 276 rushing at LIU Post, and 307 and 281 at Millersville. In 1994, the Warriors were close - 293 passing and 305 rushing at Springfield, and 362 passing and 315 rushing vs. Southern Connecticut.
* The last time ESU ran for 250+ yards in consecutive games was 2004 - 388 vs. Clarion and 283 at Kutztown.

* Soltes entered the game leading DII freshmen in pass efficiency (159.1), 2nd in total offense (289.1 ypg) and 4th in passing (246.5 ypg). He is now averaging 299.4 yards of total offense and 247.6 passing yards per game.
* Soltes has thrown for 1,154 yards and rushed for 290 in the last 3 weeks for 1,444 yards, the most in a 3-game stretch in school history. He had 396 yards (363 passing, 33 rushing) vs. Kutztown, 666 yards (535 passing, 131 rushing) at LIU Post and 382 yards (256 passing, 126 rushing) at Millersville.
* In 6 career starts, Soltes is averaging 392.7 yards of total offense and 323.8 passing yards per game. He is 132-for-207 for 1,943 yards, 15 TD and 6 Int. for a pass efficiency rating of 160.7, and has run for 413 yards and 2 TD on 74 carries.
* This season (including 3 games as a backup), Soltes is 147-for-239 for 2,228 yards, 16 TD and 6 Int. for a pass efficiency rating of 156.9, and has run for 467 yards and 2 TD on 82 carries. He has 2,695 yards of total offense, 10th-most in school history.

* R-Sr. RG Seve Rivers made his 40th career start, joining R-Sr. RT Wrenton Wright II (42 starts) as members of the 40-start club on the offensive line. ESU has had 7 players (5 offensive linemen) with 40 career starts since 2003.
* ESU's offensive line has combined for 129 career starts from Wright (42), Rivers (40), R-Jr. C Greg Blue (27), So. LG Pete Wolmart (11) and Fr. LT Cody Laubach (9). Laubach can become the first ESU true freshman since 2004 (OL Jeff Kocsis) to start every game of his freshman season.

* Jr. WR Dusty Reed is tied for 9th in school history with 2,043 receiving yards (tied with Sam Shuman, 2006-09) and 7th with 140 receptions after pulling in 3 passes for 66 yards.
* R-Sr. WR Jordan Hallman has 98 career catches, two away from becoming the 21st player in school history with 100 in his career. He ranks 14th with 1,889 receiving yards and 4th with 19.3 yards per catch.
* Reed (47 catches, 737 yards, 5 TD), Hallman (24 catches, 511 yards, 6 TD) and R-Jr. WR Robert Bleiler (31 catches, 471 yards, 3 TD) have combined for 56 percent (102 of 182) of ESU's receptions, and 60 percent (1,719 of 2,859) of its receiving yards this season.
* R-Jr. FB Thomas Tippett (260 yards, TD) and R-So. TE Steven Jones (244 yards, 4 TD) both have 17 catches this season.
* R-Fr. WR Jon Schnaars has 16 catches for 312 yards and a TD, including 10 for 227 in the last 3 weeks.

* Sr. TB Kendrick Williams (105 carries, 510 yards, 7 TD) and Sr. TB Eric Deery (73 carries, 489 yards, 4 TD) both enter their final career game with more than 1,300 career rushing yards.
* Williams ranks 5th with 2,155 career rushing yards, 3rd with 467 carries and 3rd with 23 rushing TD. He is tied for 7th with 26 total TD and also ranks 5th with 3,500 career all-purpose yards.
* Deery has run for 1,359 yards on 255 carries (5.3 ypg) and 9 TD.

* The Warriors have 16 sacks in the last 3 games after recording 6 in the first 6 games of the season.
* R-So. DL Bryan Thomson had his 5th blocked kick of the season (3 FG, 2 PAT) and 7th of his career, blocking a 32-yard FG in the 3rd quarter. Thomson is one away from the single-season record of 6 blocks by Joe Menton (1995), and one from the career record of 8 blocks by Matt Delancey (1993-96).
* Thomson has 41 tackles, 7.0 TFL, 4.0 sacks and a fumble recovery along with his 5 blocked kicks this year. He leads the defensive line in tackles, leads the team in sacks and is 3rd in TFL behind Sr. DE Waverly Harris (8.0) and R-So. DE Brandon Gattelli (7.5).
* Dobbs, a wide receiver during preseason camp, has 3 of ESU's 7 interceptions this season. He has started the last 7 games at cornerback.

* Groff moved into 2nd at ESU with 41 career field goals, breaking a tie with Mark Brubaker (39, 2002-05). He is 9 away from the school record of 50 held by Ed Detwiler (1989-92).
* He extended his ESU record of 40+ yard FG to 16 and made two from 40+ for the 2nd time in his career.
* He has hit from 52 yards three times in his career - 2011 at Kutztown, 2012 at Bloomsburg and 2012 at Millersville. He also made from 51 this year at Clarion.
* Groff has made 4 of the 6 field goals of 50+ yards in school history.
* He ranks 3rd in career points by a kicker (221) and 6th in total points.
* He is 25-for-30 from under 40 yards and 16-for-26 from 40+ yards in his career.
* His 6 FG of 40+ yards this year tie his own school record.
* Groff is 14-for-21 this season. He set the school record with 16 (on 21 attempts) as a freshman in 2010.