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UPDATED ESU FOOTBALL RECORD BOOK (PDF)

Rebroadcast info:
Sunday, 3 p.m. - Blue Ridge 113 (system-wide)
Wednesday, 9 p.m. - ROOT Sports Pittsburgh (DIRECTV 659, DISH Network 428)
Thursday, 7 p.m. - The Comcast Network

EAST STROUDSBURG – Three Mercyhurst tailbacks combined for 280 rushing yards and three touchdowns, as the Lakers topped East Stroudsburg University, 37-20, to give both schools a final record of 7-4 in the 2013 season finale on Saturday afternoon at Eiler-Martin Stadium.

ESU finishes the season with 7+ wins for the 8th time in the last 12 years (since 2002), posting a record of 82-51 (.617) in that span.

Richie Sanders ran for 121 yards, including a 74-yard TD, on nine carries, Allen Jones II ran for 104 yards and two TD on 14 carries, and Brandon Brown-Dukes added 55 yards on 13 carries for the Lakers.

R-Fr. TB Robert Healy led ESU with 12 carries for 66 yards and had three catches for 36 yards, setting ESU's freshman rushing record (1,129 yards, second-most all-time) and an ESU single-season record for a back with 1,333 yards from scrimmage.

R-Sr. WR Robert Bleiler finished his career with eight catches for 106 yards, his sixth 100-yard game of the season. Bleiler had 71 catches for 1,199 yards and 12 TD this year, and 153 catches for 2,614 yards and 20 TD in his ESU career. His single-season receiving yardage is third all-time behind Evan Prall in 2005 and Tim Strenfel in 2004.

R-So. QB Matt Soltes was 18-for-32 for 221 yards and two interceptions, and ran for 24 yards for 245 yards of total offense.

He went over the 1,000-yard rushing mark for his career and is one of three active NCAA sophomores, along with Texas A&M's Johnny Manziel and Oregon's Marcus Mariota, with 5,000 career passing yards and 1,000 rushing yards.

He ranks 4th on ESU's single-season lists for passing yards (3,244) and total offense (3,716), finishing the year with 34 touchdowns and 5 interceptions. His 3,716 yards of total offense rank 8th in PSAC history.

Soltes was named to the regional list of Harlon Hill candidates on Thursday, the only non-senior in Super Region 1 and the ninth time an ESU quarterback has been on the list in the last 20 years, the most in Division II.

ESU finishes the year third in school history with 40.8 points per game and 508.1 yards per game, averaging 318.6 yards passing and 189.5 rushing, the most since 1994.

Mercyhurst led 20-14 at halftime and held off the Warriors in the fourth quarter.

ESU pulled within 27-20 with 12:02 left in the fourth quarter on the second one-yard TD run of the game by Jr. TB Gerald Van De Cruz. The Warriors forced a Mercyhurst fumble, caused by R-Jr. CB Konrad Mims and recovered by Jr. LB Cody Simcox, to get back in the game after falling behind 27-14 on Mercyhurst's second possession of the third quarter.

The Warriors got a second defensive stop, but Soltes was picked off by Mercyhurst safety Colin Kimball and the Lakers drove 53 yards on nine plays – taking 6:14 off the clock – to go ahead 30-20 with 2:23 remaining.

In the first half, ESU received the opening kickoff and went 66 yards on six plays, capped by a one-yard TD run by R-Sr. FB Thomas Tippett – but Mercyhurst scored the next 17 points. Wakefield made a 32-yard field goal, Matt Hyland caught a four-yard TD pass from senior quarterback Anthony Vendemia late in the first quarter, and Sanders broke his 74-yard TD run on the second play of the second quarter.

The Warriors drove 80 yards on 12 plays late in the second quarter to get within 17-14 on a one-yard TD by Van De Cruz, before Sanders had a long kick return and Wakefield connected on a 40-yard field goal to give Mercyhurst a 20-14 halftime lead.

Jr. DE Sam Trunzo led the Warriors with 12 tackles, including 2.5 sacks. Jr. LB Cody Simcox had 12 tackles and a team-high 94 tackles this year, and R-Jr. S Anthony Singlar had 10 stops for a season total of 65.

R-Jr. DL Bryan Thomson, the reigning PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year, had five tackles and a half-sack. He finishes the year with 62 tackles, 10 tackles for a loss, 7.5 sacks and three forced fumbles.


GAME NOTES
* The Warriors finished their 40th season under head coach Denny Douds, who is the 13th man to reach 40 season as head coach in college football history, the 9th to coach 40 years at one school, and the 5th to spend his entire 40+ year career at the same school.

* Douds is 244-171-3 (.587) – holding the PSAC record for wins which he set in 2008, and the NCAA Division II record for games coached (418) which he set in 2011.
* Douds ranks 3rd in DII history in career wins
* He has coached the 2nd-most games among active college football coaches. Albany's Bob Ford (455 games entering today) announced earlier this fall that he will retire following the 2013 season.

UPDATED ESU FOOTBALL RECORD BOOK (PDF)

* Healy's 1,129 rushing yards are 2nd-most in ESU history behind Andre Castiglioni, who ran for 1,160 yards in 2000.
* He broke the freshman rushing record of 1,109 yards set by Stewart Ford in 1997.
* He broke Anthony Carfagno's record for yards from scrimmage by a back of 1,297 yards, set in 2005.
* Healy had 1,333 yards from scrimmage this year – 1,129 rushing and 204 receiving.
* He had 100+ yards from scrimmage in 9 of the Warriors' 11 games.
* He set an ESU freshman record for yards from scrimmage with 226 at Shippensburg on Sept. 21 (189 rushing, 37 receiving).
* He had the 3rd- and 4th-most rushing yards by a freshman in school history, with 189 at Shippensburg and 158 vs. Millersville last week.

* Van De Cruz had 11 rushing TD's this year, tied for 6th-most in school history. He had 9 rushing TD's in the last 4 games.
* Van De Cruz ran for 334 yards on 72 carries this year. He was not stopped for a loss.

* ESU tailbacks had 279 carries for 1,606 yards - 1,618 gained, 12 lost. The Warriors' 189.5 rushing ypg is their best since 1994.
* R-Fr. Robert Healy - 176 carries, 1,129 yards (12 lost), 5 TD
* Jr. Gerald Van De Cruz - 72 carries, 334 yards (0 lost), 11 TD
* Jr. Derrick Dyer - 15 carries, 75 yards (0 lost), TD
* R-Fr. Raul Quinones - 16 carries, 68 yards (0 lost), TD

* Bleiler ranks 4th at ESU in single-season receptions (71), 3rd in yards (1,199) and t-5th in TD's (12).
* In his career, he ranks t-5th in receptions (153), 4th in yards (2,614) and t-6th in TD's (20).
* Bleiler had 9 career 100-yard games, tied for 3rd on ESU's list.
* He had 6 100-yard games this year. Only Evan Prall (11 in 2005, 7 in 2006) and Tim Strenfel (7 in 2004, 6 in 2005) have had at least 6 100-yard games in a season.

* Sr. K Taylor Groff holds ESU's career record for points by a kicker with 303. He also holds school records for single-season field goals (16), career field goals of 40+ yards (16) and season field goals of 40+ yards (6 in 2011 and 2012).
* Groff ranks 2nd at ESU in career field goals (49), field goal percentage (67.1 – 49-for-73), season field goal percentage (78.6 – 11-for-14 in 2011), career extra points (156), points by a kicker in a season (93 in 2012) and longest field goal (52, 3 times).

* On ESU's offensive line, R-Sr. C Greg Blue made his 39th career start and 28th consecutive, both the most among current Warriors.
* Blue, Bleiler, Tippett, Groff, OLB Darius Jackson and QB Nate Daniels were all recognized prior to the game.

SOLTES
* Soltes finished one of the top seasons by a quarterback in school and PSAC history. His 3,716 yards of total offense rank 8th in PSAC history and 4th in ESU's record book.

Single-season

Total Offense
1. 4,960 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2005
2. 4,292 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2004
3. 3,883 - Damian Poalucci, 1996
4. 3,716 - Matt Soltes, 2013

Passing
1. 4,571 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2005
2. 3,831 - Damian Poalucci, 1996
3. 3,826 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2004
4. 3,244 - Matt Soltes, 2013

Pass Efficiency
1. 186.1 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2005
2. 174.1 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2004
3. 167.1 - Matt Soltes, 2013

TD's
1. 50 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2005
2. 40 - Damian Poalucci, 1996
3. 35 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2004
4. 34 - Matt Soltes, 2013

TD's responsible for
1. 54 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2005
2. 41 - Damian Poalucci, 1996
3. 37 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2004
4. 36 - Matt Soltes, 2013

Rushing Yards, QB
1. 543 - James Franklin, 1994
2. 536 - Matt Soltes, 2012
3. 504 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2006
4. 472 - Matt Soltes, 2013

CAREER

Total Offense
1. 16,064 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2003-06*
2. 8,569 - Damian Poalucci, 1994-97
3. 6,874 - Matt Soltes, 2012-
4. 6,854 - Matt Marshall, 2007-10

* Terwilliger's 16,064 yards, a DII record, was surpassed by Tusculum's Bo Cordell on Saturday

Passing
1. 14,350 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2003-06
2. 8,654 - Damian Poalucci, 1994-97
3. 6,661 - Bret Comp, 1989-92
4. 6,403 - Matt Marshall, 2007-10
5. 6,391 - Jeremy Palm, 1998-02
6. 5,866 - Matt Soltes, 2012-

TD's
1. 148 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2003-06
2. 69 - Damian Polaucci, 1994-97
3. 62 - Jeremy Palm, 1998-02
4. 61 - Matt Marshall, 2007-10
5. 55 - Matt Soltes, 2012-

TD's responsible for
1. 161 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2003-06
2. 74 - Damian Poalucci, 1994-97
3. 66 - Jeremy Palm, 1998-02
4. 62 - Matt Marshall, 2007-10
5. 59 - Matt Soltes, 2012-

Rushing Yards, QB
1. 1,714 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2003-06
2. 1,077 - James Franklin, 1991-94
3. 1,008 - Matt Soltes, 2012-

PSAC QB's through sophomore year

Total Offense
1. 7,634 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2003-04
2. 6,874 - Matt Soltes, 2012-13

Passing Yards
1. 6,813 - Jimmy Terwilliger, 2003-04
2. 6,175 - Trevor Harris (Edinboro), 2006-07
3. 5,866 - Matt Soltes, 2012-13
4. 5,769 - Liam Nadler (Gannon), 2012-13