Box Score

GREENSBURG – East Stroudsburg University jumped out to a 30-0 lead after the first quarter and dominated Seton Hill on both sides of the ball, coming away with a 70-7 win to improve to 2-0 on Saturday night in western Pennsylvania.

R-So. QB Matt Soltes threw four first-half touchdown passes and R-Fr. TB Robert Healy ran for 111 yards to lead an offense that rolled up 535 yards – including 338 yards rushing on 60 carries, their most since gaining 368 yards on the ground in a 55-33 win over Southern Connecticut in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Playoffs.

Defensively, ESU limited Seton Hill to 137 yards on 52 plays – just 49 yards on 44 plays through three quarters – and eight first downs. The defense also scored 10 points, on a 19-yard fumble return by Sr. OLB Darius Jackson and two safeties. They recorded two safeties in a game for the first time in 40 years (409 games) under head coach Denny Douds.

The Griffins had just one possession gaining more than 20 yards, with that coming in the fourth quarter. They ran 24 times for negative 11 yards, and were 11-for-28 passing for 148 yards, after gaining 399 yards (353 passing) in a 37-29 loss at Fairmont State last week.

ESU's 398-yard advantage in total offense is its third-highest under Douds, and the Warriors put the game away early with their second-highest scoring opening quarter in his tenure.

Soltes opened things with a 15-yard TD pass to R-Jr. TE Steven Jones, then Seton Hill's first series went in reverse with quarterback Nick Halfhill's knee going down in the end zone for a safety after a bad snap.

Soltes came back with a four-yard TD pass to R-So. WR Jon Schnaars, and an 11-yard TD to So. WR Tim Wilson, to make it 23-0 just over 11 minutes into the game.

Jackson had the next scoring play, scooping up a lateral and running it in from 19 yards out to give ESU a 30-0 lead with 3:01 left in the first quarter. Jackson became the seventh Warrior to score two career defensive touchdowns under Douds after scoring on a 54-yard interception return in a win over Cheyney last fall.

ESU led 42-0 at halftime - with the rest of the scoring consisting of a 31-yard TD from Soltes to R-Sr. WR Robert Bleiler early in the second quarter, a 33-yard field goal by Sr. K Taylor Groff, and a second safety as Jr. LB Cody Simcox tackled Halfhill in the end zone with 2:33 left in the second quarter.

Four different Warriors scored rushing touchdowns in the second half – R-Sr. FB Thomas Tippett (1 yard), Jr. TB Gerald Van De Cruz (5 yards), Jr. TB Derrick Dyer (1 yard) and R-Fr. TB Raul Quinones (2 yards). ESU's TD drives covered 54, 60, 16 and 65 yards, with two erasing more than 6:30 off the clock.

All told, the Warriors ran for 213 yards on 35 carries after halftime after rushing for 125 yards on 25 carries in the first half. They threw the ball seven times in the second half, completing four for 32 yards.

Healy (16-111), Van De Cruz (12-81, TD), Dyer (10-58, TD) and Quinones (12-46, TD) are the first quartet of ESU backs to have 10+ carries in a game since 1979, as the Warriors recorded the feat for just the third time in Douds' tenure.

Healy ran for 91 yards and two touchdowns, both in the fourth quarter, of a 21-14 win over Northeast-10 Conference favorite American International last week.

Soltes was 12-for-23 for 188 yards and four TD, hitting five different receivers in Bleiler (4-66, TD), Schnaars (3-32, TD), Jones (2-56, TD), So. WR Joe Welk (2-23) and Wilson (1-11, TD). R-Sr. QB Nate Daniels played several series in the second half, going 1-for-4 with a nine-yard completion to Jr. WR Ray Dominguez. R-Fr. QB Bruce Campbell saw his first career action in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors smothered the Griffins defensively, holding them to 66 yards on 51 plays minus a 71-yard TD pass from Halfhill to Norman Darden in the fourth quarter.

ESU had 12 tackles for a loss of 67 yards, including five sacks, had four pass breakups and recovered two fumbles. So. CB Teron Dobbs, the reigning PSAC East Defensive Player of the Week, and R-Jr. DL Bryan Thomson, last year's PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year and an All-American, didn't figure into the stat sheet.

Groff was 9-for-9 on extra points, giving him 70 straight going back to the end of the 2011 season.

Game Notes
* The Warriors had 56 players see game action after 46 saw action in the season opener vs. AIC. 9 players saw their first career action after 15 made their ESU debuts in the season opener.
* ESU played 3 quarterbacks, 4 tailbacks, 3 fullbacks and 9 offensive linemen. 23 players saw action on defense.

* ESU scored 70+ points for the 6th time in program history (777 games). The Warriors scored 70+ points for the fourth time under Douds, and first time since a 72-17 win at Bentley in the 2005 season opener.

* ESU's highest-scoring first quarter under Douds was 38 points in a 64-7 win at Cortland State in 1978. The Warriors scored 30 points in the first quarter in a 58-0 win over Lenoir-Rhyne in the 2003 opener, the first game for eventual Harlon Hill-winning quarterback Jimmy Terwilliger.

* A week after running 97 plays (70 passing) at Fairmont State, Seton Hill ran just 52 plays against ESU. That's the fewest number of plays by an ESU opponent since Cheyney ran 49 (for 189 yards) in ESU's 37-0 road win in 2009.

* Seton Hill's -11 yards rushing are 4th-fewest allowed by an ESU defense under Douds, and the 5th time they have held an opponent to negative rushing yardage in his 409 games.

* The Warriors' defense played 5 straight quarters without allowing a point - the 2nd half in last week's 21-14 win vs. AIC, and the first 3 quarters at Seton Hill - before the Griffins' long TD pass play early in the 4th quarter.

* Douds coached his 409th career game at ESU, 12th-most in college football history.
* Douds improved to 239-167-3 in his 40th season. He holds sole possession of 25th on the college football career wins list after tying Ohio State's Woody Hayes last week.
* Douds ranks 4th on the DII all-time wins list, 3 behind Mel Tjeerdsma (NW Missouri State), who has 242 career wins.
* Douds ranks 4th among all active coaches in career wins, and 2nd in games coached.

* Douds coached against his 101st different head coach, and 39th different opponent. Seton Hill was ESU's 59th different opponent overall.
* Isaac Collins was the first of 4 first-time opponents that Douds will face this year. He is 67-34 in his first match-up with an opposing head coach.

* Soltes' 4 TD passes are 3rd-most in his career (12 games, 9 starts). He threw 5 TD passes last year at LIU Post and Mercyhurst.
* Soltes had 211 yards of total offense (188 passing, 23 rushing) - just the 2nd time in 9 starts he hasn't reached 250 yards. He had 263 yards (215 passing, 48 rushing) in ESU's season opener vs. AIC.
* Soltes averaged 315.8 yards of total offense last year, and 402.7 in 7 games as a starter. He led DII freshmen in total offense and pass efficiency.

* Healy has 202 yards on 38 carries through 2 games of his collegiate career. He nearly became the first freshman under Douds to run for 100 yards in a season opener last week vs. AIC, with 22 carries for 91 yards and two TD, both in the 4th quarter.

* ESU has 5 players with rushing TD through its first 2 games - with 4 (Healy, Van De Cruz, Dyer, Quinones) scoring their first career rushing TD.
* Tippett has scored 7 career rushing TD, all from 1 yard out. He had 5 rushing TD last year and 1 as a redshirt sophomore in 2011.

* ESU has had four players with 10+ carries in just two other games in Douds tenure:
1979 vs. West Chester (W 14-0) - Frank Bell (15-57), Barry Kennedy (13-63), Jim Snyder (12-66), Bill Nast (11-36)
1978 at Mansfield (W 27-0) - Jim Snyder (19-107), Dave Bingham (11-30), Barry Kennedy (10-38), Frank Bell (10-8)

* ESU's 338 rushing yards are 6th-most in Douds' tenure at ESU.
* The Warriors' 60 carries are tied for 8th-most, and the most since 60 carries (for 315 yards) in a 44-17 win vs. Southern Connecticut in 1994. That game is notable for the 512 yards of total offense by QB James Franklin (362 passing, ESU QB record 150 rushing), who is in his 3rd year as head football coach at Vanderbilt.

* R-Sr. WR Robert Bleiler (4 catches, 66 yards) went over the 1,500-yard mark for his career, with 91 catches for 1,530 yards, and caught his 9th TD. He is the 23rd ESU receiver with at least 1500 receiving yards in his career, and has 600+ yards in each of the last two years.

* ESU has 5 receiving TD spread among 4 players so far this season. R-So. WR Jon Schnaars has caught a TD pass in each of the first 2 games, scoring on a 7-yard pass on the first drive of the year last week against AIC.

* R-Sr. C Greg Blue made his 30th career start and 19th consecutive, both the most among active Warriors.

* R-Jr. DE Sam Trunzo made his first career start on defense. The other 10 starters remained the same from the season opener.

* ESU's sacks came from R-So. OLB Kaje Cowans (1.0), Jr. LB Cody Simcox (1.0), R-Fr. LB Eric Pabst (1.5), Trunzo (0.5), Sr. OLB Darius Jackson (0.5) and R-So. DL Steven Wright (0.5).
* The Warriors had just 1 sack last week vs. AIC, but averaged 6.0 sacks over the final 4 games in 2012.

* Jackson is the 7th ESU defensive player to score 2 TD under Douds. He joins Shawnte Carroll (the only player with 2 in the same game, 2009 vs. Slippery Rock), Jeremy Brown, Ernie Sebastianelli, Joe McLaughlin, Dennis Segich and Fred Balina.

* Jackson has scored in 5 different ways in his career, after his 19-yard fumble return on Saturday.
* He scored 2 receiving TD and 1 rushing TD as a fullback during his first two seasons. He also had a 54-yard interception return and defensive 2-point return vs. Cheyney last year.

* ESU has a +3 turnover margin (4 takeaways, 1 giveaway) through 2 games. The Warriors were -1 (19 takeaways, 20 giveaways) in 10 games last year.

* Groff, who was 0-for-3 on field goals last week, connected on his only attempt (33 yards) at Seton Hill.
* Groff is now 43-for-62 in his career at ESU, 7 field goals away from the school record of 50 held by Ed Detwiler (1989-92).
* Groff had 11 points, giving him 245 in his career. He ranks 3rd among ESU kickers and 6th overall in career points.

* R-So. WR Brandon Mercer is averaging 36.0 yards on 4 kick returns this season (4 returns, 144 yards). He had returns of 40 and 35 yards at Seton Hill, and 36 and 33 yards vs. AIC.

* So. WR Tim Wilson has 47 yards on 6 punt returns (7.8 avg). The Warriors already have more punt return yards than they had in 10 games in 2012 - 34 yards on 18 returns.