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EAST STROUDSBURG – Sophomore cornerback Teron Dobbs and a fourth-quarter rushing attack helped East Stroudsburg University open the 40th season for head coach Denny Douds with a 21-14 victory over American International on Thursday night at Eiler-Martin Stadium.

Dobbs had two interceptions, two pass breakups, a touchdown saving tackle and sack on fourth-and-goal from the one-yard line in a key third quarter sequence as the Warriors (1-0) won their sixth straight season opener, 13th of the last 15 and improved to 29-11 in season openers under Douds.

Douds tied Ohio State's Woody Hayes for 25th on the college football victory list with his 238th career win, extending his PSAC record.

AIC entered as the preseason favorite in the Northeast-10 Conference, returning 17 starters from a 7-3 team that had its only three losses come against NCAA Division II Playoff teams from a year ago.

R-Fr. TB Robert Healy (22 carries, 91 yards) ran for a pair of fourth-quarter touchdowns, scoring from two yards out on the first play of the period to tie the game at 14-all, and putting the Warriors ahead with a four-yard run just under six minutes later.

Healy and junior transfers Gerald Van De Cruz (2 carries, 16 yards) and Derrick Dyer (5 carries, 17 yards) helped the Warriors run for 88 yards on 19 carries in the fourth quarter.

The Warriors ran for 173 yards on 43 carries on the night, and R-So. QB Matt Soltes was 20-for-39 for 215 yards, a touchdown and an interception. Soltes also ran for 48 yards for 263 yards of total offense after averaging 315.8 yards in 10 games and earning PSAC East Freshman of the Year.

Soltes started 4-for-4 for 52 yards after ESU received the opening kickoff, beginning with a 30-yard pass to So. WR Tim Wilson and finishing with a 7-yard TD to R-So. WR Jon Schnaars.

AIC got on the board midway through the first quarter on an 8-yard run by Terrell Williams (18 carries, 120 yards). The Yellow Jackets took the lead with 1:56 left in the second quarter as junior quarterback Kevin Arduino threw a 23-yard pass to Cal Brownridge.

The Warriors blanked AIC in the second half, holding them to 144 yards on 31 plays after the Yellow Jackets had 258 yards on 42 plays in the first half.

Williams broke a 61-yard run for AIC on the fifth play of the second half, but Dobbs ran him down at the three-yard line to prevent the Yellow Jackets from taking a 21-7 lead. After the Warriors got three straight stops, including a goal-line stop by Dobbs and Jr. LB Cody Simcox, Dobbs sacked Arduino for a 10-yard loss on fourth-and-goal to keep it at 14-7.

Later in the quarter, Evan Graham got behind the defense on a third-and-eight, but Dobbs knocked the ball out of his hands in the end zone and AIC was forced to punt.

The Warriors took over at their own 17 with 4:18 left in the third, and Soltes put together ESU's best possession since their first five plays. He was 7-for-9 on the march, spreading it around to R-Sr. FB Thomas Tippett, R-Jr. TE Steven Jones (for 19 and 13 yards), Schnaars (15 and 5) and Bleiler (5 and 6) while never facing a third down to move to the two-yard line on the final play of the quarter.

Healy plunged in for his first career TD on the first play of the fourth quarter, and after the Warriors' defense stopped AIC at its own 30, the offense went 63 yards in nine plays for the go-ahead score and what proved to be the game's final points.

ESU ran for 55 yards, almost all of them after Soltes and Bleiler hooked up for 13 yards on an early third-and-seven. Healy ripped a 16-yard run on the next play to get it to the 31, Soltes carried to the 24, and Van De Cruz came on to break runs of nine and seven yards. Healy got the final two carries, running nine yards to the four and scoring on the next play for a 21-14 advantage with 9:15 showing.

Dobbs made his next big play as AIC was driving towards the tying score near midfield, picking off his second pass of the day to turn it back over to the offense.

The Warriors ran it on nine of their 11 plays to move to the 15, but Sr. K Taylor Groff missed from 32 yards that would have made it a two possession game.

AIC assumed possession at the 20 with 3:14 remaining, and Arduino quickly moved the Yellow Jackets across midfield with completions of 17 and 15 yards. But, after a loss of nine yards on a third-and-one, Arduino threw incomplete on fourth down and the Warriors took two knees to end the game.

Soltes spread his 20 completions around to eight receivers, with Schnaars (five for 50 yards) and Bleiler (five for 49 yards) the top targets.

Arduino was 15-for-37 for 193 yards with one TD and two interceptions for AIC. He also ran 11 times for 36 yards as AIC rolled up 209 rushing yards on 36 carries.

ESU will travel to Seton Hill for the first of three straight road games next Saturday as the Griffins play their first crossover game after joining the PSAC on July 1. Seton Hill rallied from a 37-10 deficit with three fourth-quarter touchdowns but fell at Fairmont State, 37-29, on Thursday night.


GAME NOTES
* ESU's second-half shutout in a victory after trailing at halftime is just its third in the last 20 years. The Warriors won 10-6 at Cheyney in 2011 (trailed 6-2 at half), and beat Mansfield 57-20 in 2005 (trailed 20-17 at half). ESU trailed AIC, 14-7, at halftime on Thursday night.

* ESU won its 24th consecutive game when holding its opponent under 20 points. The Warriors are 168-30-3 under Douds (since 1974) when allowing less than 20.

* ESU improved to 7-4 in home night games at Eiler-Martin Stadium since lights were installed in 2007.

* Neither team scored in the 3rd quarter, maintaining AIC's 14-7 halftime lead until Healy's 2-yard TD tied the game at 14-14 on the first play of the 4th quarter.
* In 2012, ESU had just one of 40 quarters in which neither team scored.


* Douds is the 13th man 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.

* Douds coached his 408th career game at ESU, 12th-most in college football history.

* Douds (40th year) and AIC's Art Wilkins (20th year) both hit milestone seasons in their 2nd career meeting. ESU opened 1995, Wilkins' 2nd season, with a 49-19 victory over AIC.

* ESU is 29-11 under Douds in season openers, and ESU is 54-31-1 all-time in its 86 openers.
* ESU has won 13 of its last 15 season openers.
* ESU is 4-0 in season-opening night games at Eiler-Martin Stadium, previously beating Lock Haven 31-0 last year, Pace 56-14 in 2011 and Virginia Union 14-11 in 2008. The Warriors are 7-4 overall in home night games since 2007.

* ESU improved to 4-0 against AIC, also posting wins in 1992 (28-27, away), 1993 (42-3, home) and most recently 1995 (49-19, home). AIC's Art Wilkins opened his 20th season as Douds began his 40th. Wilkins was in his 2nd season as head coach in 1995.


* Healy (91 yards, 2 TD) came up 9 yards short of becoming the first freshman to run for 100 yards in a season opener in Douds' 40 seasons.

* Warriors making their first career starts were R-Fr. TB Robert Healy, So. WR Tim Wilson, R-So. WR Jon Schnaars, So. RG Eric Burleson, R-So. RT Raymond Ocasio, Jr., R-Jr. DL Jon Noble, R-So. OLB Kaje Cowans, R-Jr. DB Konrad Mims and Fr. FS Dean Vitale.

* Defensively, Cowans (8 tackles, 1 PBU), Mims (1 tackle, 1 PBU) and Vitale (6 tackles) all made their first career appearances for the Warriors.

* In all, 46 players saw action, including 15 who saw their first career game action. That list includes 4 true freshmen, 6 redshirt freshmen, 2 sophomores and 3 juniors.

* R-Jr. DL Bryan Thomson, last year's PSAC East Defensive Player of the Year and a Football Gazette 3rd team All-American, tied his career-high with 9 tackles and also had a pass breakup.

* Jr. LB Cody Simcox also had 9 tackles, Sr. OLB Darius Jackson (the only senior on the defense) had 8 and R-Jr. S Anthony Singlar had 7, including a forced fumble.

* R-Jr. DE Brandon Gattelli made his 19th career start and 14th consecutive, both highs among the defense. Singlar made his 16th start (12th straight), Jackson his 15th (5th straight) and Thomson his 12th (11th straight).

* R-Sr. C Greg Blue made his 29th career start and 18th consecutive, both team-highs. Across the line, the Warriors started So. LT Cody Laubach (11th start/11th straight), Jr. LG Pete Wolmart (13/11), Blue (29/18), So. RG Eric Burleson (1st) and R-So. RT Raymond Ocasio, Jr. (1st).

* Groff was 0-for-3 on field goals (50, 29, 32) after going 15-for-23 as a junior, and entering at 42-for-58 in his career. He was 3-for-3 on extra points, extending his consecutive made streak to 61 (last 10 in 2011, all 48 in 2012).
* Groff's miss from 29 with 25 seconds left in the 1st half was his first in the final 1:00 of the half. He is now 7-for-8 in those situations.
* Groff is now 15-for-20 on game-tying or lead changing field goals in his career. He missed from 50 with the game tied 7-7 late in the 1st quarter.