The Series: Saturday’s matchup will be fourth meeting between the programs, with ESU earning victories in the previous three meetings. The two teams meet for the first time since 2019, when ESU defeated the Griffins, 31-18. Jake Cirillo led the air and rushing attack, with 260 yards passing (15-3, 2 TD, 2 INT) and 96 yards rushing (11 att., 96 rushing yards, 1 TD). Ezequiel Lopez (4 rec, 82 yards, 1 TD) grabbed a 68-yard reception and a 6-yard touchdown pass, while Javier Buffalo also brough in four receptions for 71 yards on the day. Joel Ozoemena picked off two different Griffin quarterbacks that day.
Know The Foe: The Griffins enter week three with an identical 0-2 record after falling to Wheeling (25-11) and Shippensburg (36-17) to open the season. Against the Raiders last week, Seton Hill trailed 16-4 in the second quarter, but a 65-yard touchdown pass from Eddie Scott to JaiQuan McGriff cut the deficit to a single score. The Raiders took control with a kickoff return and long pass play with Redd Douglas picking up a pair of touchdowns. Despite the loss, Seton Hill led the game on first downs (23-13), rushing yards (148-78), passing yards (197-152), total offense (345-230). The Griffin defense also held the Raiders to convert just 2-of-10 3rd down attempts and Seton Hill held possession for 36:17 compared to 23:43 for Ship.
Last Time Out: Trailing 20-0 in the second quarter, the East Stroudsburg University football team scored 28 consecutive points to take a second-half lead against PSAC West preseason favorite IUP, but ultimately fell short by a game-winning field goal as time expired. Full recap can be found here.
Passing Legends: Jake Cirillo put together one of his best career outputs last week against tough competition in the Crimson Hawks. Cirillo surpassed 300 yards for the second time in his career and for the first time since Denny Douds’ retirement game on Oct. 27, 2018 when the East Stroudsburg native through for 418 yards against Ohio Dominican. Cirillo totaled 315 yards on 23 completions and five touchdowns to just one interception thrown. His five passing touchdowns match his career-high, which he set against Lock Haven in 2019. He passed James Franklin for ninth all-time at ESU with 40 touchdowns thrown in his career.
Breakout Performance: Entering the week with four career receiving touchdown passes in 25 career games, Ezequiel Lopez exploded for eight receptions and nearly matched his career touchdown mark with three touchdown receptions for the Frankford High School product. Lopez now has 52 receptions for 579 yards and seven touchdowns in his career. After the monster performance, Lopez ranks fourth in the nation and tied for first in the conference in receiving touchdowns.
National Rankings: After his big performance against the Crimson Hawks, Cirillo is now among the nation’s leaders in several categories, including passing touchdowns (8th in NCAA DII, 2nd in PSAC), passing yards (20th in NCAA, 2nd in PSAC), passing yards per game (22nd in NCAA DII, 3rd in PSAC), 15th in points responsible for (17th in NCAA DII, 4th in PSAC), total offense (12th in NCAA DII, 2nd in PSAC).
Shades: Both Jahmere Crumpton and Tyler Watson were able to make their season debut with the “turnover shades” this past week, picking off IUP QB Mak Sexton in a pair of much needed turnovers for the Warriors. It was the eighth career interception for Watson
Bartholomew the Boot: All PSAC Second Team selection Devin Bartholomew continued his strong start to the season. He drilled all three of his field goal attempts (27, 36, 30) and his six extra-point opportunities through the uprights. The Schnecksville native has converted all 35 PATs during his Warrior career, as the ESU special teams’ unit has made 77 consecutive PATs dating back to the 2018 season finale. After missing his first PAT of the day against Clarion on Nov. 10, 2018, Jordan Walters began the streak with two extra points to close the campaign. The Pleasant Valley graduate and ESU All-American booted 40 consecutive PATs through the uprights in 2019. Bartholomew followed with a perfect 29-29 mark in 2021 and made his first six attempts this season to extend the streak to 77.
Coming Up: Following the matchup with the Griffins, ESU returns to Eiler-Martin for a pair of home games against Lock Haven for Family Weekend (Sept. 24) and Big Brothers Big Sisters game against Kutztown on Oct. 1. Both contests will kickoff at 1:05 p.m.
