Complete Game Notes
GAME INFORMATION
Millersville (3-6, 2-4 PSAC East) vs. East Stroudsburg (6-3, 3-3 PSAC East)
Saturday, Oct. 31, 2009 - 1 p.m.
Eiler-Martin Stadium - East Stroudsburg, Pa.
SERIES INFORMATION
Series vs. ESU: ESU, 35-24-1
Series Streak: ESU, 1
First Meeting: 1948 (ESU 13, MU 7)
Last Meeting: 2008 (ESU 45, MU 18)
MEDIA INFORMATION
TV:
SPORTSfever Television Network
Internet Broadcast:
MSBN
Announcers: Domenic Panza and Matt Majewski
Live Stats
ABOUT THE GAME
• Millersville gave its homecoming crowd a thrill last Saturday, earning a 41-35 double overtime victory over Kutztown for its third win of the season. The Marauders travel to East Stroudsburg Saturday and look to keep the momentum rolling. Millersville is looking for back-to-back wins for the first time since the end of the 2006 season and is also looking to win four games in a season for the first time since winning five in 2006.
• Millersville’s offense hopes that Saturday marked a change in fortunes. Inconsistency has plagued the unit all season. Two weeks ago against C.W. Post, the offense generated just three points and 102 yards of offense. That performance was sandwiched by two games in which the Marauders averaged 44 points and nearly 400 yards of offense. The Marauders have failed to score 20 or more points in consecutive games this season.
• East Stroudsburg boasts a solid 6-3 overall record and 3-3 mark in the PSAC East. The Warriors enter the game hoping to bounce back from last week’s 42-24 defeat at the hands of C.W. Post. The Warriors have lost two of their last three, and the lone win in that stretch was a 27-20 overtime win over Kutztown. East Stroudsburg’s last two victories have been by a total of eight points
• Kickoff is scheduled for1 p.m., and audio can be heard on the home of Millersville Athletics, the Marauder Sports Broadcasting Network (MSBN). MSBN is a webcast that is accessed at millersvilleathletics.com. Domenic Panza and Matt Majewski will call the action.
• Saturday’s game will also be broadcast on The SPORTSfever Television Network as the PSAC Game of the Week. It is STN’s 31st game of the week and it will air live on STN channels in the MU region: Comcast Lancaster Channel 10, Comcast Elizabethtown Channel 9, Blue Ridge Channel 8 and 113, Comcast Lebanon Channel 10, Comcast York Channel 7, Comcast Harrisburg Channel 7, DISH channel 9022, DirecTV channel 49.
ABOUT THE SERIES
• Millersville won 36-24 in its last trip to East Stroudsburg (2007) on the strength of Jamal Smith’s 136 yards rushing and 157 yards passing, but the Warriors ruined Millersville’s homecoming in 2008, 45-18. In last year’s meeting, Millersville totaled more first downs than ESU, rushed for 150 yards and totaled over 400 yards of offense but lost three fumbles, threw an interception and committed eight penalties for 105 yards. East Stroudsburg took full advantage of Millersville’s miscues and scored four touchdowns of at least 40 yards including a 96-yard TD pass and an 86-yard TD pass.
• East Stroudsburg holds a slight 35-24-1 mark in a series that began in 1948 with a 13-7 ESU victory. Since 1980, however, the Marauders hold a 17-11-1 edge despite losing six of the last seven against the Warriors. Prior to East Stroudsburg recent run of success, Millersville had won eight in a row in the series.
• Since 1968, Millersville is 11-9 at East Stroudsburg.
THE HEAD COACHES
• Millersville’s Greg Colby is in his second season as head coach. Colby spent most of his career as an assistant at the Division I level. From 1979-86, he was the head coach at Schlarman High School and Naperville High School in Illinois. While at Schlarman, Colby led the team to back-to-back Illinois High School 2-A State Championships (1981-82).
• Colby has an impressive resume. He came to Millersville after serving as the defensive coordinator at Northwestern from 2002-07 during which time the Wildcats posted three-straight six-win seasons for the first time in 70 years. He was also the defensive coordinator at Kent State for four seasons and served as a defensive assistant at Michigan State under Nick Saban and at Illinois under Lou Tepper.
• East Stroudsburg head coach Denny Douds is in his 36th season and is one of just four active coaches in Division II and one of 11 overall with 200 career victories. He has captured nine PSAC East titles and has also taken the Warriors to the NCAA Playoffs three times and twice since 2004. He is the PSAC’s longest-tenured coach.
• Douds has won PSAC East Coach of the Year honors three times since 1976. He was a standout lineman for Slippery Rock during his playing days and is now a member of four hall of fames: East Stroudsburg, Slippery Rock, Indiana County and Northeast Pennsylvania.
SCOUTING THE WARRIORS
• East Stroudsburg comes into Saturday’s game boasting a high-powered offense that thrives on the passing game. The Warriors rank first in the PSAC in passing yards per game (266.3) and is fourth in total offense at 392.3 yards per game.
• Quarterback Matt Marshall ranks second in the PSAC with 241.7 passing yards per game, and he has thrown 17 touchdowns to just nine interceptions. His 61.6 completion percentage is behind only Edinboro’s Trevor Harris for best in the league. Marshall is also second in total offense. His favorite target is Jeff Giglio, who has 610 yards receiving. The ground game is led by Zach Krise’s 472 yards and five touchdowns.
• While East Stroudsburg has a potent passing game, Marshall has been sacked 34 times—third most in the PSAC.
• The Warriors are surrendering 22.8 points per game and rank eighth in the PSAC in scoring defense. The defensive’s biggest weakness is through the air, as it ranks 15th in the league in pass defense. However, it is tied for second in the PSAC with 10 interceptions.
• Matt Freed was an All-American last year and continues to be a tackling machine. The junior linebacker is second in the league with 94 tackles and also has six sacks to his credit. He is one of only three players in the PSAC averaging more than 10 tackles per game and his 50 solo stops are the most in the league.
THE LAST TIME OUT
• With the help of Jamal Smith’s school record four touchdown catches, the Millersville football team overcame a late rally by Kutztown, a drenching rain storm and a near one-hour long lightning delay to earn a wild, double-overtime, homecoming victory Saturday at Chryst Field at Biemesderfer Stadium.
• Even in the downpour, quarterback Bill Shirk hooked up with Smith five times for 133 yards including four touchdowns, tying Kevin Cannon’s record set against Shepherd in 1995. Smith made a leaping, contested catch for six on the first play of overtime, and senior Brad Lantz sealed Millersville’s (3-6, 2-4 PSAC East) third win of the season and first overtime victory since 2003 with a two-yard plunge in the second overtime.
PLAYER OF THE WEEK
• Jamal Smith was named PSAC East Offensive Player of the Week on Oct. 25 for his four-touchdown effort against Kutztown. The former PSAC East Rookie of the Year finished the game with five catches for 133 yards and totaled 256 all-purpose yards. All four of his touchdowns were from at least 23-yards out, and his 52-yard score on the first series of the game was the team’s longest pass play of the season. Smith not only scored the game’s first touchdown, but he gave the Marauders an early edge in the first overtime by hauling in a 25-yard touchdown pass. In addition to his five grabs, he totaled five rushes for 28 yards and returned four kicks for an average of 23.5 yards per return.
• Smith was Millersville’s first player to win PSAC East Offensive Player of the Week since Cardoza Jacks on Oct. 12, 2008.
TURN OF THE CENTURY
• Millersville has eclipsed the 100-yard mark in four of the last five games and five times this season. In the last five games, Millersville has averaged 132.6 rushing yards per game. The team has totaled at least 35 rushes in six straight games and has rushed the ball 86 times in the last two games.
• Senior running back Brad Lantz totaled 107 yards against Shippensburg on Sept. 26, giving Millersville its first individual 100-yard rushing performance of the season, snapping a streak of five games without a player reaching that mark.
• For Lantz, who missed most of last season with a knee injury, it was his first 100-yard game going for 152 against Kutztown on Nov. 10, 2007.
• Against Shippensburg and Cheyney, Millersville totaled 175 yards rushing, which is the season’s best mark.
SPECIAL SCORE
• In the fourth quarter of the Oct. 24 win over Kutztown, Dan McClellan blocked a punt and Matt Egenrieder returned it for a touchdown, giving Millersville its first special teams score of the season. Millersville had to not returned a blocked punt for a touchdown since 2007 when Andrew Pugh performed the feat. Millersville’s last special teams score occurred on Sept. 6, 2008 when Andy Tischbein returned a punt 47 yards for a touchdown.
SCORING IN BUNCHES
• When the offense produces, the Marauders win. Millersville is 3-0 this season when scoring more than 30 points. In the team’s three victories, it has averaged 39.7 points per game. In its six losses, though, the team has managed just 10.7 points per game and has scored more than 20 points just once.
• Millersville has two 40-point efforts this season. The last time a Millersville team was able to score 40 or more points two times in a season was 2006, and it is only the second time since 1999 that the Marauders have generated two 40-point efforts in the same season.
JUST FOR THE RECORD
• Jamal Smith tied a school record for touchdown receptions in a game on Oct. 24 when he scored four times. That totaled tied Kevin Cannon’s mark that was set in 1995.
• Smith now has 10 receiving touchdowns on the season and it is just the third time in Millersville history that a player has caught 10 or more touchdown passes. Kevin Cannon caught 11 touchdown passes in 1995, and Mike McFetridge set the school record with 13 in 1998.
• Smith is also just one of two wide receivers in the PSAC with 10 or more touchdown catches this season.
HAULING IT IN
• Jamal Smith leads the team with 41 catches and has had at least three catches in eight of nine games this season. Smith has had at least one catch in each of his 17 games at the wide receiver position dating back to 2008. Since behind held to just one catch against Cheyney on Oct. 11, 2008 (a span of 13 games), he has totaled 61 catches for 859 yards. He is averaging five catches per game in his last 12 games, and has eclipsed 80 yards five times.
GOING DEEP
• Jamal Smith’s 52-yard touchdown catch on the first series of the Oct. 24 game was Millersville’s longest pass play of the season. Previously, the longest pass play belonged to Lou Brown, who hauled in a 42-yard touchdown catch against Cheyney for the first TD of his career.
SACK ATTACK
• Millersville recorded four sacks against Cheyney on Oct. 11, marking the second time this season that the defense totaled four sacks in a game. Millersville last had two four-sack games in 2007 and hasn’t had three four-sack games since 2005.
• Millersville has 17 sacks this season after totaling just seven in 2008. With one more sack, the Marauders will have their first season of more than 17 sacks since 2005.
• Millersville’s 17 sacks have come from nine different players. Only Antwain Brown-Barnes (4.5), Chad Miller (3.0), Shane Gross (3.0) and Jacob Haines (2.0) have more than one this year. Against Cheyney on Oct. 11, Brown-Barnes became the first Millersville player since Matt Buck in 2007 to record two sacks in a game.
TURNING IT OVER
• The Millersville defense has shown the ability to create turnovers this season. It has nine interceptions and 12 fumble recoveries, helping the team rank second in the PSAC in turnover margin at plus eight.
• Millersville’s defense has generated at least one turnover in eight of the nine games this season. On Oct. 17 against C.W. Post, the Marauders created four turnovers, intercepting two passes and recovering two fumbles. Against Cheyney, the Marauders forced seven fumbles and recovered four. Millersville has forced at least one fumble in eight of the nine games this season.
• The last time the Marauders forced four fumbles in one game was Sept. 29, 2007 against East Stroudsburg.
• The Marauders have picked off at least one pass in six of nine games this season and intercepted two against C.W. Post, Slippery Rock and West Chester. The defense has totaled 14 picks in the last 11 games dating back to 2008. During that stretch, Millersville picked off East Stroudsburg three times, which marked the most interceptions in a 10 game stretch.
• Brian Knell made his second interception of the season against C.W. Post to tie Dan McClellan for the team lead. McClellan, a junior, now has four career interceptions, but this is the first time he has had two interceptions a season.
• After recording his first career interception on Oct. 17 against C.W. Post, Gary Tillman picked off a pass in overtime the following week against Kutztown, giving him two in as many weeks.
MOVING ON UP
• Senior running back Brad Lantz is leaving his mark on the Millersville record books. The running back entered the 2009 season ranked 12th all-time in rushing yards with 1,951 yards. After 533 yards in the first nine weeks, he has moved past John Flamish, Juan Jones, Troy Smith, Gerald Mack, Ron Porter and Bob Coyne and into fifth place. His 2,484 yards puts him within striking distance of Steve Schaufert (1971-74), who finished with 2,515 yards.
• In his two healthy seasons at running back, Lantz averaged nearly 880 yards rushing per season. If he can match that total in 2009, he will have 2,831 yards and rank fourth all-time behind Marc DeBellis (1991-94). He needs 347 yards in the final two weeks to reach that total.
• With 25 carries against Kutztown on Oct. 25, Lantz moved past Marc DeBellis (1991-94) and into second place in career carries with 603. He averaged 213 carries during his first two seasons. Lantz needs 45 carries in the final two weeks to pass Ricke Stonewall, who totaled 648 while racking up 4,169 yards from 1981-84.
• Lantz is also closing in on the top 10 in scoring. Lantz has accumulated 20 touchdowns for 120 points. Lantz needs to reach 162 points to tie Sean Scott and Mike McFetridge. Both totaled 27 touchdowns.
TWO-WAY THREAT
• Brad Lantz not only leads the Marauders in rushing, he is also third in receptions with 23 catches for 183 yards. With six catches against Kutztown, he set a new career high which was previously the 20 catches he made in seven games in 2008. Over the course of his career, Lantz has caught 76 passes for 685 yards and three touchdowns. He is one of only two running backs in Millersville history to rush for 1,500 and total 500 yards receiving. Mike Squires (1973-75) is the only other player to do so, and he totaled 1,696 yards rushing and 744 yards receiving in 27 games. Lantz is the only running back to rush for 2,000 and total 500 receiving yards.
• Against C.W. Post, Lantz moved into the top 10 in career-purpose yards.
• With 150 all-purpose yards against Kutztown, Lantz moved past Mike McFetridge and into ninth place with 3,209 yards for his career. He needs only 12 yards to pass Scott Highley (1986-89) for eighth, 43 to move into seventh ahead of Desi Washington (1986-89) and 127 to pass Sean Scott (1997-2000)
for sixth.
DOUBLE THE PRODUCTION
• With Brad Lantz injured last season, Cardoza Jacks emerged as the team’s workhorse running back. Jacks totaled a team-best 765 yards in just five starts and rattled off four 100-yard performances in the final five games. With Jacks and Lantz both healthy in 2009, the Marauders have two backs with over 1,000 career yards. While Lantz boasts 2,398 yards, Jacks, a junior, has 1,297 yards and a career average of 4.7 yards per carry. He has also led the team in rushing three times this season.
• The two running backs combined for over 100 yards five times this season.
• Lantz has eight 100-yard rushing performances to his credit, and his career best is 152 (Nov. 10, 2007 vs. Kutztown). All four of Jacks’ 100-yard rushing games came in 2008, and his high is 274 yards. He also set a school record for carries with 44 against Cheyney on Oct. 11.
• Jacks has averaged just over 500 yards per season in his first two years. Staying on that pace would put him over 2,000 yards and into the top 10 on Millersville’s career rushing list. Of the top 10 rushers in school history, there are three sets of teammates. Ricke Stonewall (1st), Bob Coyne (5th) and Troy Smith (8th) all played together from 1982-83. Scott Highley (2nd) and Ron Porter (6th) were teammates from 1988-89, and Marc DeBellis (3rd) and Gerald Mack (7th) played on the same team in 1993-94.
SMITH'S SUCCESS
• Jamal Smith has become one of the top wide receivers in the PSAC as he leads the team with 41 catches and has a team-best 604 yards and 11 total touchdowns. Seven of his 10 touchdown receptions have been for more than 20 yards. Nine of the 12 receiving touchdowns in his career have gone for more than 20 yards. He also scored a rushing touchdown against Assumption. In addition to 12 receiving scores, he has six rushing and six passing touchdowns for 24 overall in his career.
• Three times this season, Smith has matched his career high of seven catches (vs. Slippery Rock, Shippensburg and Cheyney).
• Smith is eighth in the PSAC in receptions per game and eighth in receiving yards per game.
• Smith ranks second in the PSAC in all-purpose yards with an average of 121.4 yards per game.
• Smith’s 66 points and average of 7.3 per game rank him fifth in the PSAC in scoring.
• With 133 yards against Kutztown, Smith eclipsed the 100-yard mark for the fourth time in his career. He has performed the feat twice this season.
• Smith’s 80-yard grab against West Chester in 2008 was the team’s longest completion since Drew Folmar’s 91-yard TD pass to Sean Scott in 1999.
• Only two receivers in school history have totaled 1,000 yards in a season. Sean Scott did it twice (1998 and 1999), and Mike McFetridge set the school record with 1,131 yards in 1998.
TOTALING TACKLES
• Millersville’s returning safety duo of Matt Sutjak and Julius Carter have been racking up the tackle totals in 2009 and are on pace to finish as the team leaders in tackles for the second year in a row. Carter led the team in tackles in six of the nine games and Sutjak has been first or second in six of the nine games. Twice they have tied for the team high. The duo has combined for 149 stops this season. Carter has made at least seven tackles in eight of nine games, and Sutjak has had eight tackles in five of nine games. Both set career highs against Slippery Rock. Carter totaled 14 tackles and Sutjak tallied 10. Sutjak eclipsed that mark with 15 stops against Shippensburg.
• Both players have a chance to become the first Millersville players with 100 tackles in a season since Braden Steffy in 2003.
• Through nine weeks, Carter is tied for eighth in the PSAC in tackles with 74 and 8.2 per game. Sutjak is seventh with 75 stops and an average of 8.3 per game. If both stay on pace and finish with more than 90 tackles, they will be the first Millersville teammates to total more than 90 tackles each since John Petrus and Jim Cassarella totaled 116 and 111 respectively in 1988.
• The pair totaled 73 and 70 tackles respectively in 2008. Both players ranked in the PSAC’s top 25 in tackles per game. Carter, a three-year letterwinner, has totaled 206 career tackles.
• Carter totaled eight or more tackles in a game 12 times in the last two years. Sutjak has tallied eight or more tackles nine times.
PUNTING FOR POSITION
• John Banzhof has displayed one of the biggest and most accurate legs in the conference this year. Through nine weeks, he has punted the ball a league-high 59 times and is fifth in the league with a 39.4 average. He has also drilled eight 50-yard punts, including three in week two against Slippery Rock. His best of the season was a 56-yard against Slippery Rock. He has also landed eight punts inside the 20 with only two touchback.
• Banzhof has landed 31 punts inside the 20 while totaling just seven touchdbacks in the last two seasons. He has drilled 14 punts longer than 50 yards and has a career long of 67.
DISTANCE RUNNER
• Cardoza Jacks’ 78-yard touchdown run against Assumption on Aug. 28 was the longest run by a Marauder since Brad Myers’ 80-yard TD scamper against Shippensburg in 1996.
• Including the 78-yard run at Assumption, Jacks has recorded two runs of more than 50 yards in the last two seasons. He had a 54-yard run against Cheyney in 2008. He has three runs of more than 30 yards.
DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE
• Not only did Millersville’s 2009 schedule start with three road games, it is dotted with outstanding teams. Four teams--West Chester, Bloomsburg, Edinboro and IUP—have spent time ranked in the top 25 of the AFCA Division II Coaches Poll.
• Of Millersville’s 11 opponents, seven teams have at least five wins. Four teams have at least six wins, and seven of the 11 teams on the schedule are .500 or better after nine games.
WELCOME ABOARD
• Greg Colby added four new coaches to his 2009 staff. Roland Weeden takes over as running backs coach after two years at Cheyney and three at Fairleigh Dickinson. Terry Owens will assist with the defensive backs after an outstanding career at Kutztown, and former Marauders Adam Cobb and Eric Updegrove will also work as assistants.
