Complete Game Notes

VIDEO PREVIEW

Click here to watch Matt Sutjak preview this week's game.

GAME QUICK FACTS
Millersville (1-0) at Slippery Rock (1-0)
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009 - 6 p.m.
Bob DiSpirito Field at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium
Audio: MSBN
Live Stats

THE SERIES
All-Time Series: SRU, 14-4-1
Series Streak: SRU, 4
First Meeting: 1938 (T, 0-0)
Last Meeting: 2008 (SRU 28, MU 24)

ABOUT THE GAME
•    The Millersville Marauders enter Saturday's game at Slippery Rock with a 1-0 record for the first time since 2005. Thanks to a late Jamal Smith touchdown and a Chad Miller interception, the Marauders earned a 31-28 victory at Assumption last week. That game was only the first leg of a three-game road trip to start the season that covers over 1,700 miles roundtrip. This week, the Marauders will look to put together back-to-back victories for the first time since the end of the 2006 season as they travel to Slippery Rock.
•    Kickoff from Bob DiSpirito Field at N. Kerr Thompson Stadium is scheduled for 6 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 Ben Longenecker will call the action.
•    Last week at Assumption, the Marauders earned their first road victory since Oct. 27, 2007.  Millersville is 13-23 on the road (24-42 overall) since 2003. Only once during that stretch have the Marauders produced a winning record on the road. In 2006, the team went 3-2 on the road and 5-6 overall.
•    Saturday's game is the second consecutive night game for the Marauders and the second of four this season. For Slippery Rock, it is its second straight night game as well. The Rock plays five in a row to start the season. The Marauders are no strangers to playing under the lights, though.  Millersville has a successful history in night games, especially at home, where it has posted a 30-8 record since lights were put into Biemesderfer Stadium in 1985.
•    Slippery Rock also opened its season with a victory. The Rock topped Bowie State 31-27 at home last Saturday. The Rock is looking to start 2-0 for the first time since 2007. Slippery Rock has started 2-0 just once in the last seven seasons. 

IMPORTANT OPENING WIN
•    Winning the season opener bodes well for the Marauders. Only two teams since 1990 have lost the season opener and went on to post a winning record (1990 and 200). The Marauders have recorded 59 winning seasons in its history and 43 of those seasons opened with victory.
•    The last time Millersville opened the season with back-to-back wins was 2005. The Marauders finished the season 5-6. The program has opened with two wins just seven times in the last 20 years (2005, 2003, 1995, 1994, 1993, 1992, 1991).

TOUGH START
•    Millersville faces a daunting road schedule to start the season. It is the first time in 29 years that the Marauders have started the season with three straight road games. The last time came in 1980. That squad finished the year with a 6-2-1 record but tied the opener at New York Tech, 14-14, and then was shut out at Edinboro and Kutztown to start 0-2-1. 

ABOUT THE SERIES
•    Saturday's game is the 19th meeting between Millersville and Slippery Rock. The Rock holds a 14-4-1 edge all-time and has won the last four meetings.  
•    The two programs first met in 1938. That game ended in a 0-0 tie. Slippery Rock also won the 1939 meeting 38-0. The two clubs did not play again until 1976. The programs took another hiatus from 1989-1999 but have met every season since 2000. The Marauders have won just one game in the series since 2000. That win came at home in 2004 by a 17-14 score.
•    Millersville is 2-6 all-time at Slippery Rock. The team's last victory at The Rock came by a 27-24 score in 1989.
•    Slippery Rock's George Mihalik holds a 9-2 record in 11 games against Millersville.
•    Slippery Rock holds a decisive edge in the series, but most games have been closely contested. Five of the last six games have been decided by 10 points or fewer. Of the 18 games contested between the two schools, 12 have been decided by 10 points or fewer.

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.
•    Slippery Rock's Dr. George Mihalik is in his 22nd season. A graduate of Slippery Rock, Mihalik boasts an impressive .622 winning percentage and 141 career wins. He ranks as Slippery Rock's all-time leader wins, ranks fifth among PSAC coaches and 13th among active Division II coaches. 15 of his 21 season have resulted in winning records. He also owns four PSAC West titles and three NCAA playoff berths.

SCOUTING THE ROCK
•    In the opening week of the season, redshirt sophomore running back SayQuan Scott-Mitchell ran 23 yards for a touchdown with 59 seconds left to play Saturday night to lift Slippery Rock to a 31-27 win over visiting Bowie State in non-conference football action. The run by Scott-Mitchell accounted for the seventh and final lead change of the game in both teams' season-opening game.
•    The Rock totaled 16 first downs and 223 yards of total offense allowing 15 first downs and 220 yards of offense. They converted only one first down in 13 chances but converted two fourth down opportunities. The Rock also intercepted Bowie State's Andre Johnson two times and sack him three times.
•    Slippery Rock returns just three starters on offense and six on defense from a team that went 5-6 overall and 3-4 in the PSAC West. The top returning offensive player is running back Ryan Lehmeier racked up over 200 yards against the Marauders a year ago and finished the season with 905 yards, 10 touchdowns and a 5.7 yard per carry average. In week one against Bowie State, Lehmeier totaled 50 yards on 13 carries.
•    The Rock had a new quarterback at the helm in week one. Rocco Colavecchia made his first career start and was 13-for-21 with two touchdown tosses. Kenny Cottman was his favorite target, totaling four catches. Colavecchia and Kevin Sanders hooked up three times including one for 41 yards.
•    Pat Marsilio led the team's defensive attack, totaling eight tackles, one sack, and 4.5 tackles for loss.

THE LAST TIME OUT
•    Friday evening's season opener between Millersville and Assumption was the kind of game in which the last team with the ball wins. Thanks to Chad Miller's interception with 50 seconds left, it was the Marauders that were able to seal a 31-28 season opening victory.
•    Miller's interception--coming off a tipped pass--put the finishing touches on a game that saw three ties and five lead changes. The Marauders took the lead for good on a three-yard run from Jamal Smith with 1:25 on left in the game. That set up Millersville's final defense hold.
•    While the defense surrendered 410 yards of offense to the home team, it played outstanding in the fourth quarter and set up Millersville's game-winning touchdown drive. Twice the Marauders forced punts, and on Assumption's final two possessions, it forced two turnovers.
•    The Marauders managed 332 yards of offense including 147 on the ground. Cardoza Jacks and Brad Lantz combined for 151 yards rushing with Jacks taking three carries for 88 yards. Lantz toted the ball 17 times for 70 yards. Bill Shirk finished with 185 yards and a touchdown through the air. Matt Egenreider led in receptions with five. Smith totaled four catches and two touchdowns.

MOVING ON UP
•    Senior running back Brad Lantz is back from injury and has an opportunity to leave 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 63 yards in week one, he moved past John Flamish and Juan Jones for ninth. He now has 2,014 and is within striking distance of Troy Smith (1982-85) for eighth. Smith totaled 2,154 yards during his career.
•    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). 
•    Also, Lantz already ranks third all-time in career carries with 489. He averaged 213 carries during his first two seasons, and totaled 17 carries in week one. Another season with 213 carries would put him at 685 carries and in first place all-time ahead of the legendary Ricke Stonewall, who totaled 648 while racking up 4,169 yards from 1981-84.

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 2,014 yards, Jacks, a junior, has 1,095 yards and a career average of 4.9 yards per carry.
•    The two running backs combined for 151 yards rushing in the season opener. Jacks totaled 88 yards on just three rushes, and Lantz added 63 on 17 carries.
•    Lantz has seven 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.

CAPTAIN SHIRK
•    Bill Shirk has emerged as one of the top quarterbacks in the PSAC since he took over in the fourth game of the 2008 season. He started the 2009 season quickly, completing 15 passes for 185 yards and a touchdown. He also had a long completion of 37 yards.
 •    In the nine games that Shirk has started, the squad produced nearly 24 points, 18 first downs, 150 yards rushing and 207 yards passing per game. In the three games without him as the starter, the team averaged 16.3 points, 12 first downs, 127.1 yards rushing and 73 yards passing per game.
•    Shirk finished 2008 with five 200-yard passing efforts.  On Oct. 18 against C.W. Post, he became the first Millersville quarterback to throw for 300 yards in a game since Dan Csencsitz threw for 301 against Bloomsburg in 2004. Millersville played 40 games during that stretch without a 300-yard passer.
•    Shirk also completed 29-of-45 passes for 290 yards and a touchdown against East Stroudsburg on Nov. 1. It was the most pass attempts by a Marauder since 2004 when Csencsitz totaled 49 attempts against Bloomsburg.
•    With 22 completions against Bloomsburg, he became the first Millersville quarterback since 2004 to complete at least 20 passes. The last Marauder QB to perform the feat was Csencsitz. Shirk's three passing TD's against Cheyney were the most by a Millersville QB since Dan Csencsitz threw four against Mansfield in 2006.

MR. SMITH GOES TO WR
•    Jamal Smith picked up right where he left off as a big-play threat for the Marauders. In the opener at Assumption, he made four catches for 48 yards including a 23-yard TD catch. He also scored a rushing touchdown. It was the third receiving TD of his career and the 15th overall of his career. Along with three receiving touchdowns, he has six rushing and six passing.
•    Smith began the 2008 season as the starting quarterback but will start 2009 as the team's top receiving threat. After three starts under center, he made the switch to wide receiver and immediately produced, hauling in six catches for 131 yards and a touchdown in week four against West Chester.  Against C.W. Post, he totaled a career-high 139 yards on five catches and made his second touchdown catch of the season. On Nov. 1 against East Stroudsburg, he matched a career-high with six catches.
•    At season's end, Smith totaled 31 catches for 448 yards and two touchdowns.  Both of Smith's touchdown catches were for over 50 yards. His 80-yard grab against West Chester was the team's longest completion of the season and was the longest since Drew Folmar's 91-yard TD pass to Sean Scott in 1999. Both of his TD catches are two of the three longest pass completions of the season for Millersville.
•    He returns as the team's receiver as Andy Tischbein and his 50 catches graduated at season's end.
•    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 opened 2009 as they closed 2008—as the team's leading tacklers. Sutjak and Carter each totaled a team-high eight tackles in the season opener at Assumption.
•    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 141 career tackles.
•    Carter totaled eight or more tackles in a game seven times in the last two years and set a career high with 12 stops at Shippensburg on Sept. 27, 2008. Sutjak has tallied eight or more tackles six times. He made nine tackles in three games.

BIG LEG BANZHOF
•    Now in his second season as the Marauders' punter, John Banzhof has become a key asset to Coach Greg Colby's team.
•    In the season opener at Assumption, Banzhof averaged 43.6 yards on seven punts, landed two inside the 20 and hit a long of 55. Banzhof has landed 24 punts inside the 20 while totaling just five touchdbacks in the last two seasons. He has drilled seven punts longer than 50 yards and has a career long of 67.
•    He also hit a 28-yard field goal against Assumption and was perfect on PAT's. Last year, he led the team in scoring with 55 points, hitting 25-of-26 extra points and 10-of-17 field goals. He became first Millersville kicker to make 10 field goals since 2000.
•    He has hit three field goals longer than 40 yards including a career-long 50 yarder against Bloomsburg.

CENTURY STREAK
•    With 147 yards rushing against Assumption in the season opener, Millersville extended its streak of 100 yards rushing as a team to 22 straight games dating back to the second game of 2007.
•    The streak began in Jamal Smith's first career start at quarterback and continued with Bill Shirk at the helm. Millersville is averaging 158.9 yards rushing per game since.
•    The team has averaged 41.7 rushes per game in each of those games. In 2008, Millersville rushed 40 or more times in three games including a season-high 50 against Cheyney in week seven.  Millersville rushed 43 times for 103 yards in the season opener versus Bentley and 48 times against Kutztown on Oct. 25. 

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.

THE SACK IS BACK
•    Millersville totaled four sacks Friday against Assumption which was more than half of the entire 2008 season total of seven. It was the first four-sack game by the Marauder defense since Nov. 3, 2007 against Bentley. Millersville has totaled four or more sacks in a game just three times since the start of the 2006 season.
•    All four sacks came from different players. Jeff Longley, Zack Riley and Chad Miller each recorded their first career sacks. Owen King tallied a half-sack last year, giving him 1.5 for his career.

SHIRK'S TD STREAK
•    Quarterback Bill Shirk is in the midst of an impressive streak. He has thrown at least one touchdown pass in each of his first nine starts. In those nine starts, he has thrown 15 touchdown passes. Three times he has thrown two or more touchdown passes. Seven of his touchdown passes have gone for more than 30 yards as well.

CATCHES FOR MATT
•    Sophomore Matt Egenrieder has become one of Bill Shirk's top targets. Egenreider caught a team-high five passes in the season opener at Assumption, giving him 11 catches in his last two games dating back to the 2008 season finale at Edinboro. He has led the team in catches in both games. He has also recorded at least one reception in five straight games dating back to last year.

CLEAN PLAY
•    Millersville committed just one penalty for five yards at Assumption. Penalty-free play is becoming a trademark of Greg Colby's teams. In his first season, the Marauders were the least penalized team in the PSAC. They were flagged just 45 times for an average of 38.7 yards per game.
•    Three times in 2008, the Marauders committed just one penalty in a game. Against West Chester and Edinboro, the penalties cost them just five yards in each game. The only penalty against Bentley was a 15-yarder.
•    In 2007, the season before Colby's arrival, the Marauders committed eight or more penalties in a game seven times.

YOUTH WILL BE SERVED
•    The Marauders have seven seniors on the roster, and only four of those players had experience starting on offense or defense before the season opener.
•    At Assumption, five defensive players earned their first career starts. Shane Gross and Jeff Longley started at linebacker for the first time. Erik Murphy and Christian Rodriguez started at cornerback in their first collegiate game. Defensive end Zack Riley earned the start in his first collegiate game as well. 
•    The players may have been inexperienced, but they were productive. Gross, Longley and redshirt freshman linebacker Jamie Thomas combined for 20 tackles, two pass breakups, a sack and a forced fumble.
•    On the offensive side, left tackle Neil Moloney started as a true freshman, and Lou Brown got the start at wide receiver as a redshirt freshman.
•    In addition to the seven first-time starters, 10 other players earned their first collegiate experience.
 •     The 2009 roster includes 35 true freshmen, 11 redshirt freshmen and 14 sophomores on the roster. That means that 51 percent of the roster had never competed in a collegiate game prior to the season opener against Assumption.

DIFFICULT TO NAVIGATE
•    Not only does Millersville's 2009 schedule start with three road games, it is dotted with outstanding teams. Three teams (West Chester, Bloomsburg and Edinboro) start the season ranked in the top 25 of the AFCA Division II Coaches Poll.
•    Of Millersville's 11 opponents, seven started the season with a victory.

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.