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THE MATCH-UP
• For the third year in a row, Millersville and Pace clash in the season opener. Millersville has won just three season-openers since 2006 and two of them have come against NE-10 opponents, and one came against Pace in 2016. Millersville is 5-6 all-time against NE-10 foes with three wins coming against American International (1992-94), one against Pace (2016) and one against Assumption (2010).
• Millersville has opened its season at home in six of the last seven years, winning two times in that stretch, beating W.Va. Wesleyan in 2012 (41-17) and Pace (28-7) in 2016. Since 2001, Millersville has opened at home just nine times and is 3-6 in those games.
• Millersville is 51-61-9 all-time in season openers and 16-8-2 in openers played at home. Millersville also went 1-2 in night games last season, and is 38-26 all-time under the lights.
• The Marauders are coming off a 4-7 season, which marked their most wins since 2006. Pace went 3-7 in 2017 and that marks the program's most wins since 2008. Millersville was picked sixth out of seven teams in the PSAC East preseason poll while Pace was picked eighth out of 10 teams in the NE-10 poll.
• Six players on Millersville's roster already have two career starts against Pace. Pace's top returner is running back Jhalen Bien-Aime, who Millersville is very familiar with. Bien-Aime rushed for 98 yards and a touchdown in the 2017 match-up and totaled 58 yards and a touchdown on just seven carries in 2016. Bien-Aime set the Pace single-season rushing record in 2017 (1,040 yards) and was named All-NE-10 First Team.
SERIES HISTORY
Series vs. Pace: 1-1
Series Streak: Pace, 1
First Meeting: 2016 (W, 28-7)
Last Meeting: 2017 (L, 20-28)
Largest Margin of Victory: 21 (2016)
Largest Margin of Defeat: 8 (2017)
Record at Home: 1-0 (since 1968)
Most Millersville Points: 28 (2016)
Most Pace Points: 28 (2017)
• 2018 is the rubber match between the Marauders and Setters with home teams winning in each of the last two years. In 2016, Millersville ran two interceptions in for touchdowns, and Millersville quarterback J.J. Paige completed 24 of 36 passes with two touchdowns. Pace mustered just 263 yards of offense in the game. In 2017, however, the miscues cost Millersville. Millersville totaled nine more first downs, out-gained Pace by 73 yards (and held Pace to just 225 total yards of offense), but Millersville threw an interception and lost three fumbles, and three of those turnovers came in the first 35 minutes of action as Millersville fell behind 21-0.
THE LAST MEETING
• After staking Pace to a 21-point lead, Millersville rallied behind
Collin Shank, who started the second half after
Tony Staffieri exited with an injury. In two quarters of work, Shank threw for 145 yards and ran for two scores while leading three total scoring drives. Millersville had the ball trailing by eight points with 3:19 to play but reached its own 43 before turning it over on downs.
Cameron Boykin led the defense with 10 tackles and 1 1/2 tackles for loss.
NEW LEADERSHIP
• Pace's head coach Andrew Rondeau enters his fifth season on the job, but Millersville's staff is almost entirely brand new.
J.C. Morgan was named Millersville's head coach on April 30. Morgan hired eight new assistant coaches, with only Millersville alum and defensive coordinator
Matt Sutjak returning from last year's staff. Morgan is the 22nd head coach in the 123-year history of Millersville football. Of that long list, only John Pucillo (1925-29, 33-36), George Katchmer (1954-69) and Dr. Gene Carpenter (1970-2000) coached for more than five seasons. The last time a Millersville first-year head coach posted a winning record in his first season was John Pucillo in 1933, going 4-2.
• Unlike Millersville's previous three head coaches, Morgan is coming to Millersville from another Division II program, and a PSAC program at that. Morgan started at Shippensburg in 2005 and spent the last three as offensive coordinator. Morgan's staff is loaded with PSAC experience. Both coordinators--Sutjak and
Jeff Tomasetti--played and coached in the league. Special teams coordinator
Dan Beard and tight ends coach
Ron Kerr also coached at Shippensburg.
Tim Tobin was the defensive line coach for a PSAC Championship at Kutztown. Running backs coach
Chris Palubinsky was the starting quarterback at Bloomsburg just last season.
CAPTAINS
• Millersville's players voted seniors
Brett Harris and
Trejon Dinkins and junior
Tommy Halloway as the team's captains for 2018. Dinkins in his second season with the Marauders. Harris is the team's second-most experienced offensive player with 21 starts. Halloway is just the 11th junior since 1956 to earn a captaincy.
UNDER CENTER
•
Collin Shank was named Millersville's starting quarterback heading into week one of the season. Shank played in just eight quarters with one start in 2017, but he was productive in that short time. He came off the bench and led three scoring drives against Pace in 30 minutes. He made his first career start in week two at Seton Hill and completed 28 of 52 passes for 424 yards--the most by a Marauder since 1999 and the second-most in school history. He rushed for two scores and threw for four. Against nationally-ranked California (Pa.) in week three, Shank threw for over 100 yards in a little more than a quarter before his season came to an end with a knee injury.
ALL-STAR DEFENDERS
• For the first time since 2007, Millersville had an underclassman named All-PSAC East. Both defensive end
Tommy Halloway and linebacker
Cameron Boykin earned that distinction. Halloway gives Millersville a returning All-PSAC East defensive end for the first time since 2008. In 2017, Halloway totaled six sacks--a total that matched the most by a Marauder since 2001. Boykin ranked second on the team in tackles with 72.
GOING FOR 44
•
Morgan Faughnan has been the model of consistency for the Marauders. He has started 33 consecutive games--every game the Marauders have played over the last three years. In 2017, he set career highs with 48 tackles, 3 1/2 sacks and 4 1/2 tackles for loss.
TWO-WAY PLAYER
•
Joey Farley drilled five consecutive field goals to close out 2017 including four longer than 40 yards. He was also a perfect 30 for 30 in PAT attempts. Farley, however, is not just a kicker. He caught one pass as a wide receiver last season, and he is listed as a starter at the position in week one.
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