ABOUT THE GAME

• Thursday night's season opener features two veteran teams on the rise. Saint Anselm tied its program record for wins in 2022, and Millersville closed last season with five wins in the final seven games for its most wins since 2006 and its best PSAC East finish since 2000. 
• Millersville returns 18 starters and was voted preseason No. 5 in the eight-team PSAC East. Saint Anselm was also voted fifth in the eight-team NE10's preseason poll. 
• No stranger to opening seasons on Thursday nights, this is the seventh time in the last eight seasons that Millersville has played its first game on a Thursday.
• The Marauders are 4-3 (2-1 at home) in Thursday night games over the last six seasons. The Marauders are also 40-31 all-time in night games and have gone 4-7 in night games over the last six seasons. Millersville is 52-64-9 all-time in season openers.

SCOUTING THE MARAUDERS

• Millersville found a winning formula over the final seven weeks of the 2022 season. The Marauders went 5-2, rushing for over 100 yards in each win and totaling more than 250 yards three times. Millersville went 5-1 when rushing for more than 100 yards. All five starting offensive linemen that paved the way for All-PSAC East running back Jaheim Morris return. Center Michael Bennett, left tackle Tyler Lacey and left guard Logan Fleegal have all started for at least two seasons. Jaheim Morris, who rushed for 822 yards with 10 touchdowns also returns. 
• Another weapon in Millersville's rushing attack is quarterback Rob Footman Jr. Footman started just five games as a true freshman before a season-ending injury in the fourth quarter against Kutztown. In that brief stretch, Footman gained 330 yards, scored twice with his feet and completed 54% of his passes with five touchdown tosses. Possessing a knack for the big play, Footman had a 75-yard run and an 88-yard pass. His run vs. Shippensburg was the longest by a Marauder since 2012, and the completion to Mekhi Alexander was Millersville's longest since 1999. 
• Alexander is Millersville's returning pass catcher for the second season in a row. He totaled 494 yards in 2022. Hakim Melvin (23 catches, 344 yards) is a veteran of 21 starts. Kam Taylor ranked fourth in catches behind Morris. Alexander, Melvin and Morris all had at least one catch of 40 yards or more. Alexander led the team with two 100-yard receiving games. 
• On defense, Millersville held six of its final seven opponents to 20 points or fewer and allowed just 13.4 points per game in the five wins. Millersville returns three former All-PSAC East performers on defense including safety Steve Sweeney, linebacker Isaiah Onuschak and linebacker Garrett Cox. Onuschak is a three-time honoree and ranks eighth at Millersville in career solo tackles with 158. He is 70 shy of the record. Sweeney has started 33 consecutive games. Cox was the breakout player of the 2022 season, totaling 12 TFL and 5 1/2 sacks. 
• Punter Zac Banta was an All-Atlantic Region First Team honoree last season, setting a single-season Millersville record for punting average (41.1). Banta was also a two-time PSAC East Special Teams Athlete of the Week in the month of October. 
• Consistency is key for the Marauders, especially with the coaching staff. Coach J.C. Morgan enters his fifth season and defensive coordinator Matt Sutjak, offensive coordinator Jeff Tomasetti and special teams coordinator Dan Beard have been on the sideline for every snap of Morgan's tenure. Matt Kelleher has served as the offensive line coach since 2019 as well. 
   

SCOUTING THE HAWKS

• Head coach Joe Adam has had his team trending upward since taking over a program that had won more than three games just once since 2005. In 2022, his team went 6-4 after opening the season 4-0 for its most wins since 2014. That win total also tied the program record for wins. The Hawks are a veteran team, returning all six players that earned All-NE10 honors as well as a pair of NE10 All-Rookie Team honorees in offensive lineman Kevin Coulther and quarterback Anthony Santino. Wide receiver Anthony Brown was a first team selection. Tight end Carson Goda, offensive lineman Zion Hughes, kicker Patrick Carroll, linebacker Taylor Pawelkoski and corner Brandon Potts earned second team honors. 
• Saint Anselm featured a pass-heavy offense in 2022 as it rushed for more than 100 yards just once and managed just 36 on 19 attempts against Millersville. The Hawks, however, passed for at least 250 yards six times, including a season-high 354 against Millersville. Drew Willoughby was the starter at quarterback against Millersville and started eight games before exiting after the first quarter of the Pace game in week nine. From there, Anthony Santino took over and exceled, completing nearly 63% of his 113 pass attempts. He threw for 721 yards, three touchdowns and three interceptions in his three games. Santino is No. 1 on the depth chart heading into week one of the 2023 season. 
• Brown and Goda combined for 106 catches, 1,315 yards and 10 touchdowns in 2022. Carroll led the NE10 in field goals in 2022 and connected on 75% of his attempts with a long of 49. He was named to the Fred Mitchell Outstanding Kicker Award Preseason Watch List. 
• On defense, Saint Anselm held opponents to 16.8 points per game, ranking fourth in the NE10. How the Hawks stack up against the run game is a key match-up in Thursday's game. Millersville rushed 30 times for 114 yards in the 2022 meeting, but that was before the Marauders started rolling with its ground game. Millersville rushed for 171.4 yards per game over the final seven weeks, and Saint Anselm surrendered 170.5 yards per game from week four through 10. Saint Anselm also recorded six sacks against Millersville but finished the season with 13 in the final nine games. Pawelkoski is the top returning defensive player after totaling 72 tackles, 9 1/2 TFL and 5 1/2 sacks. 

SERIES HISTORY

• Millersville traveled to Saint Anselm for the 2022 season opener and dropped a 28-10 decision that was far closer than the final score would indicate. It was 7-3 with just over five minutes remaining in the third quarter, and 14 of Saint Anselm's points came in the game's final seven minutes. 
• That stands as the only meeting between the two programs, and Thursday night marks Saint Anselm's first trip to Millersville. Saint Anselm has not played a game in the state of Pennsylvania since 2012 when it lost its season opener at Kutztown, 58-6. Since the program was restarted in 1999, Saint Anselm is 0-4 playing in Pennsylvania, going 0-3 against Kutztown and 0-1 against Edinboro. Saint Anselm also sponsored football from 1894-1941, and in those 47 season, it played four games in Pennsylvania going 0-3 in two trips to Scranton and one to Saint Vincent's. The program's lone win in Pennsylvania came by an 18-0 score over Grove City in 1905. 
• While it is Millersville's second game against Saint Anselm, the Marauders are frequent opponents of NE10 teams. Millersville has opened six straight seasons against an NE10 team going 2-4. Millersville has played 10 season openers against NE10 teams since 2008. Those games have been decided by an average of fewer than 10 points per game. Millersville is 6-9 all-time against NE10 opponents, beating American International four times from 1992-95, beating Assumption in 2010 and topping Pace in 2016 and 2019. Saint Anselm was 0-8 all-time against PSAC teams before last season's season-opening victory over Millersville. 
• THE LAST MEETING (Saint Anselm 28, Millersville 10 (Sept. 1, 2022): The homestanding Hawks stuffed the Marauders twice in the red zone, while two explosive plays and one Marauder special team miscue provided the Hawks with all the points they needed. QB Drew Willoughby connected with Blaine Burkholder for a 61-yard completion that set up one touchdown as well as a 36-yard completion that set up another touchdown. Millersville settled for three points on two drives inside the Saint Anselm 10-yard line. 

THE LAST TIME OUT

• Millersville: Millersville 14, Seton Hill 10 (Nov. 12, 2022) - Beat up and short handed, the Marauders scored on a short field following an interception from Steve Sweeney and ended the third quarter with a fourth-and-1 conversion and 22-yard TD run from Jaheim Morris. The defense dug in, held Seton Hill scoreless in the second half and stopped the Griffins twice in the final two minutes, including a fourth-and-8 stand at the Marauders' own 18. The defense showed its resolve by overcoming two pass interference calls in that drive. Punter Zach Banta played a key role as well, routinely flipping field position, averaging 45.8 yards per punt with three over 50 yards. No punt was bigger than the 55-yard he hit in the face of an all-out rush with 15 seconds remaining in the game. 
• Saint Anselm: Saint Anselm 27, American International 20 (Nov. 12, 2022) - Saint Anselm raced to a 16-0 lead and allowed just 26 yards rushing in the game. The nation's leader in turnovers created, Saint Anselm recovered a fumble to break the program's single-season record. QB Anthony Santino went 27-for-34 for 261 yards, hitting Blaine Burkhalter for a TD pass.