Skipping The Sidelines by Bill Albright

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"Skipping The Sidelines"
By Bill Albright

Archives: 09/09/2006 09/16/2006 09/23/2006 09/30/2006
10/07/2006 10/14/2006 10/21/2006 10/28/2006

Other Feature Articles by Bill : Persistence Pays Off For Tim Devanney

Small College Football
Week Ending Capsule for November 4, 2006

It was a big week for teams in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference, the Middle Atlantic Conference and the President's Athletic Conference.

One PSAC game -- Slippery Rock @ IUP -- was nationally televised by CSTV. While the Wilkes Colonels wrapped up the MAC crown with their win over Susquehanna, the California Vulcans clinched at least a tie for the PSAC-West crown. Washington & Jefferson also guaranteed themselves a share of the PAC title, and the President's can wrap up the crown with a win over Bethany on Saturday.

Here is a closer look at how the weekend's games unfolded:

PSAC

Slippery Rock 21, IUP 17: Not only did the SRU win snap a 7-game losing skid to the Indians, it also moved Rock head coach Dr. George Mihalik into first place on the all-time SRU coaching list for wins as he now shows a record of 127-76-4 for his 19 seasons with the Green & White. Mihalik now has posted one more win than SRU immortal N. Kerr Thompson who compiled his 126 victories in 24 seasons. The beginning of this fray was all IUP as the Indian defense held The Rock to a pair of three-and-outs while answering with a pair of touchdowns for a 14-0 lead. However, for the remainder of the night, it was all SRU as the Rock outscored their hosts 21-3 for the win. Trailing 21-17 with time running out and pinned inside its own 5-yard line, IUP drove the length of the field before a Kevin Weidl-to-Dan Pickens pass fell short of its mark in the end zone as time ran out. IUP's outstanding tailback Chris Morgan carried 16 times for 73 yards in the first half, but following the intermission, the Rock defense held Morgan to just nine yards on five lugs. Morgan's game total moved him into second place on the IUP all-time rushing list with 3,693 yards. Weidl completed 20 of 32 pass attempts for a season-best 234 yards. Every game has a hero, and for The Rock, it was Brandon Raksawski's turn as he intercepted a Weidl pass on the IUP's next-to-last possession before he tackled Pickens on the 2-yard line to set up the frantic final two seconds. Offensively, the Rock was led by Damarcus Cleckley who rushed 16 times for 82 yards and a pair of touchdowns before leaving the game with an injury. Junior wideout Paul Favers also had a big night with a half dozen catches for 88 yards, including a pair of key third-down receptions to keep the sticks moving. For the SRU defense that bottled up the IUP offense in the second half, Jared Palmer posted a team-high 10 tackles, while Corey Lacek had a quarterback sack and Tyler Boudreau and Jim D'Amico each had one tackle for loss. SRU quarterback Nate Crookshank completed 12 of 26 pass attempts for a season-low 130 yards and one score. He was intercepted once. Despite his lowest output of the season, Crookshank surpassed the 5,000-yard mark in career passing yards with 5,040, second only to former SRU standout Randy McKavish who finished his brilliant career with 7,734 yards.

Edinboro 54, Shippensburg 30: Not even Mother Nature and a heavy snow could stop the Fighting Scots. Forced to move the game from Sox Harrison Stadium to Allegheny College, the Scots ran around and over the Red Raiders. Edinboro actually trailed 21-20 in the game before the Scots outscored Ship 34-3 to win going away. Redshirt freshman quarterback Trevor Harris was unstoppable as he completed 25 of 37 passes for a school-record 437 yards and five touchdowns. Harris’s favorite target once again was Ryan Valasek who caught 10 balls for 159 yards. Valasek is now the school leader in receptions in one season (57), while his yardage total of 916 ranks him fourth. Defense was obviously the theme of the day as the two teams combined for 34 points in the first period before totaling 71 at halftime. For Shippensburg, Patrick Ferguson had a banner day with 292 all-purpose yards, 23 short of the school record. Ferguson led the Raiders with a half dozen catches for 139 yards and one score, while adding 153 yards on five kick returns, including an 80-yard jaunt for a touchdown in the opening quarter. Gabe Maiocco came off the Raider bench in relief of Tony Gomez to complete 10 of 20 pass attempts for 154 yards.

Kutztown 30, Lock Haven 10: Nine penalties for 66 yards and a 206-324 total yardage deficit were enough to spell defeat for the Bald Eagles. Trailing 14-7, LHU was victimized by another lapse in the game as the Bald Eagle defensive unit allowed the Golden Bears to drive the field in the final 57 seconds prior to halftime for a touchdown to increase their lead to 20-7. LHU scored the only points in the third period on a field goal by Marc Domonkos, but the Bears came back to put the game away in the final period by putting the final 10 points on the board. LHU quarterback Ilio DiPaolo was 11-for-24 for 85 yards in the loss, while DiPaolo’s counterpart, Kyle Spotts, completed 11 of 20 attempts for 154 yards and a pair of scores. Elfren Quiles led all receivers with 77 yards and a pair of 6-pointers, while LHU was paced by Rafael Smith totaled 49 yards and Troy Wile caught three balls for 61 yards. Kutztown’s Brian Bingnear led all tacklers with a dozen stops, while the Harsch brothers, Dustin and Derek, shared the LHU team lead with nine stops each. LHU freshman linebacker Luke Ellison chipped in with a pair of sacks.

California 41, Clarion 14: Cal running back Brandon Lombardy rushed for 202 yards and tied a school record with five touchdowns as the Vulcans took another big step toward securing the divisional title by downing the stubborn Golden Eagles. The win clinched at least a tie for the divisional crown, raising its division mark to 5-0 and 8-2 overall. Despite the difference in the final score, the Golden Eagles amassed 234 total yards on the day, 101 rushing and 133 passing. Bloomsburg and East Stroudsburg are the only other teams to have eclipsed the century mark in both rushing and passing against the Clarion defense. Pierre Odom caught six passes for 101 yards, while running back Eddie Emanuel rushed 16 times for 69 yards. Cal, which totaled 361 yards on 211 rushing and another 150 through the airlanes, was led by quarterback Joe Ruggiero with 150 yards on an 11-for-19 effort. Nate Forse caught three passes for 61 yards for the Vulcans. Leading the Clarion defense was Kevin Rigby with 13 stops (two for losses), while Matt Morris and Zach Gourley chipped in with 11 tackles apiece. For Cal, junior linebacker Josh Zunic led the way with nine hits, while Gary Butler and Brian Mohr posted seven stops apiece.

West Chester 44, Mansfield 0: The Golden Rams celebrated senior day with the shutout of the Mountaineers. The Rams, who riddled the MU defense for 501 yards, never had to put once in the game. Of the 501 yards, 321 came overland as no less than 10 different backs carried the ball. Senior running back Brian Steinmetz ran seven times for 79 yards and two touchdowns, while senior fullback Andy Groce carried the mail nine times for another 75 yards. Junior fullback Brandan Hargrose only carried the ball three times while racking up 75 for the game, one of Hargrose’s efforts a 52-yarder. Quarterback Bill Zwaan was extremely efficient as he only threw five passes, completing all five for 107 yards and a pair of scores. Cody Clark and Eric Ruffenbach were the recipients of Zwaan’s aerial efforts. The victory was the 35th straight by West Chester over the Mountaineers, Mansfield never defeating the Rams on the gridiron. Leading the Golden Ram defense was freshman linebacker Greg Smith with seven total tackles, a forced fumble, a fumble recovery and a tackle-for-loss for four yards. Senior defensive end David Montgomery finished with five total tackles, a fumble caused and 2.5 tackles for loss.

Bloomsburg 45, East Stroudsburg 37: No report was filed by either school.

Millersville 48, Cheyney 12: No report was filed by either school.

PAC

Grove City 40, Case Western Reserve 33: The Wolverines picked a good day to snap its losing skid as they sent the seniors out with a win in their final game at Robert E. Thorn Field. Although the seniors were honred prior to the game, it was a freshman who had a field day. GCC quarterback Andrew DiDonato enjoyed one of the best days of his young career by completing 20 of 35 attempts for 236 yards as the Wolverines accumulated a season-high 386 total yards. Senior split end Scott Fichter caught a career-best 10 passes for 127 yards and one score. Fichter and DiDonato reversed their roles as Fichter threw a 10-yard scoring aerial to DiDonato for Grove City’s first touchdown of the game. The Wolverines opened up a 26-6 lead before Case cut the margin to 26-19 with 12 minutes left in the game. Case Western quarterback filled the air with footballs, completing 24 of 45 attempts for 339 yards. GCC sophomore strong safety Shane Coughlin led the Wolverines with 10 total tackles, including 1.5 sacks. Bill Waugh was close behind Coughlin with nine hits, while Justin Fowler blocked his seventh kick of the season. Sophomore Stephen Mercer caught five passes for 57 yards, Ian Tobin hauling in four balls for 41 yards.

Washington & Jefferson 21, Thomas More 12: Sophomore quarterback Bobby Swallow threw for 195 yards and three touchdowns to lead the President’s to their win. Having already clinched a tie for the PAC title, the Prexies can claim the outright crown Saturday with a victory over Bethany. The Saints took the initial lead on a TD pass from Trevor Stellman to Monty Collier,but the Presidents answered right back for a 7-6 lead. On their next possession, the Saints suffered a blow when they lost Stellman with an injury. W&J took a 14-6 halftime lead on a TD reception by Tom McCafferty, and the same duo hooked up five minutes into the third quarter for a 21-7 W&J lead. President running back Ryan Mendel notched his sixth straight 100-yard effort with 104 yards on 27 carries. Swallow finished his afternoon on 15-of-22, including five to wideout Peter Briggs for 48 yards. McCafferty made the most of his three receptions for 48 yards and the pair of touchdowns. While Mendel, McCafferty and Swallow were taking care of the offense, Aaron Bane was leading the defense with 11 tackles. Bane also recovered a fumble and intercepted a pass. For Thomas More, Nick Hazlett matched Bane’s tackle total with 11 stops to his credit.

Thiel 45, Westminster 27: Thiel took advantage of a couple of Titan mistakes for a quick 14-0 lead, but Westminster battled back to take a 21-17 to the locker room at halftime. However, the Titans couldn’t hang onto the advantage as the Tomcats scored three times in the third period to take a 38-21 lead and they never looked back. Westminster freshman quarterback Kevin Franz had an outstanding day by completing 28 of 44 attempts for 311 yards. Franz also rushed 13 times for another 53 yards. Franz’s primary target was Brett Ziegler who caught 14 balls for 160 touchdowns. On the other side of the ledger, Thiel signalcaller Billy Blankenship was good on 13 of 21 tosses for 205 yards and three touchdowns. Two of Blankenship’s scoring aerials went to Marc LaScola who finished with eight catches for 139 yards and the two scores. When Blankenship and LaScola weren’t busy filling the air with passes, the ground game was taken care of by Dan Hess and Steve Minton. Hess finished with 94 yards, while Minton was close behind with 90. Minton also scored a touchdown, making him the all-time Thiel rushing touchdown leader with 32 to his credit. For the Titans, Jake Wilczynski led the way with 10 tackles, while Chris Hlinka was the best tackler for Thiel with a dozen stops.

Carnegie Mellon 44, Bethany 6: CMU,boasting one of the best rushing attacks in the nation in Division III, churned out 370 yards good for six touchdowns as the Tartans remained unbeaten. Trailing 21-0, two huge mistakes by Bethany led to a pair of CMU touchdowns as the Tartans blew the game wide open with a 35-0 halftime lead. Leading Bethany’s offense was quarterback Matt Blumer who completed 14 of 31 attempts for 147 yards. One of Blumer’s passes was for a 27-yard touchdown to Milton Joyner who experienced a season-best six catches for 94 yards. Defensively, the Bison were led by linebacker Chance Kildow with 15 tackles. Senior linebacker Bill Wineberg chipped in with 13 stops. For the game, CMU held a 448-294 edge in total yards, including the 370 rushing yards on 58 tries. With his 139 yards on 23 carries, Sivek became just the second back in CMU history to eclipse the 1,000-yard mark. He is second on the CMU all-time rushing list for his career.

Waynesburg 21, Frostburg State 7: The Yellow Jackets closed out their home portion of the season with a nice win on Senior Day. Quarterback Tres Cobb was very efficient in his final home game as he completed 17 of 21 attempts for 174 yards and a pair of touchdowns. While Cobb was doing his thing through the airways, the Jacket defense was also dominating, especially in the first half, when the unit held Frostburg to just 80 yards of total offense and three first downs. Ryan Abels, who has put his name into the Waynesburg record books several times, finished with 68 yards. Junior defensive back Stefon Strothers led the Yellow Jackets with nine tackles (six solo shots), while linebacker Brenden Steele followed with eight hits to his credit, including two for losses. Waynesburg converted on six of 14 third-down opportunities while scoring touchdowns on both of their trips into the red zone. They also enjoyed turnover margin of +4 in the win.

MAC

Wilkes 35, Susquehanna 7: Tom Andreopoulos carried 30 times for 186 yards and three touchdowns as the Colonels wrapped up the MAC crown. The Colonels, who won their seventh MAC title and the first since 1993 used defense to get the job done. This game was just another example of the Wilkes defensive effort as they held the Crusaders to 160 yards of total offense, forced four turnovers and only allowed eight downs. Andreopoulos scored on runs of nine and 62 yards in the first period before adding a 9-yard scoring effort in the final period. Wilkes led 28-0 early in the third period and finished with 392 yards of total offense, 226 on the ground. Susquehanna scored its only touchdown of the game on a caused fumble by Rob McGarrigle. Shawn Rafferty scooped up the miscue and returned it 32 yards to "the house". Al Karaffa finished with 12 completions on 22 attempts for 166 yards and one score for the Colonels, while Justin Tutti completed seven of 15 tosses for 65 yards and one interception before giving way to Dennis Robertson. Robertson went 5-for-13. Jordan led all receivers with four grabs for 43 yards for Wilkes, while Susquehanna was paced by Jim Jordan with four catches for 43 yards. Freshman running back was held to a season-low 31 yards on a dozen carries.

Albright 42, Lycoming 35: The Warriors came out on the short end of the shootout as Albright defeated Lycoming for the first time since 1977. The Lions put the airlanes to good use as Tanner Kelly threw for 335 yards and rushed for another 82. Although the Warrior defense stepped up the intensity in the fourth quarter, Lyco turnovers allowed the score to remain the same. Lycoming held a slim 35-34 lead with 58 seconds left in the game. But that is when Kelly did his thing as he drove the Lions 74 yards in less than 40 seconds to give Albright the lead. Three completions, a 12-yard penalty and a 5-yard run to paydirt by Vincent Andrews delivered the knockout punch. Defense wasn’t the name of the game during the afternoon for either team as the two clubs combined for 917 yards of total offense.

Lebanon Valley 55, Moravian 21: Senior Dan Kelly set a single-game record with a half dozen touchdown passes and junior receiver Adam Brossman tied his own school record with four touchdown catches, all in the first half. With the win, Leb Valley is guaranteed to finish at least .500 for the first time since they were 5-5 in 1993. It only took the Dutchmen slightly more than five minutes to open up a 21-0 lead and they never looked back. Kelly finished with 201 yards on 17-of-22 passing, while Brossman finished with 117 yards on seven catches. The Dutchmen’s 55 points was the highest point total since their 56-48 win over Del Valley in 2001. Freshman Charlie Parker rushed for a season-best 142 yards and one score for LV, while Tyler McCambridge ran for 148 yards and a pair of scores, including a 56-yarder on the first play of the second half. Junior Clint Vinju returned three kickoffs for 85 yards and two punts for another 15 yards. Moravian linebacker led all defenders with 13 tackles, while Freshman linebacker Will Keylor forced a pair of fumbles and made a season-high nine tackles, including a sack. For Lebanon Valley, Terry Kaufman added eight tackles and a sack, while sophomore linebacker Steve Janda chipped in with seven tackles and one-half sack.

Delaware Valley 21, Juniata 0: Jake Sheffield rushed for 144 yards and two touchdowns, while the Aggie defensive unit limited the Eagles to just 145 yards in recording the shutout. For the DV senior class numbering 23, it was the 40th win in 46 games. Sheffield, who rushed for 176 yards in a win over King’s last week, came up with another good day as he netted 144 yards on 24 totes good for a pair of scores. Sheffield is not in the 10th spot on the Aggie all-time rushing list with 1,577 yards. The back-to-back shutouts was the first time the DV defenders were able to turn that trick since they did it in 1986. DV quarterback Mike Isgro completed 15 of 28 attempts for 115 yards on the day. Senior David Carmon had four grabs for 52 yards, pushing him over the 3,000-yard mark for his career. Junior nose tackle Travis Albanesius led the DV defense with eight tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. Senior linebacker Joe Whitesell tied Albanesius for high honors in tackles with eight. For Juniata, Jay Leonard finished at 9-for-26 for 113 yards, Matt Dunker hauling in a half dozen catches for 84 yards. Kiel Knisely led the ground attack with 42 yards on 18 carries. Brandon Spayd led all players with nine tackles, eight solos.

Salisbury 17, Widener 14: With the loss, Widener’s six-game win streak, its longest in five years, came to a screeching halt. The win streak was the longest for the Pioneers since the 2001 squad opened with 11 straight wins. Trailing 14-7 at halftime, Widener scored on its first possession of the second half to tie the score, but Salisbury came back down the stretch to post the game-winner when Brendan Kincaid drilled a 44-yard field goal with 4:04 left. For Widener, Jamie Schild caught eight passes for 162 yards, while quarterback Matt Campbell finished at 12-for-30 for 225 yards and a pair of scores. Defensively for Widener, Mike McFadden had 11 tackles, Pat Brady one behind McFadden with 10 stops. For Salisbury, Ronnie Curley completed six of 12 attempts for 123 yards, Kevin Tillage hauling in three of Curley’s aerials for 112 yards.

King’s 21, FDU-Florham 17: No report was filed by either school.