Saturday’s Game

The Crusaders look to extend their road winning streak to three games when they travel to Juniata to battle the Eagles. Susquehanna is coming off a solid defensive performance in a 21-3 win at FDU-Madison last Saturday while Juniata moved to .500 with a 41-21 victory at Lebanon Valley. The teams will battle for the Goal Post Trophy, an actual piece of the old Stagg Field goalpost that Juniata fans took back to Huntingdon following a 12-7 win in 1952. Saturday will mark the 43rd Goal Post Trophy game, with Juniata leading the series 21-20-1 despite five straight wins from Susquehanna.

The Last Meeting

Susquehanna 36, Juniata 29 (October 7, 2000 at Selinsgrove, PA)

Rashonn Drayton equaled the sixth-best rushing performance in school history with 186 yards on 30 carries and three touchdowns as the Crusaders improved to 5-0 with the comeback win. Mark Bartosic caught a pair of third-quarter touchdowns while Mike Bowman shook off four interceptions to pass for 290 yards and two scores. The Crusaders scored 30 unanswered points in the second and third quarters to turn around an early 14-0 deficit.

Uphill Climb

With a 2-4 record, the Crusaders have their work cut out for them if they want to extend their streak of non-losing seasons. Susquehanna has finished at .500 or better in each of the last 15 seasons since the Crusaders finished 3-7 in 1985. Working against them is the fact that Susquehanna has finished at or above .500 just once when starting 0-3, as they did this season. That came in 1928 when the Crusaders opened 0-3 but won their final four games.

Getting Better All the Time

The Crusader defense has shown steady improvement over the course of the season, a fact that is most notably reflected in the number of points allowed. After giving up 63 points to Western Maryland in the season opener, 45 to Lycoming and 39 to Delaware Valley, the Crusaders have yielded a total of 51 points in the last three games — including 25 to high-powered Widener and just a field goal to FDU-Madison.

Special Guests

For the fourth straight visit, the Crusaders will be playing in Juniata’s Homecoming game. Despite winning each of the last two matchups (27-7 in 1999 and 45-14 in 1997), Susquehanna is just 6-9 in Juniata’s Homecoming games since the 1946 season. The Eagles are 32-20-1 overall in Homecoming games, but have lost five straight and seven of the last eight.

No Passing Fancy

Junior quarterback Mike Bowman (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy H.S.) is well on his way to owning the Crusader record book. Last season, he set single-season records for completions (184), attempts (354), yards (2,563) and touchdowns (20) and career marks for completions (now at 372) and attempts (now at 746). This season, Bowman broke two more records set from 1987 to 1990 by David Battisti. Bowman shattered the mark for career passing yards of 4,087 against Lycoming and moved past Battisti’s mark of 38 passing touchdowns against Albright. Bowman, the first junior to serve as a team captain in the Briggs era, has thrown for 4,940 yards and 41 touchdowns in just 25 career games.

Worth Watching

Sophomore split end Mark Bartosic (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy H.S.) made an immediate impact in his first season at Susquehanna in 2000 after transferring from Division I-AA Bucknell, setting a Crusader single-season record for receiving yards (1,028) and the NCAA Division III record for touchdown catches by a freshman (15). Bartosic, who has 89 catches for 1,684 yards in 16 career games, has 2 1/2 seasons remaining to break Al Bucci’s career marks for receptions (121) and yards (1,944). Bartosic, who set a career and Lopardo Stadium record with 10 catches against Widener, has 10 career 100-yard games and has caught at least one touchdown pass in 15 of his 16 games. Incidentally, no Division III player has ever posted four straight seasons of 1,000 receiving yards.

A “Golden” Performance

Junior SE Tim Ronchi is this week’s Gus Weber Crusader Player of the Week Award, sponsored by the Golden Corral Family Steak House of Hummels Wharf, after coming on as the emergency quarterback and passing for 147 yards and two touchdowns against FDU-Madison. Ronchi will be honored at Friday’s Quarterback Club luncheon at the Degenstein Campus Center as the Golden Corral will donate $100 to the charity of his choice. Since agreeing to sponsor the Player of the Week program, Golden Corral has donated $4,300 to charity. The Player of the Week Award is named after former University President Gustave Weber. Weber was president at Susquehanna for more than 18 years (1959-1977) and was a former standout player at Wagner College. He was an avid booster of Crusader athletics, particularly the football team — serving as head coach for the last two games of 1965.

Scouting Susquehanna

THE CRUSADER OFFENSE (DELAWARE WING-T): The difference in Saturday’s win against FDU-Madison was the performance of junior Tim Ronchi (Factoryville, PA/Lackawanna Trail H.S.) at quarterback. Normally a starting receiver, Ronchi was pressed into service at signalcaller after junior Craig Ulrich (Milton, PA/Milton H.S.) went down in the second quarter with a hand injury. With regular starter Mike Bowman (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy H.S.) unavailable due to a shoulder injury and third-stringer Tim Larson (Lanesboro, MA/Mount Greylock H.S.) not with the team, Ronchi was called upon to lead the offense. Originally recruited as a quarterback, Ronchi led the team to touchdowns on three of his first four possessions and finished the day 5-for-8 with 147 yards and two touchdowns. He was supported by a ground game that rolled up a season-high 247 yards, the first time that Susquehanna has run for at least 200 yards since a 219-yard effort against Juniata on October 7, 2000 and the most since the Crusaders ran for 285 yards at Juniata on October 9, 1999. Junior HB Jon Dvorshock (Picture Rocks, PA/Hughesville H.S.) matched his career high with 110 yards on 12 carries, including a career-long 51-yard touchdown run in the second quarter, while freshman FB Jason Eck (Williamsport, PA/Loyalsock H.S.) posted his first 100-yard game with 102 yards on 16 carries. Eck still leads the Crusaders and is seventh in the MAC in rushing with 372 yards (62.0 per game). Bowman remains fifth in the MAC in pass efficiency with a 103.9 rating, while his 10 touchdown passes are tied for third in the MAC this season. Sophomore SE Mark Bartosic (Northumberland, PA/Shikellamy H.S.) remains third in the MAC in both catches per game and receiving yards per game. He has made 38 receptions (6.33 per game) for 656 yards (109.3 per game), while his eight receiving touchdowns are tied for the MAC lead with two other players.

THE CRUSADER DEFENSE (4-3): Susquehanna enjoyed its best defensive effort of the season, holding FDU-Madison to just 262 yards of total offense. It was the fewest yards allowed by a Crusader defense since Widener gained 250 yards on October 16, 1999. Junior FS Nick Chesney (Kulpmont, PA/Mount Carmel H.S.) led the Crusaders with nine tackles (seven solo) while senior LB Troy Sosnovik (Belvidere, NJ/Belvidere H.S.) added eight stops (two for loss). Sosnovik remains third in the MAC in tackles per game with 10.8 per contest (65 in six games). Freshman CB Kyle Sanders (Danville, PA/Danville H.S.) continued to make an impact after moving from running back as he recorded two sacks and forced a fumble. Junior CB Antonio Nash (Washington, DC/Springbrook, MD H.S.) made two consecutive key defensive plays near the goal line to stop a fourth-quarter FDU-Madison drive as he stuffed a reverse attempt on third down and picked off a fourth-down pass and returned it 33 yards. Nash leads the Crusaders with three interceptions this season and has 16 in his career. Also making his 16th career pick on Saturday was senior CB Tom Kay (Tabernacle, NJ/Shawnee H.S.). The defensive line was shuffled against FDU-Madison as sophomore Matt Ellis (Easton, PA/Wilson Area H.S.) returned at tackle after missing three games with a knee injury, but the unit has lost impressive freshman DE Adam Laub (Wyckoff, NJ/Ramapo H.S.) to a probable season-ending knee injury.

Scouting Juniata

LAST WEEK: The Eagles posted their second straight victory with a 41-21 win at Lebanon Valley on Saturday, as freshman QB Greg Troutman completed 19-of-35 passes for 349 yards and three touchdowns while senior WR Lucas Kelleher caught five balls for 165 yards. Juniata scored 34 unanswered points to overcome a 14-7 second-quarter deficit as sophomore RB Craig Moshier scored two touchdowns on the ground and caught a 50-yard scoring strike from Troutman to cap the Eagle scoring in the fourth quarter.

THE EAGLE OFFENSE (EAGLE STRETCH): As in previous years, the Eagle attack revolves around its potent passing game, even with the graduation of All-American WR Matt Eisenberg. Freshman QB Greg Troutman has stepped in as the starting signalcaller and thrown for 1,519 yards and 10 touchdowns in his first six games. He leads the MAC in total offense (279.0 yards per game) and is second in the conference with 253.2 yards passing per game. Three Eagles rank among the top 10 in the MAC in receiving, as junior Nate Leach (32 catches, 4th), sophomore Craig Moshier (31 catches, 5th) and senior Lucas Kelleher (28 catches, 9th) have accounted for 65 percent of the Eagle receptions. Moshier is also the team’s leading rusher with 313 yards on 87 carries, ranking 9th in the MAC with 52.2 yards per game. Meanwhile, Troutman has gained 155 yards and scored four touchdowns rushing in addition to his passing totals. The Eagles average just 22:41 of possession time per game, by far the lowest total in the MAC and mostly due to the fact that a mere 24 percent of the team’s offensive plays have been handoffs to running backs. The offensive line has four new starters this season, led by junior guard Jeff Spotts from Mifflinburg (6-0, 270) and junior tackle Brandon Hillegas (6-3, 275).

THE EAGLE DEFENSE (MULTI-FLEX 40): The Eagles have struggled to keep the opposition out of their end zone, allowing at least 21 points in all six games and at least 30 points three times. Juniata is allowing a conference-worst 222 yards per game on the ground, and permitted the lowest-rated rushing attack (Lebanon Valley) to gain 153 yards last Saturday. The bright spot on the Eagle defense has been senior LB Josh Seiders, who leads the MAC with 90 tackles in six games (15.0 average). He made a game-high 14 tackles, forced a fumble and intercepted a pass in the victory at Lebanon Valley. Junior DL Fred Taber posted two sacks against Lebanon Valley and leads the team with eight sacks and 13 tackles for loss among his 40 total stops. Senior DL Kevin DeCarlo has added five sacks as the Eagles have taken down the opposing quarterback a total of 21 times this season. Junior LB Matt Wharton is second on the team with 52 tackles (25 solo) and has recovered a pair of fumbles. In the secondary, junior DB Paul Evans leads the MAC with five interceptions, and returned a pick for a touchdown against the Crusaders in last year’s game. Danville graduate and sophomore DB Brett Merrell is fifth on the Eagles with 38 tackles and has broken up three passes.