THE GAME
No game this week as the Crusaders enjoy a bye following their season-opening 26-16 victory at FDU-Madison on Saturday afternoon. Susquehanna will be back in action on Saturday, September 16 with a 1:30 kickoff at King’s, which defeated Hartwick 51-32 on Saturday night.
THE COACHES
Susquehanna head coach Steve Briggs (Springfield, 1984), now in his 11th season, is the winningest football coach in school history at 69-34 (.670), and is 11-0 in season openers. The 1999 MAC Commonwealth League Coach of the Year, he began the season ranked in the top 40 among active Division III coaches in winning percentage.
RECAPPING FDU-MADISON
Susquehanna 26, FDU-Madison 16 (September 2, 2000 at Madison, N.J.)
Sophomore quarterback Mike Bowman completed 16 of a career-high 36 pass attempts for 238 yards and three touchdowns as the Crusaders won their 12th straight season opener, defeating FDU-Madison by a score of 26-16 at Robert T. Shields Field in Madison, N.J. on Saturday afternoon. Bowman hooked up twice with former Shikellamy High School teammate and Bucknell transfer Mark Bartosic for touchdowns, the second spanning 76 yards late in the third quarter and giving the Crusaders a 26-8 lead. Bartosic caught five passes for 118 yards while senior Matt Fenstermacher (Watsontown, Pa./Warrior Run H.S.) hauled in three passes, including a 19-yard touchdown midway through the third quarter, in his first collegiate game after a distinguished four-year career on the Crusader track and field squad. Despite being outgained 327-307, Susquehanna’s defense came through when necessary as the Devils converted just four of 13 third-down situations. Conversely, the Crusaders were successful on 7-of-15 third-down situations, including 5-of-9 in the first half.
LOOKING AHEAD AT KING'S
The Monarchs opened the 2000 season with a 51-32 victory at Hartwick, as Damon Saxon rushed for a school-record 289 yards and four touchdowns on 44 carries. King's finished with 527 yards of total offense to earn its second straight opening season victory over Hartwick. Saxon broke the previous King’s marks of 40 carries and 195 yards set by Jim DeMaise against FDU-Madison in 1997. The 51 points also set a new single-game mark, bettering the 45 points in 1997’s 45-40 win over FDU.
Saxon ran for 592 yards and four touchdowns last season, while junior quarterback Tom Pierantozzi is back for his second year as a starter after completing 104 of 215 passes for 1,309 yards and seven touchdowns last season. The strength of the Monarchs, however, lies in an offensive line that features 1999 MAC Freedom second-team all-star senior Jim Staines (6-5, 265), along with senior Ryan Sherry (6-4, 275), senior Gregg Wood (6-2, 260) and junior Joe Corbett (6-0, 260). Junior tight end Merrit Carr was a MAC Freedom League second-team All-Star as a sophomore after grabbing 31 passes for 408 yards and three touchdowns. On defense, senior safety Jeff Cemelli returns after earning MAC Freedom second-team All-Star honors a year ago, when he posted 52 tackles. Junior safety Jacob Blomgren (68 tackles) was also a MAC Freedom second-team choice a year ago.
THE CRUSADER OFFENSE (DELAWARE WING-T): Sophomore quarterback Mike Bowman (Northumberland, Pa./Shikellamy H.S.) is this week’s Gus Weber Crusader Player of the Week after he completed 16-of-36 passes for 238 yards and three touchdowns against FDU-Madison. Since becoming a starter in the fifth week of last season, Bowman has completed 99 of 192 passes (51.6 percent) for 1,267 yards and 12 touchdowns in seven games. He has passed for 200 or more yards in four of his seven starts. Freshman split end Mark Bartosic (Northumberland, Pa./Shikellamy H.S.) caught five passes for 118 yards and two touchdowns against FDU-Madison, the most yards receiving in a game for a Crusader since Rashonn Drayton recorded 123 yards receiving against the Devils in last year’s 20-3 season-opening win. Furthermore, Bartosic is believed to be the first Crusader freshman ever to gain at least 100 yards receiving in his first collegiate game. Sophomore Tim Ronchi (Factoryville, Pa./Lackawanna Trail H.S.) added three catches for 28 yards, while senior Matt Fenstermacher (Watsontown, Pa./Warrior Run H.S.) grabbed three passes for 26 yards, including a 19-yard scoring grab midway through the third quarter. Fenstermacher is a five-time Middle Atlantic Conference track and field gold medalist who in his first season of college football. On the ground, the Crusaders gained just 69 yards in 27 attempts (2.6 average), the team’s lowest rushing output since gaining just 59 yards in a 26-0 loss at Wilkes on October 2 of last season. Junior Isaac Hernandez (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove H.S.) led the Crusaders with 36 yards on 10 carries (3.6 average), while senior fullback Ryan Cidzik (Rome, N.Y./Rome Free Academy) added 17 yards on five carries (3.4 average).
THE CRUSADER DEFENSE (4-3): While the defense allowed 191 yards on the ground, 72 of those yards came on a first-quarter touchdown run by Ed Cracchiolo of the Devils. Junior linebacker Troy Sosnovik (Belvidere, N.J./Belvidere H.S.) led the Crusader defense with 11 tackles, while senior middle linebacker Mike DiNorscia (Downingtown, Pa./Downingtown H.S.) posted eight stops on the afternoon. Sophomore Robert Clark (Shade Gap, Pa./South Huntingdon H.S.) recorded the Crusaders’ only sack of the day early in the fourth quarter, while sophomore Dennis Kodack (Paxinos, Pa./Shamokin Area H.S.) came up with an interception in the second quarter and returned it 17 yards to set up a field goal. Sophomore All-American Antonio Nash (Washington, D.C./Spring Brook, Md. H.S.), who led the Middle Atlantic Conference and tied a school record with 10 interceptions last season, nearly made a spectacular diving over-the-shoulder pick in the fourth quarter, but the ball barely eluded his grasp. Nash, however, did recover a fumble on the game’s second play that set up a 42-yard field goal by Andy Nadler. Sophomore linebacker Chris Baker (Mount Vernon, N.Y./Proctor Academy) made his first career start and tallied eight tackles for the day as the Crusader defense pressured a pair of FDU-Madison quarterbacks into completing 13-of-27 passes for just 136 yards. The secondary, led by Nash, junior Tom Kay (Tabernacle, N.J./Shawnee H.S.) and sophomore transfer Nick Chesney (Kulpmont, Pa./Mt. Carmel H.S.) limited 1999 MAC Freedom League first-team All-Star wide receiver Mike Quigley to just four catches for 53 yards.
THE CRUSADER KICK SPECIALISTS: Senior punter Ryan Hollis (Mifflin, Pa./Juniata H.S.) kicked four times and averaged a solid 45.0 yards per punt. With the Crusaders leading by just 10 points late in the fourth quarter, Hollis boomed a 56-yard punt that pushed the Devils deep into their own territory for the remainder of the game. Sophomore Andy Nadler (Westport, Conn./Staples H.S.) kicked a pair of field goals against the Devils for the second straight year, as he nailed a career-long 42-yarder just five minutes into the game and added a 23-yarder midway through the second quarter. Nadler is now 4-for-5 lifetime against FDU-Madison and 0-for-3 otherwise.
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