THE GAME
After a bye week, the Crusaders swing back into the schedule with a road game at King’s College. The Monarchs, who posted a non-losing record for the first time since reinstating football prior to the 1993 season, will look to avenge last year’s overtime loss at Stagg Field and use this season’s game as a springboard to the upper tier of the Middle Atlantic Conference.
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.
King’s head coach Rich Mannello (Springfield, 1983) is in his eighth season with the Monarchs and has posted a record of 18-51-1. An All-Star lineman and former teammate of Briggs at Springfield, Mannello has seen King’s match or improve its win total from the previous year in each of the last four seasons.
THE LAST MEETING
Susquehanna 27, King’s 26, OT (September 18, 1999 at Selinsgrove, Pa.)
Junior halfback Rashonn Drayton rushed for a career high 169 yards and scored the go-ahead touchdown in overtime as the Crusaders held off the Monarchs on Homecoming. King’s also converted on its possession in overtime, but the extra point was missed to end the game. Freshman quarterback Mike Bowman finished 10-for-23 for 145 yards and a game-tying 40-yard touchdown pass to freshman tight end John Smith late in the fourth quarter to knot the score at 20-20. Freshman split end Tim Ronchi pulled in six passes for 88 yards to lead all receivers.
RECAPPING FDU-MADISON
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.
THE CRUSADER OFFENSE (DELAWARE WING-T): Sophomore quarterback Mike Bowman (Northumberland, Pa./Shikellamy H.S.) was last 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 in the opener, 72 of those yards came on a first-quarter touchdown run by Ed Cracchiolo of FDU-Madison. 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: 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 against FDU-Madison. 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.
THE CRUSADER RETURN SPECIALISTS: Fenstermacher averaged 31 yards on two returns, including a 41-yard runback in the first quarter that he came within one step of breaking for a touchdown. Hernandez added a 21-yard kick return while Nash took a short punt back 19 yards to lead to a Crusader touchdown in the third quarter. The kick coverage unit allowed FDU-Madison to average 25.3 yards per return, including returns of 32 and 34 yards by the Devils’ Jerelle Douglas.
THE MONARCH OFFENSE (I-FORMATION): Senior tailback Damon Saxon broke the post-1983 MAC record for rushing yards in a game and tied a 15-year-old mark for carries when he tallied 289 yards on 44 carries in the Monarchs’ 51-32 win at Hartwick on September 2. Despite competing for carries with 1999 MAC Freedom League first-team All-Star Jim DeMaise, Saxon still ranked eighth in the MAC in rushing last year with 592 yards on 121 carries. Junior quarterback Tom Pierantozzi set King’s modern single-season records for pass completions (104) and attempts (215), passing yards (1,309) and touchdowns (7) last year. In the opener at Hartwick, Pierantozzi completed 11-of-19 passes for 151 yards and one interception. It is King’s massive offensive line, however, that paves the way for a rushing attack that rolled up 378 yards against the Hawks. From left to right, senior Ryan Sherry (6-4, 265), senior Gregg Wood (6-2, 255), junior Joe Corbett (6-1, 250), senior Chris Smith (6-2, 225) and senior Jim Staines (6-5, 255) form an imposing veteran unit that helped the Monarchs rank second in the MAC in rushing last season. Junior Merritt Carr, a second-team MAC Freedom League All-Star last fall, grabbed two passes for 33 yards in the opener.
THE MONARCH DEFENSE (MULTIPLE): Senior linebacker Mike Sellitti led the King’s defensive effort at Hartwick with nine tackles (four solo), while sophomore cornerback Sean Frasier broke up four passes, intercepted another and recovered a fumble in the opener. The King’s defensive line came up with five sacks on the evening, including a pair from sophomore end Chris Keene and 1 1/2 apiece from sophomores Steven Wilson and Rubin Doster. All four of the Monarchs’ starting linemen and six of the top eight on the depth chart are sophomores or freshmen. Senior strong safety Jeff Cemelli is a converted quarterback who led the team with nine pass breakups and recorded 52 tackles last season, while junior free safety Jacob Blomgren tallied 68 stops and three interceptions a year ago. Blomgren picked off a pass in the season opener and led the team with five solo tackles. The Monarchs allowed just 89 yards on the ground on 28 carries in the opener, thanks in part to 32 yards in losses on sacks.
THE MONARCH KICK SPECIALISTS: Junior Dan Patterson was successful on 6-of-8 extra points last season, but one of his misses was the difference in the Crusaders’ 27-26 overtime victory over the Monarchs. He was successful on a 21-yard field goal and made a pair of extra points against Hartwick. Freshman Matt VonTanhausen made a 35-yard field goal in the fourth quarter and nailed three extra points in the second half against Hartwick, and punted twice for an average of 45.0 yards per kick — the kicks traveling 55 and 35 yards.
THE MONARCH KICK SPECIALISTS: Sophomore running back Kamu Woolard ran the season-opening kickoff back 40 yards to set up a King’s field goal, while Frasier returned a punt 40 yards which led to a Monarch touchdown run. Sophomore running back Steve Mooney returned five kickoffs for an average of 14.0 yards per return. The kick coverage teams allowed a 95-yard touchdown return by Hartwick on the second-half kickoff.
#jem/271#
