Gettysburg
at Franklin & Marshall – Saturday, Nov. 12, 2005 – 1 p.m.
OPENING
KICKOFF: Saturday’s
Centennial Conference
(CC) finale marks the 91st meeting between
Gettysburg
(4-5, 3-2 CC) and Franklin & Marshall
(4-5, 3-2 CC) in a series that dates back to the Bullets’ second-ever
intercollegiate football game in 1890. The Diplomats hold a slight 42-41-7
advantage in the all-time series and have won the last three match-ups between
the two programs. In last year’s meeting at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium, Jeff
Harner threw for two touchdowns and ran for a third to give
F&M a 38-20 victory and a share of the five-way tie for the CC championship.
Gettysburg
’s last victory in the series was a 24-16 decision to close the 2001 season.
LAST
TIME OUT: Sophomore
TB Tom Sturges (
Ridgefield
,
CT
/
Ridgefield
) rushed for 140 yards and a touchdown, and the
Gettysburg
defense surrendered only one scoring drive for the second straight week in a
17-7 win over
Dickinson
on Saturday. Sturges and junior HB Jesse
Jeffers (Morristown, NJ/Morristown-Beard) found the end zone on
runs of 9 and 18 yards, respectively, helping the Bullets defeat the Red Devils
for the first time since 1993 to lay claim to The Little Brown Bucket.
In Collegeville, freshman K Brandon Kline
kicked four second-half field goals – the last from 42 yards away with 1:38
remaining – to give Franklin & Marshall a 19-17 come-from-behind victory
over Ursinus on Saturday. Jeff Harner’s
29-yard touchdown run put the Diplomats ahead 7-0, but the Bears took a 17-7
lead into halftime before Kline capped four drives with field goals of 21, 27,
29 and 42 yards to keep F&M’s championship hopes alive.
TITLE
TALK: Both Gettysburg and Franklin & Marshall will have more than a passing
interest in Saturday’s meeting between Johns Hopkins and McDaniel in
Westminster, Md. If the Green Terror knocks off the Blue Jays, either the
Bullets or Diplomats will claim a share of the CC championship with a victory.
The Blue Jays have already clinched the conference’s automatic berth in the
NCAA tournament and can win their first outright CC title by defeating the Green
Terror.
Gettysburg
is seeking its first CC championship since 1985, the same year the Bullets
advanced to the NCAA semifinals.
PLAYER
OF THE WEEK (AGAIN): Tom
Sturges was named the CC Offensive Player of the Week for the
fourth time this season after his 140-yard rushing performance against
Dickinson
last Saturday. The sophomore also picked up Offensive Player of the Week honors
after rushing for more than 100 yards against
Lebanon
Valley
,
Denison
and McDaniel earlier this season.
ALSO
OUTSTANDING: Senior
DB Nathan Smith (Hanover, PA/Cooperstown
Central [NY]) and junior QB Mark
Campo (Arendtsville, PA/Biglerville) were tabbed as CC
Outstanding Performers for their role Saturday’s win. Smith led the Bullets
with eight tackles on Saturday and thwarted two of
Dickinson
’s fourth-down attempts in
Gettysburg
territory, once on a tackle and once with a pass breakup. As the Bullet holder,
Campo turned a fake field goal into a nine-yard first-down completion to Joe
Fricchione (
Branchville
,
NJ
/
High Point
), one play before Tom
Sturges’ nine-yard touchdown gave the hosts a 10-0 lead.
MILLENNIUM
MADNESS: Tom Sturges flew
past the 1,000-yard rushing mark on Saturday, compiling 140 yards against
Dickinson
to finish the day with a conference-leading 1,072. He leads the CC and ranks 24th
in Division III with 119.1 rushing yards per game. Sturges is the first Bullet
to reach the 1,000-yard mark in a season since Paul Smith rolled up 1,546
rushing yards in 1999. Sturges would be the first
Gettysburg
back to lead the CC in rushing since Smith in 1999.
IN
THE TRENCHES: In
addition to the fleet-footed Sturges, a veteran offensive line is helping
Gettysburg
lead the CC in rushing offense (160.1 yards per game). The quintet of senior LT
John Burger (
Egg
Harbor
Twp., NJ/
Egg
Harbor
Twp.), senior LG Brandon
Smith (
Lititz
,
PA
/Manheim Twp.), senior C Keith
Phillips (Massapequa, NY/Massapequa), junior RG Dain
Alaia (Lake Ronkonkoma, NY/Sachem) and senior RT Enoch
Boateng (Vienna, VA/W.T. Woodson) has started every game this
season.
UNDER
CENTER: Sophomore QB Hunter
McMillan (Middletown, DE/Wilmington Friends) has completed 102 of
215 passes for 1,153 yards and six touchdowns in 2005, the most passing yards in
one season by a Bullet signal-caller since Dennis Flaherty compiled a
program-record 2,095 in 2000. Mark Campo
also got into the act on Saturday, completing 6 of 7 passes for 52 yards and
driving
Gettysburg
59 yards on five plays for a 17-0 lead in the second quarter.
CATCHING
ON: Junior HB Dusty Green (
Idaville
,
PA
/Bermudian Springs) and junior WR Spencer
Davidson (
Dumont
,
NJ
/Dumont) are
Gettysburg
’s leading receivers in 2005. Green has a team-high 28 receptions for 293
yards and two touchdowns while Davidson has made 27 catches for a team-leading
359 yards and one score. Green and Davidson are tied for fifth and seventh,
respectively, in the CC with 3.11 and 3.00 receptions per game. In addition,
Davidson ranks fifth with 39.9 receiving yards per game.
IN
THE RED: In CC games, Gettysburg leads the conference in red zone defense,
having allowed its opponents only five scoring plays on 12 trips inside the
Bullet 20, a success rate of 41.7 percent.
Gettysburg
has halted three drives on downs and held opponents to a 1-of-5 showing on
field goal attempts.
FOURTH
AND TOO LONG: In addition to its red zone defensive prowess against conference
foes,
Gettysburg
leads the CC in opponent fourth-down conversion percentage (18.2). In five
conference games, the Bullets have stuffed nine of their opponents’ 11
fourth-down attempts.
MANY
HAPPY RETURNS: Senior
DB Nathan Smith (
Hanover
,
PA
/
Cooperstown
Central [NY]) leads the CC and ranks fifth in Division III with
an average of 31.3 yards per kickoff return. Smith has already tied the CC
single-season record for kickoff-return touchdowns (3) while breaking a tie with
Muhlenberg’s Joshua Carter for the conference’s career mark (5).
SACK
ATTACK: Junior LB Harold
Barton (
Somerdale
,
NJ
/
Sterling
) has recorded at least one sack in each of his last four games
to lead the team with 6.5 sacks this year. Barton paces the squad with 92
tackles and ranks third in the CC with 10.2 tackles per game. Nationally, he is
tied for 18th in Division III with 6.6 solo tackles per game.
ALL
BROKEN UP: Nathan Smith
leads the team with 11 passes defended in 2005, including eight pass breakups
and three interceptions. Smith is tied for third in the CC with 1.22 passes
defended per game. Senior DB Jay Cage (N.
Charleston, SC/Sterling [NJ]) ranks second among the Bullets with
seven pass breakups while senior DB Daniel
Silva (Lanham, MD/Eleanor Roosevelt) is tied with Smith for the
team lead with three interceptions.
KICKING
IT: Freshman K Josh Huson (
McLean
,
VA
/McLean) booted his fourth field goal of the season on Saturday,
a 31-yarder to open the scoring. Huson is tied for the conference lead in
extra-point conversion percentage (89.5), having made 17 of 19 PATs this season.
BULLET
POINTS: With the win
against
Dickinson
,
Gettysburg
went 4-1 at home for the first time since 1994. Conversely, the Bullets are
looking to snap a 10-game road losing streak this Saturday.
Gettysburg
’s last win away from Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium was a 14-3 decision at
Ursinus on Oct. 25, 2003… Jesse
Jeffers’ rushing touchdown against the Red Devils was his first
since a two-touchdown day against St. Lawrence in 2002… The Bullets have won
three conference games for the first time since 1996.
Gettysburg
is seeking its first four-win CC slate since 1994… Nathan
Smith (8th, 8.0 tackles per game), senior LB Michael
Schmidt (
Huntington Station
,
NY
/Walt Whitman) (T-12th, 7.2) and senior LB Ryan
McGarry (
Cliffside Park
,
NJ
/
Cliffside Park
) (T-20th, 6.6) all rank among the CC’s top 20
tacklers… The Bullets are 1-9-1 in their last 11 trips to
Lancaster
.
THE
WORD ON FRANKLIN & MARSHALL:
Gettysburg
won’t be the only team with title aspirations on Saturday. Franklin &
Marshall would claim a share of the CC crown for the second straight season with
a win over the Bullets and a Johns Hopkins loss to McDaniel. The Diplomats were
part of the CC’s five-way tie at the top in 2004. F&M kept its title hopes
alive with a 19-17 victory at Ursinus last Saturday, a win fueled by four
second-half field goals off the foot of freshman K Brandon
Kline. Senior QB Jeff
Harner, a first-team All-CC selection in 2004, has completed 96
of 228 attempts for 1,104 yards and four touchdowns this season, ranking fifth
in the conference with 122.7 passing yards per game. He was selected as a CC
Outstanding Performer after accounting for 191 total yards and one touchdown
against Ursinus. Harner is the team’s second-leading rusher with 235 yards and
a team-high four rushing touchdowns. Freshman RB Marc
Patricelli is the squad’s leading rusher with 126 carries for
451 yards. He ranks third in the CC with 50.1 rushing yards per game. Junior WR Rob
Donofrio paces the Diplomats with 27 receptions for 324 yards and
two touchdowns. He is tied for seventh in the CC with 3.00 receptions per game
and ranked eighth with 36.0 receiving yards per game. Senior DB Ryan
Sychterz and senior LB Chris
Stepien have each recorded a team-high three interceptions.
Stepien is also the team leader with 74 tackles, including 11.5 stops for loss
and 3.5 sacks. Senior LB Joe LoCastro
and sophomore DL Mickey Rehring
ranks second and third on the team, respectively, with 63 and 61 tackles. In CC
games, Franklin & Marshall ranks second in the conference in total offense
(308.2 yards per game) and fifth in total defense (299.2). The Diplomats are
fourth in both scoring offense (14.8 points per game) and scoring defense
(15.6).
COACH’S
CORNER: Barry Streeter
is in his 27th season as the head coach at
Gettysburg
, the longest coaching tenure in program history. He has posted a 136-130-5
record while guiding the Bullets to three CC championships and a pair of NCAA
playoff victories. He ranks first
among active CC coaches in both conference victories (74) and overall wins (136).
Shawn
Halloran
has posted a
16-14 record in three seasons at Franklin & Marshall, including a share of
the 2004 CC championship. A former starting quarterback at
Boston
College
, Halloran succeeded Doug Flutie as the Eagles’ signal-caller in 1985. He
received his coaching start at BC in 1991 and spent six seasons as an assistant
at Yale before coming to
Lancaster
in 2003.
STREETER
ON REGAINING THE BUCKET: “It feels good. It was a good win for our kids and
for our team this season. It was one of those games where there was a lot riding
on the game other than The Bucket and the rivalry. So it was great. It’s about
time.”
STREETER
ON HIS DEFENSE: “(Defensive coordinator) Tyson (Silveus) and the defensive
staff have really done a great job of creating a sense of pride in that
defensive unit. I’ve seen us – maybe more so than I can remember in a long,
long time on short-yardage plays – stuffing the plays for no gain and causing
a punt or getting the ball back. We did that on Saturday.”
STREETER
ON BEING IN THE CC TITLE PICTURE: “It’s like old times. It’s kind of neat
being in the last week or two weeks and giving yourself a chance to win the
thing or get a part of it. We just have to take it a step at a time and our kids
have done a good job of being able to do that.”
STREETER
ON FRANKLIN & MARSHALL: “They have excellent talent on offense and
defense, and it’s amazing to me that they haven’t score more points. Their
quarterback is impressive. He throws the ball well, he has good feet and he’s
a big kid. They’re a talented team, so we have to run the ball successfully
and our offense has to be able to stay on the field and sustain drives.”
