Moravian Set to Host Susquehanna University on September 18 in 2021 Home Opener at Rocco Calvo Field

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football team hosts Susquehanna University on Saturday, September 18 in Centennial Conference action as the Greyhounds play their 2021 home opener. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Rocco Calvo Field in Bethlehem on Family Day. 

THE COACHES: Jeff Pukszyn (Moravian '98) is entering his 11th season as Moravian's head coach after ten years as an assistant coach with the program. Pukszyn joined the Moravian staff as a part-time coach in 1997 after a three-year playing career that saw him named to the All-Middle Atlantic Conference First Team in 1994 and 1996. He was inducted into Moravian's Hall of Fame in 2019. He was also a two-time captain. Pukszyn became part of the coaching staff full-time in 1999 as defensive coordinator and added the titles of assistant head coach in 2001 and special teams coordinator in 2007. In 2015, Pukszyn led the Greyhounds to an 8-3 record and a berth in the inaugural Centennial-MAC Bowl Series while being named both the Centennial Conference and American Football Coaches Association Division III Region 2 Coach of the Year. He has been a part of 267 games for Moravian since 1994 with a 128-138-1 record.

     Susquehanna coach Tom Perkovich (Canisius '03) is in his six year with the River Hawks.

THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting will be the 48th in the series with the squads tied all-time at 23-23-1 after a 31-7 victory in Bethlehem in 2019. The Greyhounds' last win in the series was a 21-18 triumph in Selinsgrove in 2018 while the River Hawks posted a 28-21 win at Rocco Calvo Field in 2017 and a 35-34 final minute victory in Bethlehem in 2016. The Greyhounds earned a 21-14 win in Selinsgrove in 2015.

GREYHOUNDS IN THE CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE: Moravian joined the Centennial Conference as an associate member in the sport of football in 2007. The Greyhounds were selected seventh in the Centennial Conference preseason coaches and sports information directors poll. Susquehanna was picked to finish third in the poll

CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE HONORS: Moravian senior linebacker Noah Breidinger was selected the Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week for his performance in the Greyhounds' 16-13 overtime win at Gettysburg College. Breidinger recorded 14 tackles including six solo stops, and he added two tackles for loss and forced a fumble in the red zone in the first half. Breidinger and his defensive teammates did not allow Gettysburg to score in the second half as the Hounds rallied from a 10-0 halftime deficit, and Moravian forced the Bullets into a field goal attempt in overtime setting up the Blue and Grey with the opportunity to win. Breidinger and the Hounds allowed Gettysburg just 270 yards of total offense and only 138 yards after the intermission.

D3FOOTBALL.COM TEAM OF THE WEEK ACCOLADES: Moravian senior wide receiver Trevor Cunningham was named to the D3football.com Team of the Week, presented by Scoutware, for his performance in the Greyhounds' 16-13 overtime win at Gettysburg College. Cunningham, who is the Greyhounds' first D3football.com Team of the Week honoree since 2018, had career highs of 12 receptions and 167 yards to go with one touchdown at Gettysburg. Cunningham's TD came on the final play of the fourth quarter and tied the game at 10-10 to force overtime. The 12 receptions are just one shy of the Moravian school record for a game, and Cunningham is the third different wide receiver to catch 12 passes in a game from senior quarterback Christopher Mills since 2018.

& EXPERIENCED 'HOUNDS: Of the 86 players on the Moravian roster, 21 are freshmen, 14 are sophomores and 18 are juniors. There are 32 seniors including two fifth-year players on this season's squad, and the Greyhounds return 43 letterwinners and eight starters from 2019.

THE QUARTERBACK: Senior Christopher Mills has completed 39-of-76 passes for 510 yards this season with two touchdowns, four interceptions and a long of 74 yards. He has also carried the ball nine times and been sacked seven times.

THE OFFENSIVE LINE: Moravian has one returner on the offensive line in senior Frank Sallusti at right guard. The Greyhounds will add four other seniors to the starting offensive line with Jaequan Swint at left tackle, Jack Fineanganofo at left guard, Ryan Kennedy at center and Craig Krug at right tackle. The Greyhounds' front five has an average size of 6-1, 275. Sallusti has one tackle this season.

IN THE BACKFIELD: Sophomore Nate Boyle leads the Moravian rushing attack with 135 yards and one touchdown on 29 carries including a 52-yard run at King's College while senior Carrington Smith has added 26 yards on 13 attempts. 

THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds have had nine different players catch a pass this season led senior Trevor Cunningham, who has 14 catches for 254 yards and two touchdowns including one of 74 yards at King's College. Senior Nick Petros has 11 receptions for 154 yards while senior wide receiver Cory Little has four catches for 27 yards. Sophomore running back Nate Boyle has caught three passes for four yards while freshman wide receiver Jordan Lewis has two receptions for 31 yards. Junior tight end Ethan Deater also has two catches for 14 yards while senior running back Carrington Smith and junior tight end Chris Carpini each have one catch this fall for eight yards. Sophomore wide receiver Tim Garlick has added one reception for 10 yards.

DEFENSIVE FRONT: Junior Javi Espinal-Katz leads the Moravian defensive line with nine tackles including three tackles for loss, three sacks, two quarterback hurries and a pass break-up. Senior Brandon Nemeth has made six tackles with a half a tackle for loss while senior Brady Hornbaker has six stops with two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. Senior Collin Frost has five tackles while junior Riley Brody has made three tackles with one for loss and senior Matt Eroh has added one tackle. 

THE LINEBACKER CORPS: Senior Noah Breidinger leads the linebackers and the entire Moravian defense with 20 tackles including two for loss, one pass break-up and a forced fumble. Sophomore Nick Levinski has 13 tackles with one for loss, a sack and a quarterback hurry while senior Nicholas Azpeitia has added 10 tackles with a half a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery. Senior Matt McNally has made seven stops while senior Francis Lagreca has recorded five tackles with one and a half for loss and a half a sack. Sophomore Colin Conway has added four stops with a half a tackle for loss and half a sack while junior Jack Gawlik has four tackles, a sack, a pass break-up and a quarterback hurry. Senior Brian Harris and sophomore Chris Ortalano have each added one tackle.

THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Senior Romello Walters leads the defensive backfield with 15 tackles to go with two pass break-ups and a forced fumble. Freshman Chad Newhard has 12 tackles and an interception he returned six yards against King's while senior Justin McRae has added 10 stops with one pass break-up. Senior Connor Lyon has recorded eight tackles and one pass break-up while juniors Stefan Lorick and Ethen Aquino and sophomore Matt Blazofsky all have two tackles this season. Graduate student Renard Nicholson has added one tackle while senior defensive back Jalen Richardson has a pass break-up.

KICKING GAME: Junior Trevor Yacuboski is 2-for-5 on field goal attempts this season with a long of 39 yards, and he is also 2-for-2 on extra-points. Yacuboski has kicked off five times for an average of 58.6 yards, punted twice for an average of 29.5 yards with one fair caught and one inside the 20-yard line, and also recorded one tackle. Senior Nick Petros has punted seven times with an average of 39.9 yards per punt, and he has a long of 50 yards and one inside the 20-yard line this season.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Senior wide receiver Cory Little has returned six kickoffs for 125 yards, and he has recorded two tackles while defensive back Ethen Aquino has one kickoff return for 29 yards. Senior defensive back Connor Lyon has a pair of punt returns for 23 yards. Junior running back Angelo Macera and freshman wide receiver Nick Weston both have one tackle on special teams. 

MILESTONE WATCH: The Greyhounds have three players closing in on milestones for their careers. Senior wide receiver Nick Petros is fourth in school history with 1,943 receiving yards, and he needs 57 yards to become the second wide receiver in school history with 2,000 career yards. Petros is fourth in program history with 131 receptions and needs 29 to set the school record, and he is tied for second with 17 career touchdown receptions, just two shy of setting the school record. He is sixth with a 36.0 career punting average on 144 punts (seventh all-time) for 5,188 yards (sixth in school history). Senior quarterback Christopher Mills enters the week needing 352 yards to become the seventh Greyhound to throw for 4,000 yards after becoming the ninth Hound to reach 3,000 passing yards with a career-best 341 yards versus Dickinson College on November 9, 2019. Mills is also sixth all-time with 287 completions, ninth with 503 pass attempts and eighth with 27 touchdown passes. Senior wide receiver Cory Little needs just 67 kickoff return yards to become the fifth player in school history with 1,000 kickoff return yards in a career, and he is tied for sixth with 39 kickoff returns

THE CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Greyhounds are fifth in total offense in the Centennial Conference after the first two weeks of the season at 326.0 yards per game. Moravian is seventh in rushing offense at 71.0 yards per contest and fifth in passing offense at 255.0 yards per outing. The Hounds are eighth in the conference in scoring at 13.0 points per game, and the squad ranked second in scoring defense at 13.0 points per contest. Moravian is currently third in the conference in total defense, allowing just 280.0 yards per game. The Greyhounds are second in rushing defense at 42.5 yards per outing and seventh in passing defense at 237.5 yards per contest. Moravian is tied for eighth with a -0.5 turnover margin per game. Individually, freshman running back Nate Boyle is second in the Centennial Conference at 67.5 rushing yards per game while senior wide receiver Trevor Cunningham is third in receptions per game with 7.0, tied for fifth in scoring at 6.0 points per game and fourth in all-purpose yards at 127.0 per outing, all from receptions. Senior quarterback Christopher Mills is sixth in the conference in passing efficiency with a 105.8 rating while senior wide receiver Nick Petros is ninth in receptions per game at 5.5 and second in punting with an average of 39.9 yards per punt. Junior Trevor Yacuboski is tied for sixth in kick scoring at 4.0 points per game while senior defensive back Connor Lyon is second in punt return average at 11.5 yards per return and senior wide receiver Cory Little is third in kickoff returns with an average of 20.8 yards per runback. Defensively, senior linebacker Noah Breidinger is third in the conference at 10.0 tackles per game while senior defensive back Romello Walters is tied for 13th at 7.5 tackles per contest and sophomore linebacker Nick Levinski is tied for 21st at 6.5 tackles per outing.

THE NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Greyhounds have three players ranked in the top 50 in the latest NCAA Division III statistics. Senior wide receiver Trevor Cunningham is 15th in receiving yards with 254, 24th in receiving yards per game at 127.0 and 34th in receptions per game with 7.0. Senior quarterback Christopher Mills is 36th in passing yards with 509 while senior linebacker Noah Breidinger is 46th in tackles per game at 10.0. 

OVERTIME 'HOUNDS: Moravian has played a total of 11 overtime games since the NCAA instituted the rule for the 1996 season and is 8-3 all-time in the extra-session after defeating Gettysburg College, 16-13, on September 11, 2021. Five of those ten overtime games have been against Juniata College with the Greyhounds going 4-1 in those games. Moravian's contest in Huntingdon in 2008 marked the first time in the Greyhounds' have needed more than one overtime session in a game. The 2008 season also marked the third year that Moravian has played at least two overtimes games in one season, the other years were 1999 when the Greyhounds played three overtime games and 1997 when Moravian played two overtime contests.

SCOUTING SUSQUEHANNA UNIVERSITY: The River Hawks enter the game at 2-0 overall and 1-0 in Centennial Conference action after a 30-28, five-overtime win at Franklin & Marshall College last Saturday. Senior quarterback Michael Ruisch leads Susquehanna on the field as he has completed 40-of-73 passes for 476 yards with three touchdowns and an interception, and he is the River Hawks leading rusher at 111 yards on 19 carries with a pair of touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Sammy Darrell has caught a team-high 10 passes for 160 yards and two touchdowns while senior wide receiver Kyle Good has six receptions for 84 yards. Senior tight end Michael Lefever has caught seven passes for 74 yards while sophomore wide receiver Eddie Nugent has six receptions for 69 yards. Junior running back Frankie Negrini has 71 yards and two touchdowns on 14 carries while sophomore running back Will Cardew has 41 yards in 15 attempts. Good has returned six punts for 67 yards while Darrell has three kickoff returns for 42 yards. Senior kicker Elijah Hoffman is 2-for-4 on field goal attempts with a long of 37 yards, and he is 8-for-9 on extra points and averaging 60.4 yards on 12 kickoffs with one touchback. Senior punter Clay Olley is averaging 37.6 yards per punt on nine attempts with a long of 50 yards, one fair caught and one inside the 30-yard line. Senior linebacker Craig Roumes leads the Susquehanna defense with 13 tackles with two and a half for loss, a sack and two pass break-ups while senior linebacker Brendan Krumenacker has 12 tackles with two and a half tackles for loss. Senior defensive lineman Riley Gaughan has 11 tackles with one and a half tackles for loss, one and a half sacks and one blocked kick while senior linebacker Anthony Scicchitano has made 10 tackles. Junior defensive lineman Cameron Noble and freshman defensive back Andrew Wells each have 10 stops this fall as well while junior defensive back David Gilchrist has eight tackles with one for loss, one sack, two passes defended and an interception.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET: In Bethlehem in 2019, Moravian jumped out to an early 7-0 lead just two and a half minutes into action but the Greyhounds ended up falling to No. 21 Susquehanna University, 31-7, in Centennial Conference action at Rocco Calvo Field. The Blue and Grey had 238 yards in the game with 193 through the air as quarterback Christopher Mills completed 13-of-21 passes for 193 yards with a touchdown. That touchdown pass was on Moravian's first play of the game and covered 84 yards to wide receiver Eddie Olsen, who had three catches for 104 yards. Running back Carrington Smith had three receptions for 18 yards to go with nine carries for 25 yards on the ground. Running back Roberto Diez had 40 yards on eight carries and caught two passes for 26 yards while wide receiver Andrew Lelie had two receptions for 22 yards. Running back Sherwin Stewart added 19 yards on five carries while catching one pass for four years. Wide receiver Trevor Cunningham caught one pass for 11 yards while fullback Sal Pagano had one reception for eight yards. Defensive back Jackson Buskirk led the Moravian defense with nine tackles to go with one pass break-up while linebacker Nicholas Azpeitia made eight tackles in his first career start. Linebacker Tanner Barr, defensive lineman Shane Mastro and defensive lineman Austin Heisler all had seven tackles with Barr making one for loss. Defensive back Justin McRae added six stops with an interception and three passes defended while defensive back Renard Nicholson had five tackles. Defensive lineman PJ Weierbach contributed three tackles with a pass break-up and a fumble recovery while defensive lineman Brady Hornbaker forced a fumble. Moravian's defense forced the River Hawks to punt after three plays on the game's opening drive, but the Greyhounds would be pinned back at their own 16-yard line. On the Hounds' first play, Mills found Olsen behind the Susquehanna defense with about a 30-yard pass, and Olsen out-ran the River Hawks for the 84-yard touchdown. Kicker Trevor Yacuboski split the uprights to give Moravian a 7-0 lead just 2:23 into the contest. The River Hawks moved down into the red zone on their third possession of the afternoon before a fumbled exchange on a handoff ended up on the ground with Weierbach covering the fumble for the Greyhounds to give the Blue and Grey the ball at their own three-yard line. Susquehanna would force Moravian to punt and would convert a short field into a 29-yard field goal early in the second quarter to cut the Greyhounds' lead to 7-3 with 11:54 until the intermission. The River Hawks scored their first touchdown of the afternoon on the next drive, the first of two touchdowns in 13 seconds, after a strip sack led to another score to give Susquehanna a 17-7 lead with 6:06 left in the second quarter. The River Hawks scored once more in the first half with nine seconds left in the half to take a 24-7 edge into the locker room. The teams played a scoreless third quarter with McRae's interception ending a drive in the middle of the quarter. The fourth quarter saw the River Hawks score again with 4:29 remaining to finish off the scoring in the contest.