Moravian Travels to McDaniel College for Centennial Conference Game on October 30

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football squad heads to McDaniel College on Saturday, October 30 for a Centennial Conference contest. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Kenneth R. Gill Stadium in Westminster, Maryland. 

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 272 games for Moravian since 1994 with a 129-142-1 record.
     McDaniel coach Demarcus White (Iona '07) is in his third year as head coach with a 4-13 mark. 

THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting will be the 25th in the series with Moravian holding a 14-10 advantage. The Green Terror won 13-10 in the final minute when the squads last met in 2019 at Rocco Calvo Field in Bethlehem while the Hounds recorded a 14-9 victory on the road in 2018. Saturday's game will also be the first not in the month of September since the Greyhounds joined the Centennial Conference in 2007 as Moravian and McDaniel had met in the first week of conference action each season. The last time they played this late in the year was in 2002 when McDaniel won an ECAC Bowl Game, 21-7, on November 23. McDaniel was formerly known as Western Maryland College but the name changed in 2002. 

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. McDaniel was picked to finish eighth in the poll.

BALANCED & EXPERIENCED 'HOUNDS: Of the 84 players on the Moravian roster, 21 are freshmen, 13 are sophomores and 18 are juniors. There are 31 seniors including two fifth-year players on this season's squad, and the Greyhounds return 43 letterwinners and eight starters from 2019.

THE QUARTERBACKS: Senior Christopher Mills has completed 114-of-215 passes for 1,409 yards this season with six touchdowns, eight interceptions and a long of 80 yards. He has also carried the ball 28 times and been sacked 18 times. Junior Brad Bryan saw his first career action against Susquehanna University and has a total of five pass attempts and three rushing attempts for eight yards. 

IN THE BACKFIELD: Sophomore Nate Boyle leads the Moravian rushing attack with 366 yards and two touchdowns on 80 carries including a 52-yard run at King's College while senior Carrington Smith has added 151 yards on 50 attempts. Junior Angelo Macera has contributed 43 yards on 16 carries while sophomore Isaac Cherry has 32 yards on 10 carries.

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, and junior Nate Bendekovits saw playing time at right tackle against Johns Hopkins University and started versus Dickinson College and Ursinus College. Sophomore Javal Reyes saw playing time at left tackle against Ursinus as well. 

THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds have had 12 different players catch a pass this season led by senior Nick Petros, who has 40 receptions for 502 yards and two touchdowns including a 59-yard score against Dickinson College. Senior Trevor Cunningham has 29 catches for 517 yards and three touchdowns including one of 74 yards at King's College and another for 78 yards at Juniata College while freshman wide receiver Jordan Lewis has 11 receptions for 99 yards. Sophomore running back Nate Boyle has caught nine passes for 56 yards while senior wide receiver Cory Little has seven catches for 53 yards. Sophomore wide receiver Tim Garlick has added five receptions for 91 yards while senior running back Carrington Smith has four catches for 11 yards. Junior tight end Ethan Deater also has four catches for 23 yards while junior tight end Chris Carpini has two receptions this fall for 15 yards. Junior running back Angelo Macera has one catch for 14 yards and a touchdown while junior wide receiver Nick Basenese has one reception for 24 yards and senior defensive back Romello Walters has one catch for four yards while playing on both sides of the ball against Susquehanna University.

DEFENSIVE FRONT: Junior Javi Espinal-Katz leads the Moravian defensive line with 35 tackles including nine tackles for loss, four and a half sacks, two quarterback hurries and four pass break-ups. Senior Brady Hornbaker has 22 stops with seven and a half tackles for loss, one and a half sacks and a fumble recovery while senior Collin Frost has 15 stops with a half a tackle for loss. Senior Brandon Nemeth has made nine tackles with a half a tackle for loss while junior Riley Brody has made five tackles with one for loss. Sophomore Jabir Abdallah has contributed four tackles as has freshman Paul DeFalco, who also has one tackle for loss and a half a sack. Junior Bryan Bendig and senior Matt Eroh have each added two tackles. 

THE LINEBACKER CORPS: Senior Noah Breidinger leads the linebackers with 39 tackles including three for loss, three passes defended, an interception and a forced fumble. Senior Nicholas Azpeitia has added 27 tackles with two tackles for loss, one sack, a blocked kick, and a fumble recovery while sophomore Nick Levinski has 25 tackles with two for loss, two sacks and a quarterback hurry. Senior Francis Lagreca has recorded 17 tackles with two for loss and a half a sack while freshman Jeremiah Espinosa has also made 17 tackles with a pass break-up. Junior Jack Gawlik has 12 tackles with one and a half tackles for loss, a sack, three pass break-ups and a quarterback hurry while senior Matt McNally has made seven stops. Sophomore Colin Conway has added seven stops with a half a tackle for loss and half a sack while senior Brian Harris has made five tackles. Sophomore Chris Ortalano has added two tackles. 

THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Freshman Chad Newhard leads the defensive backfield and the entire Moravian defense with 45 tackles, four and a half tackles for loss, two and a half sacks and an interception he returned six yards. Senior Romello Walters also has 45 tackles to go with four pass break-ups, an interception with a 15-yard return for a total of five passes defended, three forced fumbles. a fumble recovery and a half a tackle for loss, and Walters has also seen action as a linebacker. Senior Jackson Buskirk has recorded 36 tackles with one and a half for loss, an interception returned 29 yards, three passes defended and a forced fumble while senior Justin McRae has added 32 stops with one tackle for loss and two pass break-ups. Senior Connor Lyon has contributed 30 tackles, an interception for a 22-yard return and two passes defended while junior Ethen Aquino has 12 tackles. Graduate student Renard Nicholson has nine tackles and a fumble recovery while senior Jalen Richardson has six tackles, a half a tackle for loss and four pass break-ups and sophomore Matt Blazofsky has made four tackles. Junior Stefan Lorick and sophomore Ben Carlin each have three tackles while junior Joe Voitek has made one stop. 

KICKING GAME: Junior Trevor Yacuboski is 5-for-10 on field goal attempts this season with a long of 39 yards, and he is also 8-for-8 on extra-points. Yacuboski has kicked off 19 times for an average of 50.1 yards, and he has punted 23 times for an average of 34.2 yards with 13 fair caught, six inside the 20-yard line and one blocked while recording one tackle. Senior Nick Petros has punted 13 times with an average of 35.9 yards per punt, and he has a long of 50 yards, one fair caught and three inside the 20-yard line this season.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Senior wide receiver Cory Little has returned 11 kickoffs for 256 yards, and he has recorded two tackles while senior defensive back Romello Walters has 11 kickoff returns for 258 yards. Senior defensive back Jalen Richardson has returned five kickoffs for 88 yards and junior defensive back Ethen Aquino has one kickoff return for 29 yards. Senior defensive back Connor Lyon has five punt returns for 10 yards while senior linebacker Noah Breidinger has 16 yards on one rushing attempt on a fake punt versus Johns Hopkins University. Freshman wide receiver Nick Weston has made three tackles while senior long snapper R.J. Guffy has recorded a pair of tackles. Junior wide receiver Nick Basenese, junior running back Angelo Macera, sophomore wide receiver Tim Garlick and senior wide receiver Joe LePoidevin each have one tackle on special teams.

MILESTONE WATCH: The Greyhounds have four players closing in on milestones for their careers. Senior wide receiver Nick Petros is second in school history with 2,290 receiving yards, and he needs 410 yards to break the school record. Petros is the school record holder with 160 receptions and 19 career touchdown receptions. He is tied for sixth with a 35.8 career punting average on 150 punts (sixth all-time) for 5,376 yards (fifth in school history). Senior quarterback Christopher Mills became the seventh Greyhound to throw for 4,000 yards, moving past the milestone at Juniata College. Mills, who is now sixth in program history with 4,546 yards, is also sixth all-time with 362 completions, sixth with 642 pass attempts and seventh with 31 touchdown passes. Senior wide receiver Cory Little became the fifth player in school history with 1,000 kickoff return yards in a career, now with 1,064 yards, and he is sixth with 44 kickoff returns. Senior defensive back Jackson Buskirk has moved into a tie sixth in the Moravian record books with 171 career solo tackles. Buskirk has registered 258 career stops.

THE CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Greyhounds are sixth in total offense in the Centennial Conference after seven games at 281.1yards per game. Moravian is eighth in rushing offense at 80.0 yards per contest and sixth in passing offense at 201.1 yards per outing. The Hounds are ninth in the conference in scoring at 11.0 points per game, and the squad ranked eighth in scoring defense at 28.0 points per contest. Moravian is currently sixth in the conference in total defense, allowing just 333.6 yards per game. The Greyhounds are eighth in rushing defense at 122.7 yards per outing and sixth in passing defense at 209.9 yards per contest. Individually, senior wide receiver Nick Petros ranks sixth in receptions per game at 5.7 and sixth in receiving yards per game at 71.6. Senior quarterback Christopher Mills is sixth in the conference in passing efficiency with a 109.8 rating while senior defensive back Connor Lyon is seventh in punt returns with five. Junior kicker Trevor Yacuboski is tenth in kick scoring at 3.3 points per game. Defensively, senior linebacker Noah Breidinger is tied for 13th in the conference at 6.5 tackles per game while senior defensive back Romello Walters is tied for 14th at 6.4 tackles per contest, tied for first in the conference with three forced fumbles and third in kickoff returns with an average of 23.5 yards per return. Freshman defensive back Chad Newhard is tied for 14th with 6.4 stops per outing.

THE NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Greyhounds have one player ranked in the top 50 in the latest NCAA Division III statistics. Senior defensive back Romello Walters is tied for eighth in forced fumbles per game at 0.43, and he is 46th in kickoff returns with an average of 23.5 yards per return.

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 McDANIEL: The Green Terror enter the game at 1-6 overall and 1-5 in Centennial Conference action after a 45-16 loss to No. 19 Susquehanna University last weekend. McDaniel is led on the field by senior quarterback John Allan Furgeson, who is 91-of-177 for 1,036 yards with two touchdowns and 11 interceptions. His top targets have been junior wide receiver Sean Carter, who has 16 receptions for 164 yards and a score, sophomore wide receiver, who has caught 12 passes for 170 yards, and senior wide receiver Cameron Garcia, who has 11 receptions for 112 yards and a touchdown. Junior wide receivers Matteo DeGennaro and Marcus Sessoms both have 10 catches with DeGennaro adding 137 yards and Sessoms contributing 201 yards and a touchdown. Senior running back Diondre Carter leads the Green Terror rushing attach with 256 yards on 63 attempts, and he also has eight catches for 32 yards and a score. Junior running back Trent Gaskins has added 91 yards on 38 attempts. Carter has returned 22 kickoffs for 492 yards while graduate student running back Aaron Pray III has four punt returns for 42 yards. Senior Peyton Delinger is 5-for-8 on field goals with a long of 32 yards, and his is 7-of-8 on extra points. Denlinger is also averaging 34.3 yards per punt on 35 attempts with a long of 57 yards, 13 fair caught, 10 inside the 20-yard line and two blocked. Graduate student defensive back Nah'shon Godfrey leads the McDaniel defense with 59 tackles to go with two tackles for loss, three interceptions, eight passes defended, two fumble recoveries, a forced fumble and a blocked kick. Senior defensive back Habeeb Nana has contributed 41 tackles with one for loss and a pair of pass break-ups while senior defensive lineman Mason Brown has added 38 tackles with four for loss, one sack and a fumble recovery of 17 yards. Senior linebacker Anthony Gorgone has also made 38 tackles with three and a half for loss while senior linebacker Kai Leibfried has 36 stops with two for loss, an interception and three passes defended. Sophomore defensive lineman Tasir Money and senior defensive lineman Sam Welcher each had 31 tackles with Money adding five tackles for loss, two sacks and a fumble recovery and Welcher contributing eight tackles for loss, six and a half sacks, three forced fumbles and a pair of blocked kicks. 

THE LAST TIME THEY MET: In Bethlehem in 2019, Moravian held a lead through most of the first half and the majority of the fourth quarter until visiting McDaniel College scored its only touchdown of the game with 12 seconds remaining to earn a 13-10 victory over the host Greyhounds at Rocco Calvo Field in the Centennial Conference opener for each school. The Hounds dropped their first home game of the season as the squad turned the ball over seven times and had a punt blocked while still having the lead late into the fourth. Moravian picked up 283 yards on 73 plays while holding onto the ball for 31:35, and the Blue and Grey defense limited the Green Terror to 215 yards. Quarterback Christopher Mills was 16-for-35 with a touchdown and 198 yards while being intercepted three times. Wide receiver Nick Petros caught eight passes for 100 yards to go with a touchdown. Wide receiver Cory Little had two catches for 45 yards while wide receiver Andrew Lelie added two receptions for 21 yards and wide receiver Romello Walters had two catches for 17 yards. Running back Roberto Diez ran for 72 yards on 22 yards for Moravian while running back Carrington Smith added 14 yards on six attempts. Walters had one carry for three yards while Mills picked up two yards on five attempts while being sacked three times. Linebacker Noah Breidinger led the Hounds' defense with 10 tackles and two pass break-ups while linebacker Austin Heisler had six stops with one and a half sacks and two tackles for loss. Linebacker Tanner Barr and defensive back Jackson Buskirk both had five tackles with Barr adding one and a half for loss and Buskirk breaking up two passes to go with one tackle for loss. Defensive lineman Shane Mastro also had five tackles to go with one and a half sacks and two tackles for loos while defensive lineman PJ Weierbach and defensive back Connor Lyon each had four tackles with Weierbach making one behind the line of scrimmage. Moravian received the opening kickoff of the game and would get into the red zone after a pair of fourth down conversion runs by Diez. The drive stalled at the three-yard line when kicker Jack Coary came in to make a 21-yard field goal with 10:18 left in the first quarter as the Blue and Grey took an early 3-0 lead. The Moravian advantage would hold up through the rest of the first half as the Hounds had three drives end on interceptions, one on a fumbled snap and one with a punt. McDaniel had a pair of chances to tie the game in the second quarter but missed field goals of 28 and 30 yards. The Hounds fumbled after a Petros reception on the squad's first possession of the second half, and the Green Terror turned the miscue into a 36-yard field goal to knot the game at 3-3 with 8:52 left in the third quarter. The squads traded punts until early in the fourth quarter when a 10-yard punt return by Buskirk had the Moravian set up at the McDaniel 25-yard line. On fourth and 11 from the 26, Mills found a leaping Petros in the end zone for a touchdown. Brendan Morgans connected on his first career extra-point to put the Hounds back in front, 10-3. Morgans also had three punts for an average of 53.7 yards. The Blue and Grey's next drive ended with Morgans being blocked on a punt attempt. McDaniel had a short field, but the Moravian defense held and forced a 42-yard field goal to cut the Hounds' edge to 10-6 with 5:10 remaining. As Moravian looked to drive down the field and run out the clock, Mills found sophomore tight end Matt Nimas for a 22-yard reception to move past midfield. However, Nimas was stripped of the ball as he went to the ground and the Green Terror took over at their own 45-yard line. McDaniel found the end zone with 12 seconds remaining on a nine-yard touchdown pass with 12 seconds to play. Moravian had one final play from near midfield, but quarterback David LePoidevin had his pass intercepted inside the 10-yard line.