Greyhounds to Host Franklin & Marshall College for Senior Day on November 6

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football squad hosts Franklin & Marshall College on Saturday, November 6 for a Centennial Conference contest. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Rocco Calvo Field in Bethlehem as the Greyhounds play their final home game of 2021 and honor the 31 members of the senior class. 

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 273 games for Moravian since 1994 with a 130-142-1 record.
     Franklin & Marshall coach John Troxell (Lafayette '94) is in his 16th year as head coach with of 89-67 mark.

THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting will be the 33rd in the series with Franklin & Marshall owning a 23-9 advantage. The Greyhounds won the last meeting between the schools in 2019 with a 17-16 victory in Bethlehem while the Diplomats won the previous three contests including a 40-6 game in 2018 in Lancaster. Franklin & Marshall earned a win in the only postseason game between the two schools with a 37-20 victory in the 2004 ECAC Southwest Bowl in Lancaster. The Diplomats won the first eight games between the schools and 15 of the first 16 contests while the teams have split the last 16 games with eight wins apiece. 

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. Franklin & Marshall was picked to finish fourth 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.

CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE HONORS: Moravian University junior kicker/punter Trevor Yacuboski was named the Centennial Conference Special Teams Player of the Week. Yacuboski had a total of seven points in the Greyhounds' 37-31 double-overtime victory at McDaniel College as he went 4-for-4 on extra-point kicks, and his 29-yard field goal with just two seconds left in regulation sent the game into overtime. The field goal was Yacuboski's sixth of the season. He also punted four times for an average of 37.0 yards and two inside the 20-yard line, and Yacuboski kicked off five times with one touchback.

THE QUARTERBACKS: Senior Christopher Mills has completed 132-of-243 passes for 1,638 yards this season with nine touchdowns, nine interceptions and a long of 80 yards. He has also carried the ball 33 times with one touchdown, and he has been sacked 20 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. 

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, Ursinus College and McDaniel College. Sophomore Javal Reyes saw playing time at left tackle against Ursinus as well.

IN THE BACKFIELD: Sophomore Nate Boyle leads the Moravian rushing attack with 449 yards and three touchdowns on 95 carries including a 52-yard run at King's College while senior Carrington Smith has added 185 yards on 56 attempts. Junior Angelo Macera has contributed 43 yards on 16 carries while sophomore Isaac Cherry has 32 yards on 10 carries.

THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds have had 12 different players catch a pass this season led by senior Nick Petros, who has 50 receptions for 630 yards and three touchdowns including a 59-yard score against Dickinson College. Senior Trevor Cunningham has 31 catches for 551 yards and four touchdowns including one score 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 10 passes for 56 yards while sophomore wide receiver Tim Garlick has added eight receptions for 126 yards. Senior wide receiver Cory Little has seven catches for 53 yards while senior running back Carrington Smith has five catches for 32 yards. Junior tight end Ethan Deater also has four catches for 23 yards while junior tight end Chris Carpini has three receptions this fall for 26 yards and a touchdown. 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 42 tackles including nine tackles for loss, four and a half sacks, two quarterback hurries and five 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 also made 15 tackles with a half a tackle for loss while freshman Paul DeFalco has added eight tackles with one for loss and a half a sack. Junior Riley Brody has made five tackles with one for loss while sophomore Jabir Abdallah has contributed four tackles. 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 33 tackles with two tackles for loss, one sack, a blocked kick, and a fumble recovery while junior Nick Levinski has 25 tackles with two for loss, two sacks and a quarterback hurry. Freshman Jeremiah Espinosa has made 23 tackles with a pass break-up while senior Francis Lagreca has recorded 22 tackles with two for loss and a half a sack. 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 sophomore Colin Conway has added 11 stops with a half a tackle for loss and half a sack. Senior Matt McNally has made seven stops while senior Brian Harris has made six tackles. Sophomore Chris Ortalano has added two tackles. 

THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Senior Jackson Buskirk leads the defensive backfield and the entire Moravian defense with 54 tackles with one and a half for loss, an interception returned 29 yards, four passes defended and a forced fumble. Freshman Chad Newhard has recorded 53 tackles, four and a half tackles for loss, two and a half sacks and an interception he returned six yards. Senior Romello Walters has 49 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 Justin McRae has added 32 stops with one tackle for loss and two pass break-ups while senior Connor Lyon has contributed 31 tackles, an interception for a 22-yard return and two passes defended. Senior Jalen Richardson has 14 tackles, a half a tackle for loss and four pass break-ups while junior Ethen Aquino has 12 tackles. Graduate student Renard Nicholson has seven tackles and a fumble recovery while 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 6-for-11 on field goal attempts this season with a long of 39 yards, and he is also 12-for-12 on extra-points. Yacuboski has kicked off 24 times for an average of 48.2 yards with two touchbacks, and he has punted 27 times for an average of 34.6 yards with 13 fair caught, eight 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 eight kickoffs for 136 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 four tackles while senior long snapper R.J. Guffy and junior wide receiver Nick Basenese have each recorded a pair of tackles. 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 2,418 receiving yards, and he needs 282 yards to break the school record. Petros is the school record holder with 170 receptions and 20 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 4,775 yards, is also sixth all-time with 380 completions, sixth with 670 pass attempts and tied for sixth with 34 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 fifth in the Moravian record books with 179 career solo tackles. Buskirk has registered 276 career stops. 

THE CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Greyhounds are sixth in total offense in the Centennial Conference after eight games at 289.4 yards per game. Moravian is eighth in rushing offense at 84.8 yards per contest and sixth in passing offense at 204.6 yards per outing. The Hounds are ninth in the conference in scoring at 14.3 points per game, and the squad is ranked seventh in scoring defense at 28.4 points per contest. Moravian is currently sixth in the conference in total defense, allowing just 338.0 yards per game. The Greyhounds are ninth in rushing defense at 132.6 yards per outing and sixth in passing defense at 205.4 yards per contest. Individually, freshman running back Nate Boyle is tied for fourth in rushing yards per contest at 74.8 while senior wide receiver Nick Petros ranks fifth in receptions per game at 6.3 and sixth in receiving yards per game at 78.6. Senior quarterback Christopher Mills is sixth in the conference in passing efficiency with a 115.7 rating while senior wide receiver Trevor Cunningham is fourth in receiving yards per contest at 91.8 and eighth in receptions per outing at 5.2. Senior defensive back Connor Lyon is seventh in punt returns with five while junior kicker Trevor Yacuboski is seventh in kick scoring at 3.8 points per game. Defensively, senior defensive back Jackson Buskirk is fifth in the conference at 7.7 tackles per game while freshman defensive back Chad Newhard is tied for 13th with 6.6 stops per outing. Senior linebacker Noah Breidinger is tied for 15th in the conference at 6.5 tackles per game while senior defensive back Romello Walters is tied for 21st at 6.1 tackles per contest, tied for second in the conference with three forced fumbles and second in kickoff returns with an average of 23.5 yards per return.. 

THE NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Greyhounds have three players ranked in the top 50 in the latest NCAA Division III statistics. Senior defensive back Romello Walters is tied for 15th in forced fumbles per game at 0.38. Senior wide receiver Nick Petros is 39th in receptions per game at 6.2 while senior wide receiver Trevor Cunningham is 43rd in receiving yards per game at 91.8.

OVERTIME 'HOUNDS: Moravian has played a total of 12 overtime games since the NCAA instituted the rule for the 1996 season and is 9-3 all-time in the extra-session after defeating Gettysburg College, 16-13, on September 11, 2021, and McDaniel College, 37-31, in double overtime on October 30, 2021. Five of those 12 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 2021 season marks the fourth year that Moravian has played at least two overtimes games in one season, the other years were 2008 when the Hounds played two overtime contests, 1999 when the Greyhounds played three overtime games and 1997 when Moravian played two overtime contests.

SCOUTING FRANLKLIN & MARSHALL COLLEGE: The Diplomats enter the game at 3-5 overall and 3-4 in Centennial Conference action after a 27-10 loss to No. 17 Muhlenberg College last weekend. Franklin & Marshall is led on the field by freshman Logan Clouse, who is 99-of-188 for 985 yards with seven touchdowns and eight interceptions. His top targets have been freshman wide receiver Jack O'Hearen, who has 24 catches for 308 yards and four scores, senior tight end Drew Benfatti, who has 19 receptions for 166 yards and two touchdowns, sophomore wide receiver Ben Moir, who has 15 catches for 133 yards, and junior wide receiver Tim Walters, who has 14 receptions for 163 yards. Freshman running back Jermaine Conyers leads the Diplomats rushing attack with 454 yards and two touchdowns on 127 carries while senior running back Keshon Farmer has 449 yards and six touchdowns on 110 carries. Senior defensive back Dan DiBeneditto has 11 punt returns for 91 yards while sophomore wide receiver Trey Glass has seven punt returns for 95 yards and 14 catches for 170 yards in just four games due to injury. Freshman defensive back Matt Scully has returned 15 kickoffs for 362 yards while sophomore running back Nate Costley has six kickoff returns for 120 yards. Junior Jack Rodenberger is 16-for-16 on extra-points this season, and he is 3-for-8 on field goal attempts with a long of 40 yards. Senior linebacker Calvin Krippner leads the Franklin & Marshall defense with 57 tackles to go with five and a half tackles for loss and two pass break-ups. DiBenditto has added 44 tackles with two and a half for loss, a sack, two interceptions and eight passes defended while junior defensive lineman Kavonte Beard has 34 stops with 12 and a half for loss, three sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Junior defensive back Kell Hall has made 33 tackles with two and a half for loss, an interception and five passes defended while senior linebacker Luke Strauss and senior defensive lineman Peyton Snopek both had 31 tackles with Strauss adding three and a half tackles for loss, one and a half sacks and two pass break-ups and Snopek contributing five tackles for loss and a pair of sacks.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET: In Bethlehem in 2019, Moravian scored with just over four minutes to play to take a one-point lead, 17-16, over visiting Franklin & Marshall College and then survived a last second field goal attempt to earn the victory in Centennial Conference action. The Greyhounds had 254 yards of offense on 51 plays led by quarterback Christopher Mills, who was 18-for-28 for 177 yards with a pair of touchdown passes. Wide receiver Nick Petros caught five passes for 43 yards and a touchdown while wide receiver Alex Pierce had four receptions for 74 yards. Wideout Andrew Lelie also had four catches for 36 yards while running back Roberto Diez had four receptions for 19 yards to go with 46 rushing yards on 12 attempts. Wide receiver Cory Little had one catch for a five-yard touchdown, his first career score, to go along with one kickoff return of 47 yards that setup Moravian's first touchdown of the day. Running back Sherwin Stewart added 39 rushing yards on seven carries. Kicker Trevor Yacuboski made a career-long 42-yard field goal, two extra-points and kicked off three times while Petros was called on four times to punt and averaged 39.8 yards with a long of 51 yards. Defensive back Jackson Buskirk led the Greyhounds with 10 tackles including two for loss while defensive end Austin Heisler added seven stops with a half a sack that he combined on with defensive lineman Christian Coia, who had five tackles. Linebacker Wes Asche and defensive lineman Mike O'Hagan each had six stops with Asche adding a half a tackle for loss while linebacker Tanner Barr made five tackles with one and a half for loss and blocked an extra-point that ended up being the difference in the game. Defensive back Tim Valentine, defensive end Brady Hornbaker and linebacker Nicholas Azpeitia all had four stops with Hornbaker making one tackle for loss and breaking up one pass. The teams played a quick first quarter with each team having the ball twice but neither team scoring. The Diplomats would get onto the scoreboard on the third play of the second quarter when Jack Rodenberger connected on a 22-yard field goal attempt. Little took the ensuing kickoff past midfield to set up Moravian's offense. After a 19-yard pass from Mills to Pierce and a 17-yard run by Stewart, the Greyhounds were in the red zone. Mills finished off the drive with an 8-yard touchdown pass to Petros, who dove inside the right pylon for the score. Yacuboski split the uprights to put the Hounds up 7-3 with 10:23 left in the first half. Moravian's defense forced F&M to turn the ball over on downs on the next drive with a pair of incomplete passes outside the red zone. The Hounds took over and put together a 13-play, 43-yard drive that took over five minutes off of the clock. Facing a fourth-and-goal from the 25-yard line due to penalty, Yacuboski came on and hit his 42-yard field goal to push the lead to 10-3 with 43 seconds before the intermission. However, the seven-point edge didn't last long as the Diplomats scored on a 65-yard touchdown pass from Garrett Perschy to Mack Focht on the first play for F&M to send the teams to the locker room knotted at 10-10. The Diplomats had the ball first in the second half and put together a seven-play, 65-yard drive to take the lead on an 11-yard touchdown run by Keshon Farmer. On the extra-point attempt by Rodenberger, Barr came through the middle and blocked the kick to keep it a 16-10 lead for F&M with 10:40 still to go in the third quarter. The next four drives ended in punts before Moravian took over on its own 22-yard line with 9:17 to play. Diez started the possession with a 10-yard run, and then he caught a nine-yard pass from Mills for another first down. After a pair of Stewart runs moved the ball past midfield, Mills hit Lelie with a 19-yard pass to get the Blue and Grey into the red zone. Petros pulled in a 15-yard pass to set up first and goal, and one the next play, Mills found Little wide open in the end zone. Yacuboski split the uprights again to put the Greyhounds ahead 17-16 with 4:04 on the clock. F&M had a second-and-25 on the next drive before Perschy found Tim Walter with a 46-yard pass play. The Diplomats eventually moved inside the 10-yard line and called a timeout with three seconds left to set up a 26-yard field goal attempt by Rodenberger. However, the kick sailed wide right as the horn sounded to give Moravian its first home victory of 2019 after losing once at home in the final 15 second and another time by seven points.