Moravian Set to Open 2022 Centennial Conference Season Versus Gettysburg on September 10 for Annual Family Day Contest

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football team hosts Gettysburg College on Saturday, September 10 for the first Centennial Conference game of the 2022 season. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Rocco Calvo Field in Bethlehem as the Greyhounds celebrate Family Day. 

THE COACHES: Jeff Pukszyn (Moravian '98) is entering his 12th 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 276 games for Moravian since 1994 with a 130-145-1 record.
     Gettysburg coach Maurice Banks (Georgetown '06) is in his second year with the Bullets. 

THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting will be the 20th between the schools with the Bullets leading the series 11-8. Moravian has won the last two meetings between the two squads with a 16-13 overtime triumph at Gettysburg last fall and a 32-28 victory in Gettysburg back in 2019. The Greyhounds have captured six of the last eight contests. The Bullets' last win in the series was a 28-14 triumph at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium in 2017.

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 poll. Gettysburg was picked ninth in the poll. Moravian is playing its final season in the Centennial Conference in 2022 with the Landmark Conference scheduled to begin football in the fall of 2023 as Lycoming College and Wilkes University become full Landmark Conference members.

BALANCED & EXPERIENCED 'HOUNDS: Of the 84 players on the Moravian roster, 34 are freshmen, 24 are sophomores and 15 are juniors. There are eight seniors and three fifth-year players on this season's squad, and the Greyhounds return 39 letterwinners and five starters from 2021. 

WEEKLY GAME CAPTAINS: The Hounds will be selecting captains on a weekly basis in 2022 with junior running back Nate Boyle, junior linebacker Nick Levinski and sophomore defensive lineman Jeremy McGuigan serving as captains for this weekend's game versus Gettysburg.

THE QUARTERBACKS: Sophomore Jared Jenkins, who transferred to Moravian from NCAA Division II Millersville University of Pennsylvania where he completed 49-of-88 passes for 640 yards with six touchdowns and three interceptions, has earned the starting job in preseason camp. Jenkins has completed 15-of-29 passes for 210 yards with a touchdown and an interception in 2022. He has also carried the ball 17 times while being sacked seven times.

IN THE BACKFIELD: Junior Nate Boyle leads the Moravian rushing attack with 59 yards on 24 carries this season while senior Angelo Macera has contributed seven yards on a pair of rushing attempts.

THE OFFENSIVE LINE: Moravian has one returner with game experience on the offensive line in junior Javal Reyes at right guard. The Greyhounds add four other new starters to the starting offensive line sophomore Reins Leedy at left tackle, sophomore Riley Craft at left guard, sophomore Brandon Guffy at center and freshman Tyler Herring at right tackle. The Greyhounds' front five has an average size of 6-2, 287. 

THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds have had six different players catch a pass this year led by junior wide receiver Tim Garlick, who has six receptions for 77 yards. Junior wide receiver Brad Bryan has four catches for 83 yards with a long of 44 yards in his first year at the position while sophomore wide receiver Jordan Lewis has two receptions for 22 yards. Junior running back Nate Boyle has caught one pass for 21 yards while senior tight end Chris Carpini has one catch for seven yards and a touchdown and sophomore wide receiver Brandon Grace has one reception. 

DEFENSIVE FRONT: Sophomore Prince Sokpo leads the Moravian defensive front with six tackles, one and a half tackle for loss, a quarterback sack and a pass break-up while senior Javi Espinal-Katz has four tackles, one and a half tackles for loss and half a sack. Sophomore Jeremy McGuigan has one tackle that was a quarterback sack and a forced fumble while junior Jabir Abdallah and freshman EJ Harveyboth also have one stop.

THE LINEBACKER CORPS: Junior Nick Levinski leads the linebackers with nine tackles, a tackle for loss and a sack while junior Colin Conway has added eight stops with a tackle for loss and a forced fumble. Sophomore Jeremiah Espinosa and freshman Drew Bailey both have four tackles with Espinosa making one tackle for loss and Bailey adding half a quarterback sack. Freshman Clay Basille has two tackles while junior Chris Ortalano, freshman Joshua Ruela and freshman Jashon Teller all have one tackle with Teller adding a half a tackle for loss.

THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Graduate student Romello Walters leads the entire defense with 13 tackles including a half a tackle for loss to go along with forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Sophomore Chad Newhard has contributed eight tackles with a half a tackle for loss while sophomore Isaiah Johnson has seven stops. Junior Matt Blazofsky has added three tackles while freshman Zach Scillia has one stop this season.

KICKING GAME: Sophomore Sam Bingaman is 2-for-2 on field goal attempts with a long of 41 yards at TCNJ on his first attempt as a Greyhound, and he is also 1-for-1 on extra points. Bingaman has also punted seven times with an average of 39.9 yards to go with a long of 50 yards and one inside the 20-yard line. Senior Trevor Yacuboski has kicked off four times for an average of 56.5 yards. 

SPECIAL TEAMS: Junior wide receiver Brad Bryan has two kickoff returns for 35 yards while sophomore wide receiver Will Castel has returned a pair of kickoffs for 23 yards. Freshman wide receiver Tre Crenshaw has returned one kickoff for 16 yards. Senior running back Angelo Macera has added a pair of tackles on special teams while sophomore wide receiver Nick Weston and Bryan each have one tackle.

MILESTONE WATCH: The Greyhounds have one player closing in on milestones for his careers. Senior kicker Trevor Yacuboski is tied for seventh with 10 career field goals made, and he is 13th in total kicking points with 53.

SCOUTING GETTYSBURG COLLEGE: The Bullets began their 2022 season with a 29-14 non-conference loss versus Bridgewater (Va.) College last weekend. Senior quarterback Logan Edmond leads Gettysburg on the field having completed 15-of-24 passes for 180 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and he also has run for 68 yards and a touchdown on 11 attempts to lead the Bullets' rushing attack. Senior quarterback Mason Stolarik has completed 6-of-14 passes for 51 yards with an interception. Junior wide receiver Ryan McAndrew has four receptions for 104 yards while junior tight end Hunter Klein has three catches for 43 yards. Junior quarterback Aidan Feulner has a team high six receptions for 30 yards while senior running back Sebastian Gibbs has two catches with a touchdown and nine rushing attempts for 32 yards. Senior running back Nick Riggio has rushed for 22 yards on seven carries and has caught one pass for five yards. Junior running back Peter Schelling has contributed 22 yards on five carries while freshman running back Josh Semaski has 11 yards on one rushing attempt. Junior wide receiver Mike Galos has caught two passes for 33 yards while senior wide receiver Teddy Girton has two receptions for 22 yards. Gibbs has also returned four kickoffs for 52 yards while Girton has one kickoff return for 17 yards and one punt return for 15 yards. Senior kicker Doug Cummings has kicked off three times for an average of 64.3 yards, punted four times for 41.8 yards with a long of 49 yards, one touchback and two fair caught and made both extra-point attempts. Freshman defensive back Josh Williams leads the Gettysburg defense with 12 tackles with a half a tackle for loss and two pass break-ups. Junior defensive back Chris Lessel has added seven tackles while junior linebacker Mike del Grande and junior defensive back John Kelter both have registered six tackles with del Grande making one for loss. Senior linebacker Tommy Megna has the Bullets' only sack as part of his four tackles while junior defensive back Matt Mikulka and freshman linebacker Alex Estes each have five tackles.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET: In Gettysburg in last fall, Moravian rallied from a 10-0 halftime deficit to tie the game on the final play of regulation and then post a 16-13 overtime win. The Greyhounds had the first opportunity to score on their opening drive, but kicker Trevor Yacuboski had his 32-yard field goal attempt sail wide left. The squads would trade punts in the only other two drives of a quickly played first quarter. The Bullets threatened on their second possession of the game as they drove down to the one-yard line where the Moravian defense stood tall with linebacker Noah Breidinger forcing a fumble that was recovered by defensive lineman Brady Hornbaker. The Hounds punted after three plays, and Gettysburg would have a short field and take the lead on the ensuing drive, leading 7-0 with 6:16 left in the second quarter. Moravian quarterback Christopher Mills was intercepted on the first play of the Hounds' next drive, and the Bullets turned the miscue into points with a 44-yard field goal to take a 10-0 lead with 3:09 before the intermission. The Greyhounds looked to answer before heading to the locker room, but Mills was intercepted at the goal line with just 57 seconds left on the clock. Gettysburg started with the ball in the second half and drove down to attempt a 47-yard field goal, but the kick sailed wide right. Moravian took over for its first possession of the third quarter and would get into the red zone once again, however; Mills was intercepted at the goal line for a second time. After forcing the Bullets into a punt, the Blue and Grey would head into the red zone only to have Mills' pass attempt into the end zone and tipped for another interception for Gettysburg. The Hounds defense forced a punt early in the fourth quarter, and the offense would find the red zone once more, this time getting on the scoreboard on a 24-yard field goal from Yacuboski to cut the deficit to 10-3 with 10:16 to play. Gettysburg responded with a 16-play drive that took 7:48 off the clock but would end with a missed field goal to give Moravian possession. The Greyhounds started at their own 24-yard line, and Mills was sacked on the first play. Mills responded with completions to wide receiver Trevor Cunningham for 15, 10 and 10 yards, wide receiver Nick Petros for 22 yards and wide receiver Jordan Lewis for 22 yards to move down the six-yard line. After a penalty on the Bullets, Mills found Cunningham with a three-yard touchdown pass on the final play of the fourth quarter. Yacuboski would split the uprights with the extra-point to knot the game at 10-10 and force overtime. Moravian's defense would limit the Bullets to six yards in the overtime, and Gettysburg settled for a 36-yard field goal and a 13-10 lead. On the Greyhounds' opening play of overtime, Mills found Cunningham with a 23-yard pass to the two-yard line. Running back Nate Boyle had back-to-back one-yard runs, the second ending in the end zone to give the Hounds a 16-13 win. Moravian played its 11th overtime game since the NCAA instituted the rule in 1996, and the Hounds are now 8-3 in overtime. The contest was the Greyhounds' first overtime game since the 2008 season. The Hounds had 367 yards of total offense including 327 in the air while limiting Gettysburg to 270 yards in the game. Mills completed 27-of-46 passes for 327 yards with one touchdown and four interceptions. Cunningham had career highs of 12 receptions and 167 yards to go with a touchdown catch, and the 12 receptions were just one shy of the Moravian single game record. Petros added six receptions for 59 yards. Lewis made the first two catches of his career for 31 yards while wide receiver Cory Little had four catches for 27 yards to go with three kickoff returns for 87 yards. Boyle finished with 55 yards and his first collegiate touchdown on 16 carries while running back Carrington Smith added two rushing attempts for seven yards to go with one catch for 26 yards. Wide receiver Tim Garlick had his first career reception for 10 yards while tight end/fullback Ethan Deater had one catch for seven yards. Yacuboski punted twice for 59 yards, and he averaged 57.5 yards on three kickoffs. Defensive back Connor Lyon returned a pair of punts for 23 yards. Breidinger led the Moravian defense with 14 tackles with two tackles for loss and a forced fumble while defensive back Chad Newhard had nine stops. Linebacker Nick Levinski contributed eight tackles and a quarterback hurry while defensive back Romello Walters had seven stops and a pass break-up. Defensive back Matt McNally made six tackles in his first career start while Hornbaker, defensive back Justin McRae and linebacker Nicholas Azpeitia each had four stops. Hornbaker added two tackles for loss and a fumble recovery while McRae had one pass break-up and Azpeitia had a half a tackle for loss. Defensive lineman Francis Lagreca and defensive lineman Javi Espinal-Katz combined for the Greyhounds' only sack of the afternoon.

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 including a pair of overtimes wins in 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 marked 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. 

THE CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The rankings will begin next week after the first weekend of conference games.