Greyhounds Set to Host No. 21 Muhlenberg to Begin 2024 Season on September 7
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football team hosts rival Muhlenberg College to kickoff the 2024 season with a non-conference game on Saturday, September 7. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Rocco Calvo Field in Bethlehem, and the game will be broadcast by Service Electric Sports.
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football team hosts rival Muhlenberg College to kickoff the 2024 season with a non-conference game on Saturday, September 7. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Rocco Calvo Field in Bethlehem, and the game will be broadcast by Service Electric Sports.
THE COACHES: Jeff Long (Muhlenberg '14) is entering his second season as Moravian's head coach. Last fall in his debut campaign, Long led the Greyhounds to a 4-6 overall record and a 3-3 slate in the inaugural Landmark Conference season. He coached eight Landmark All-Conference selections including five First Team honorees. Long has spent the last six seasons with the Blue Streaks including the last three years as defensive coordinator. He began his time at John Carroll as the defensive line coach and has also been a secondary coach and linebackers coach. Prior to coaching at John Carroll, Long spent two seasons as a defensive line coach at Wilkes University, and he also worked as a scouting intern for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015.
Muhlenberg coach Nate Milne (Hobart '03) is in his seventh year as head coach with of 52-10 mark.
THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting will be the 72nd between the schools with Muhlenberg leading 36-33-2. The Mules recorded a 53-12 win in Allentown last September as Muhlenberg earned its 12th straight win in the series, the Mules' longest winning streak between the schools. Muhlenberg posted a 37-10 win in Bethlehem to close out the 2022 regular season. The Greyhounds' last win in the series a 14-13 triumph in 2010 in Bethlehem.
GREYHOUNDS IN THE LANDMARK CONFERENCE: The Greyhounds will compete in the Landmark Conference this fall for the second straight season. The Hounds were selected third in the preseason coaches poll. The Landmark Conference has announced it will be adding an eighth team in 2025 with Western Connecticut State University becoming an associate member.
2024 CAPTAINS: The Hounds have named graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham, senior quarterback Jared Jenkins, senior offensive lineman Reins Leedy, senior defensive lineman Jeremy McGuigan and junior running back Isiah Rico as captains for the 2024 season. The group is set to lead the Greyhounds during their second Landmark Conference campaign this fall under the leadership of second-year Head Coach Jeff Long. Bingham, who made the Landmark All-Conference First Team, set the school record for receptions with 69 in just nine games. Bingham added 830 yards and nine touchdowns last fall, and he also had three kickoff returns for 63 yards in his first season with the Greyhounds. Jenkins, who was named to the Landmark All-Conference First Team last fall, completed 244-of-381 passes last year for 2,737 yards and 26 touchdowns. In 13 career games, Jenkins is 285-of-454 for 3,329 yards with 31 touchdowns and 17 interceptions, and he has run for 144 yards and two touchdowns. Leedy, who was a member of the Landmark All-Conference First Team, helped the Moravian offense average 399.6 yards per game in 2023 including 121.8 yards on the ground and 277.8 yards through the air in each contest. The Greyhounds also had the ball on offense for an average of 32:33 per game, and the Blue & Grey were 64-for-157 on third downs and 19-for-38 on fourth downs a year ago. McGuigan, also selected to the Landmark All-Conference First Team in 2023, was third on the squad last year with 49 tackles to lead the defensive line, and he added three and a half tackles for loss, three sacks, a fumble recovery and a blocked kick. McGuigan has 74 total tackles with eight and a half for loss and six sacks in two seasons at Moravian. Rico is in his first season with the Hounds.
BALANCED & EXPERIENCED 'HOUNDS: Of the 105 players on the Moravian roster, 51 are freshmen, 18 are sophomores and 15 are juniors. There are 16 seniors and four graduate students on this season's squad, and the Greyhounds return 45 letterwinners and 13 starters from 2023.
THE QUARTERBACKS: Senior Jared Jenkins completed 244-of-381 passes last year for 2,737 yards and 26 touchdowns. He also carried the ball 82 times for 108 yards. Senior Carter Hallgren was 3-for-8 for 23 yards.
THE BACKFIELD: Moravian's top returning running back is junior Camron Tinajero, who had 41 carries for 174 yards and a touchdown last season. Sophomore wide receiver Avery Koser added 21 yards on four carries while sophomore running back Mike Willis had 17 yards on five attempts.
THE OFFENSIVE LINE: Moravian has four returning starters on the offensive line in seniors Reins Leedy, Brandon Guffy and Paul DeFalco and sophomore Mason Ludlow. Senior Dalton Kucher also has starting experience while junior Drew Brizan saw action a year ago.
THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds have seven returning players that caught a pass in 2023 led by graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham who had a school record 69 catches for 830 yards and nine touchdowns in nine games. Senior wide receiver Bryan Monge added 21 receptions for 202 yards and a touchdown while junior running back Camron Tinajero caught 13 passes for 65 yards. Sophomore wide receiver Nick Coffaro had four receptions for 56 yards and a touchdown while sophomore wide receiver Avery Koser had a pair of catches for 11 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore tight end Jackson Lake added one catch for 18 yards while senior wide receiver Nick Weston had one reception for 11 yards.
DEFENSIVE FRONT: Senior Jeremy McGuigan leads the returning defensive linemen after contributing 49 tackles with three sacks, three and a half tackles for loss and a fumble recovery last fall. Junior Nathan Carr had 27 stops with two and a half for loss, a sack, a pass break-up, a forced fumble and a blocked kick last season while junior EJ Harvey had contributed 26 tackles with three for loss, two and a half sacks and a pass break-up. Senior Drew Bailey had 21 stops with two tackles for loss and one sack while senior Prince Sokpo added 11 tackles, and a half tackle for loss and a pass break-up. Sophomore Logan Arteaga made six stops with a half a tackle for loss.
THE LINEBACKER CORPS: Junior Clay Basile leads the returning linebackers after making a team-leading 80 tackles last season to go with six tackles for loss, two and a half sacks, two pass break-ups and a fumble recovery. Junior Ethan O'Neill made 44 tackles with three and a half for loss, one sack, an interception with a 12-yard return, two passes defended and a fumble recovery while senior Jeremiah Espinosa had 16 tackles with one tackle for loss a quarterback hurry and a fumble recovery. Junior Jashon Teller had 14 stops, two and a half a tackles for loss, two pass break-ups and a fumble recovery while junior Joshua Ruela had seven tackles before an injury. Senior Chad Newhard added three stops.
THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Senior Isaiah Johnson leads the returning defensive backs despite missing two games last fall after making 40 tackles with six pass break-ups. Junior Shea Endean recorded 25 tackles with one for loss, two interceptions he returned 82 yards, six passes defended and a forced fumble while sophomore Aidan Lane made 23 tackles to go with a pair of interceptions and three passes defended. Sophomore Elijah Fajardo had 16 tackles with half a tackle for loss and three pass break-ups while sophomore Anderson Louis Jeune added five tackles, a pass break-up, a fumble recovery and a forced fumble. Sophomore Antonio Bowen contributed four tackles with a pass break-up and a fumble recovery.
KICKING GAME: The Hounds entered looking to fill both the place kicking and punting duties, and Coach Long has three freshmen to fill the roles. The competition is between Ryan Child, Jack Corrigan and Mason Boose.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Sophomore wide receiver Nick Coffaro had 17 kickoff returns for 311 yards while junior running back Camron Tinajero added eight kickoff returns for 112 yards. Graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham returned three kickoffs for 63 yards while sophomore wide receiver Avery Koser had a pair of kickoff returns for 22 yards. Sophomore defensive back Anderson Louis Jeune returned two kickoffs for nine yards while sophomore tight end Jackson Lake had one return for 28 yards, senior wide receiver Bryan Monge added one return for 28 yards and junior running back Parker Miller had one return for eight yards. Junior wide receiver Will Castel returned 16 punts for 107 yards last season.
MILESTONE WATCH: The Greyhounds have a pair of student-athletes closing in on milestones for their careers. Graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham needs 170 receiving yards to become the 23rd player in program history to reach 1,000 career receiving yards. Senior quarterback Jared Jenkins is ranked tenth in program history with 3,329 passing yards, and he needs 671 yards passing to become the eighth player in to reach 4,000 yards. Jenkins is also seventh all-time in completions with 285, tenth in program history with 454 pass attempts and eighth in school history with 31 touchdown passes.
SCOUTING MUHLENBERG COLLEGE: For the third straight year, the Muhlenberg football team was picked second in the Centennial Conference preseason poll. The Mules finished second in the CC last season, with their lone loss coming to Johns Hopkins on the final play of the game. They also played a thriller against the other team to receive a first-place vote, Franklin & Marshall, winning in double overtime. Muhlenberg has finished first or second in the CC in 11 of the last 13 seasons, winning or sharing three consecutive titles from 2018 to 2021. The Mules have compiled a tremendous record of 93-21 (.816) in CC games during that span. Coming off a season in which they went 10-1, reaching double digits in wins for the sixth time in program history and winning a postseason game for the sixth consecutive season, the Mules also received national recognition in the 2024 preseason polls: They were ranked 21st by both D3football.com and the American Football Coaches Association.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET: In Allentown last fall, Moravian dropped a 52-13 decision at rival Muhlenberg College at Scotty Wood Stadium as the squad faced off for the first time in 16 years as non-conference opponents. The Hounds had the first possession of the game, and Moravian moved into the red zone before turning the ball over on downs. The Mules scored on a 58-yard touchdown pass on their opening drive to take a 7-0 lead with 6:15 left in the first quarter. The teams traded punts on the next two possessions, and Muhlenberg took possession early in the second quarter with an interception. The Mules capitalized on the turnover with a 19-yard touchdown pass to and extend the lead to 14-0 with 13:41 left in the second quarter. The squads traded punts again before Moravian took over on its own two-yard line. The Greyhounds put together a 14-play, 98-yard drive for the first points of the season on a 21-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jared Jenkins to wide receiver Brad Bryan. Moravian, which converted one fourth down conversion on the drive, had its extra-point attempt from Sean Murphy blocked and Muhlenberg returned the block for a defensive two-point play to set the score at 16-6 with five minutes left in the second quarter. The Mules added another touchdown on a 20-yard touchdown pass with 3:07 before the intermission to take a 23-6 into the locker room. Muhlenberg scored 16 points in the first five and a half minutes of the third on a four-yard touchdown pass, a safety after a bad snap on the Moravian punt attempt rolled out of the end zone, and a 24-yard touchdown run to make the advantage 39-6 with 9:33 still to play in the third quarter. The Mules found the end zone again on a 23-yard touchdown pass to push the lead to 46-9 with 4:07 to go in the third stanza. Moravian found the end zone again with 1:30 left in the third quarter as running back Nate Boyle scored on a five-yard run to make it 46-12 as the Hounds' two-point conversion attempt failed. Muhlenberg finished off the scoring with a 17-yard touchdown run with 9:35 remaining in the contest. The Greyhounds had 304 yards of total offense on 304 plays including 259 passing yards. Moravian also had the ball for 35:12 in the contest. Jenkins, who was named Moravian's Sean Keville MVP after the contest, completed 18-of-37 passes for 259 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Boyle finished with 52 yards on 19 rushing attempts to go with his touchdown and caught two passes for 38 yards, and Boyle is now 28 yards from reaching 1,500 yards in his career. Running back LJ Cooper added 14 yards on six attempts while running back Camron Tinajero rushed for seven yards on five carries and caught one pass for three yards. Mike Willis had two yards on his first two career attempts. Bryan caught three passes for 80 yards and his touchdown while Tim Garlick had a team-high four receptions for 38 yards. Wide receiver Jordan Lewis added three catches for 45 yards while wideout Jordan Bingham grabbed three receptions for 40 yards. Wide receiver Bryan Monge had two catches for 15 yards. Wide receiver Nick Coffaro returned three kickoffs for 79 yards with a long of 50 yards. Colin Conway led Moravian's defense with seven tackles, and he also punted five times for an average of 35.8 yards per punt and a long of 52 yards. Linebacker Clay Basile contributed six tackles while linebacker Chris Ortalano and defensive lineman EJ Harvey both had five tackles with Ortalano breaking up two passes. Defensive back Isaiah Johnson made four stops while defensive back Zach Scillia and defensive back Matt Capobianco both had three tackles.
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 LANDMARK CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Landmark Conference statistics will begin next week.
