2002 Warrior Football

Seniors Try to Go Out with Warriors Best Record in a Decade
Share of First PSAC East Title on Line

November 12, 2002

East Stroudsburg, Pa. - The Warriors have proudly brought over a dozen quality student athletes through the program as seniors the past few seasons with 2002 being no different. Head Coach Denny Douds and East Stroudsburg will bid farewell to 15 senior players on Saturday but will first look towards the group of individuals to lead the team to their best season record in a decade. A win in the last contest of the 2002 season against rival Kutztown University will take ESU to 8-2 and their best campaign since recording an identical mark in 1992.
A Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division title is within ESU's reach for the first time in 11 seasons. The squad heads into the weekend at 4-1 in the East Division and will clinch a split Divisional title for the first time since taking the championship outright in 1991.
Saturday will also be "Take a Kid to the Game Day" at Eiler-Martin Stadium. All kids and students will get into the football game free with being accompanied by an adult.
East Stroudsburg comes off a thrilling 23-21 where Jeremy Palm's 30-yard pass into the endzone was hauled in by Tim Strenfel to give the Warriors the victory on the last play of the game. Kutztown has made a strong push over the past two weeks. The Golden Bears took a close 14-10 decision at Edinboro two weeks ago before cruising to a 37-13 win behind five rushing touchdowns from first-year running back Stephen Gammage.
A win over Kutztown will give the Warriors their second three-game win streak of the 2002 season. The team started off 2002 with a bang defeating Mansfield (31-14) before falling to Glenville State (28-33) then rattling off four-straight wins over Shepherd (35-23), Edinboro (30-24), Bloomsburg (16-13) and Cheyney (48-7). ESU then was hit with a late game-deciding field goal in their 17-14 loss at West Chester before prevailing 37-26 over Millersville and last Saturday's final play victory. The Golden Bears have improved to 4-6 on the year and stand at 2-3 in the Eastern Division.

Catch the Warriors on WVPO, RedzoneMedia and Blue Ridge TV 13
The action for Saturday's game can be heard by three different means. Chuck Seese and Quentin Currie will bring the call on the radio for WVPO 840 AM and on the internet at www.redzonemedia.com. Bob Capasso and Chris Doty call the live action on Blue Ridge TV 13.

ESU Ends Losing Streak at Shippensburg
After not winning there since 1961 and six straight overall, ESU was able to pull out a thrilling 23-21 victory at Shippensburg last Saturday. Palm fired the game-winning 30-yard desperation heave into the endzone and it landed in Tim Strenfel's hands. It was the fifth game of the season to come down to the last play of the game before being decided of the Warriors nine contests.
Palm ran in the team's first score from four yards out and then hit Anthony Carfagno covering 55 yards to go into the half leading 14-7. After a Shippensburg tying touchdown, Mark Brubaker put ESU back ahead with a 27-yard field goal. John Kuhn gave the Red Raiders the advantage once again at 21-17 before the game-winning last play score.
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KU-ESU FB Preview - pg. 2

Golden Bears Roll over Wolves
Stephen Gammage and Kutztown rolled over Cheyney in their meeting a week ago. The freshman running back set a single-game record for rushing touchdowns with five, which also tied a PSAC mark held by 12 other players in the 37-13 win. Gammage racked up 183 yards on 28 carries for a 6.5 yard per attempt average. Strong safety Pete Mendez had a career game with four pickoffs to set the Kutztown single game interceptions mark and now has the career record as well at 21.

Series Even Over Last Decade
The series between these two PSAC East Division foes have been even over the past decade. Both teams have won five of the last 10 matchups but the Golden Bears have prevailed in three of the last four. ESU leads the overall series 35-14-1 over the first 50 affairs.
Jeremy Palm guided ESU to victory a year ago as he ran a touchdown and passed for another all in the last five minutes of the second quarter to give the Warriors a lead they would not lose and went on for the 19-10 win.

Palm Standing Atop PSAC Passing to Guide Warrior Attack
Jeremy Palm continues to lead the PSAC in passing heading into the final week of the regular season. The senior signal caller has passed for 2,115 yards and is the league best at 264.4 yards per game through the air as well as 285.9 yards total offense.
John Jeffries continues to be Palm's top target as the junior is leading with 44 catches which is fifth in the PSAC at 4.78 per game. Jeffries has covered 620 yards for eighth in the Conference at 68.9 yards per contest. Rounding out the other top pass catchers are Justin Kondikoff (32 rec. 397 yds. 4 TDs), Carfagno (29 rec. 457 yds. 4 TDs) and Strenfel (15 rec. 364 yds. 3 TDs).
Junior Greg Vaughn has raised his season rushing mark to 585 yards with two 100-yard efforts over the nine ESU games. He is ninth at 65.0 yards on the ground of the PSAC ball carriers.

A Tale of Two Red Zones
The two squads heading into Saturday stands on opposite ends of the spectrum when it comes to red zone offense and defense. Millersville has the 13th best red zone offense as they have converted on only 10 of 19 trips inside their opponent's 20-yard line while ESU leads the PSAC in red zone defense. The Warriors have allowed only 14 of the 22 opponents to put points onto the board.
ESU still currently holds the top spot in turnover margin at +12 while the Marauders are at +2 going into Saturday.

DeCecco Records Career-Best to Pace Defense
Warrior linebacker Phil DeCecco recorded a career-best 13 tackles going all over the field in the defensive unit's effort last week. He had six solo stops and stands second on the team with 68 tackles behind Ryan Vermillion with 83 tackles which is sixth in the league.
The ESU pass rush and front line continues to be guided by senior All-PSAC East player Dustin Barno and tough freshman Greg Thoman. Barno and Thoman had solid efforts again last with of seven and five tackles to go with a tackle for loss each. The two have combined for 83 tackles, 21 tackles for loss ad 7.5 sacks over the year. Sophomore David Dean and first-year Zach Toomey round out the line with six tackles for loss apiece.
The secondary has the third leading tackler in Nick Beisker. Beisker has 53 tackles and a team-high six picks while Michael Glover stands at five interceptions and an ESU best 15 pass breakups.
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KU-ESU FB Preview - pg. 3

Gammage Recording Breakthrough Season for Kutztown Offense
The Golden Bears have found a running back for the next few years to come in Stephen Gammage who leads the Kutztown offense with 776 yards on the ground. Gammage's total stands seventh in the PSAC at 77.6 yards per game and pounded out 183 yards with a school record five touchdowns last week.
Sophomore quarterback Rob Flowers leads the attack and has passed for 1,395 yards on 118 of 241 passes to go with 10 scores. Flowers has ran for 219 yards on 62 carries.
The receiver duo of Trevor Smith and Mike Conner provide a good combination. Smith has grabbed 37 balls for 483 yards and five touchdowns while Conner 28 receptions for 430 yards.

Mendez Guides Golden Bear Defense
Pete Mendez guides the tough Golden Bear defense from his strong safety position. Mendez picked off four Cheyney passes to set a single game mark for Kutztown last weekend and gives him the school record of 21 interceptions for his career. He also recorded eight tackles as the team high against the Wolves and stands second on the defense with 58 stops and seven interceptions in 2002.
The defensive end spot is a real strong point for Kutztown. Corey Benson and Matt Sola man those spots and have recorded 6.5 and five sacks with Benson a team-best 13 tackles for loss. Tackle Dave Maloney has stopped eight opponents behind the line of scrimmage to his credit.
Linebacker Earl Thornton is the top tackler for Kutztown with 71 while fellow backer Garrett Livingston is fourth at 57 stops.

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