2002 Warrior Football

Warrior Special Teams Spark Triumph Over Millersville

November 2, 2002

East Stroudsburg, Pa. - The Warrior special teams rose to the occasion and sparked East Stroudsburg University to a 37-26 Homecoming victory at Eiler-Martin Stadium Saturday afternoon. The special teams saw kickoff returned 93 yards for a touchdown, blocked a punt and returned it for a touchdown, recovered a Marauder fumble on a punt deep in Millersville territory and ESU was a perfect three of three on field goals. The victory also puts the Warriors into a three-way tie in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East Division.

ESU's absence from the top spot in the PSAC East Division was only one week long. The Warriors improved to 4-1 in the Conference to move into the three-way tie with Bloomsburg and West Chester. Bloomsburg defeated West Chester 23-10. ESU takes their season mark to 6-2 and sealed their third-straight winning season and run their mark over that time to 19-10. Millersville dropped to 1-7 for the season and 1-3 in the league.

Trailing 7-3, Michael Glover took the Marauder kick off 93 yards to the Millersville end zone to record the fifth longest kickoff return for a touchdown in school history.

After a second Warrior 35-yard field goal from Mark Brubaker, Marauder running back scampered for his second touchdown run covering 24 yards to tie the contest at 13-13 with just 3:47 left in the second quarter.

ESU quarterback Jeremy Palm fired three consecutive passes to John Jeffries of nine, 40 and 15 yards to give the team a first and goal at the Millersville four-yard line. The offense stalled and Matt Huber connected on a 20-yard field goal, the team's third of the opening half, for a 16-13 halftime lead.

On the first possession of the second half, linebacker Henry Breckenridge burst through the Millersville line to block the Marauder punt and Greg Thoman scooped up the pigskin and ran the 19 yards for a touchdown.

The ESU special teams came up big again as they recovered a Millersville fumble on a punt return at the Marauder nine-yard line. Palm hit Greg Vaughn two plays later from nine yards to make it 30-20 at 13:08 left in the game.

Anthony Carfagno finished off the day with a five-yard scoring run for the 37-26 final. The Warriors received a second chance as Matt Huber's 27-yard field goal sailed wide left but the Marauders jumped offsides for an ESU first down.

Running back Greg Vaughn past the century mark on the ground for the second time in three games with 119 yards on 22 carries. Jeffries and Justin Kondikoff each pulled in six passes for 96 and 66 yards. Palm hit for 216 yards and a touchdown. Linebacker Matt Rapa recorded 10 tackles, six solo to go with two tackles for loss of 15 yards and a sack of 13 yards. Ryan Vermillion added 10 stops.

Millersville outgained ESU on the day 408-358. Calvin Everett ran for over 100 yards for the second week in a row with 119 yards on only 15 carries with two scores. Ryan Clift pulled in seven balls for 74 yards and a touchdown while Alfa Jackson covered 71 yards on five receptions. Chuck Andrew passed for 266 yards on 23 of 44 passing. Braden Steffy and Joe Hollister guided their defense with 14 and 13 hits on the afternoon.

ESU will travel to Shippensburg next Saturday for a 1:00 p.m. game while Millersville hosts West Chester.