2002 Warrior Football

Warriors Try to Rebound from Tough Loss by Hosting Millersville

October 29, 2002

East Stroudsburg, Pa. - The East Stroudsburg Warriors will come home to Eiler-Martin Stadium this Saturday for Homecoming and try to rebound from a tough defeat last week. ESU dropped a heartbreaking affair, 17-14, at West Chester and have the Millersville Marauders invade the Poconos this weekend.

The Warriors need to take care of business against Millersville to keep their Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division title hopes alive. ESU dropped out of the lead in the Division with the loss and needs Bloomsburg to defeat West Chester this weekend to force a three-way logjam at the top of the standings.

"We just have to be concerned with what we can control," explains ESU head coach Denny Douds. "We have to concentrate and get back into top form for this week and make sure Millersville doesn't come here and upset us like they did last season at IUP."

ESU takes a 3-1 mark in the league into the matchup and 5-2 record overall. The Warriors 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). Millersville picked up their first Conference and overall win of the season last week in a defensive battle, 10-9, over Kutztown. The Marauders stand at 1-6 and 1-2 in East Division play.

Catch the Warriors on WVPO, RedzoneMedia and BlueRidge TV 13
The action for Saturday's game can be heard by two different means. Chuck Seese and Bob Brittain will bring the call on the radio for WVPO 840 AM and on the internet at www.redzonemedia.com. The contest can be seen live on BlueRidge TV 13 brings all the action compliments of Bob Capasso and Chris Doty.

Warriors Tumble in National Polls
After gaining momentum and rising in the national polls, the Warriors took a dip in the rankings upon falling to West Chester. Dropped from 19th in the AFCA DII Coaches' Poll to just outside the Top 25 at 27th. IUP moved up to 9th from 10th while Bloomsburg moved back into consideration with a single vote.

The fourth NCAA Division II Regional Rankings saw ESU drop out as well after being situated 8th of the 10 rated squads.

Golden Ram Field Goal in Final Seconds Dooms ESU
After never trailing the whole game, ESU saw themselves behind when it counted at the final gun. The Warriors built leads of seven points two different times against West Chester. Anthony Carfagno put points on the board for ESU first on a one-yard plunge before the Golden Rams tied the game. ESU answered with a 30-yard scoring strike from 30 yards out for a 14-7 advantage at the half.

West Chester tied the contest for a second time with 2:31 in the third before they booted a 34-yard field goal with two seconds on the clock for the 17-14 victory.

The loss prevented ESU from their first five-game win streak since 1996.

Marauders Hang on for Tough First Win
Millersville edged their way into the win column for the first time in 2002 with a 10-9 victory at home against Kutztown. The Marauders fell behind 6-0 on a Kutztown 27-yard interception return for a touchdown but blocked the point after. Millersville took their first lead on a 14-yard run by Calvin Everett and then added to the margin with a 33-yard field goal from Sean Hughes for a 10-6 halftime lead. After a Kutztown field goal to cut it to 10-9, Millersville forced a game-saving fumble in the last minute of play at the Marauders 19-yard line to preserve the win.

ESU Attempts to Regain Series Control
The series between these two PSAC East Division foes has been one sided in Millersville's favor over the past ten meetings. The Marauders own an 8-2 advantage since 1992 but the Warriors prevailed in easy fashion last year in Millersville 42-10. It was the most points totaled by ESU in the series since 1969 when they posted a 42-14 victory.

ESU head coach Denny Douds has seen Millersville be a true thorn in his side. The Warriors have compiled a 9-18-1 mark in his tenure. Before last year's edition, two of the three games ended on the short end of things by a single score. The last game at Eiler-Martin Stadium went into overtime where Millersville took the affair 33-26. The Marauders also won the 1999 at ESU 54-29 in a high-scoring contest and took the 1998 game 38-35.

Saturday will be the third time Millersville has played the Warriors for ESU's Homecoming game. The first time occurred in 1981 resulting in a 31-9 Millersville win while ESU took the other occasion 20-13 in the 1992 season.

Jeremy Palm fired for four touchdowns as ESU built a 42-7 halftime lead a year ago on their way to a 42-10 victory. The quarterback found Justin Kondikoff two times and John Jeffries and Greg Vaughn once each with scoring strikes. Palm was 12 of 19 in the first half with 200 yards and 17 of 33 for 239 yards for the day.

Special Team Bright Spots for Warriors
Junior John Jeffries is leading a punt return team for the Warriors that have given quality returns over the first seven contests. Jeffries is fourth in the PSAC at 11.5 yards per return with a long of 32 yards. He also had one called back, which he returned for a touchdown last weekend due to an illegal block by ESU.

On the other sides of punting, freshman Ken Parrish leads the top punt team in the PSAC East at a 35.4 net yard average. The first-year punter had kicked 41 times with 21 resulting in no return or 51.2% of his efforts. He also leads the East Division punter with a 37.8 yard per punt average and fifth overall in the league.

Sophomore Mike Yanocha is third in kick returns at 25.1 yards per return with 14 returns covering 352 yards on the season.

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.

Warrior Weapons Still Holding Their Own
The PSAC's leading passer quarterback Jeremy Palm even with an off target week at West Chester still managed 238 yards through the air to keep his spot at the top of the PSAC at 261.7 yards per game. Palm also is the league leader at 282.0 yards of total offense.

Greg Vaughn added 79 yards to his total last week and is now in with 444 yards on 97 carries for the season. He ranks 10th in the PSAC with a 63.4 yards per affair average.

Freshman fullback Anthony Carfagno continues to lead the team in scoring after posting his fifth rushing touchdown and eighth on the season for ESU's first points a week ago. He also still stands as the team's second leading receiver with 381 yards over 24 catches in seven games.

Vermillion Records Career-Best in Leading Defense
Warrior linebacker Ryan Vermillion recorded a career-best 12 tackles going all over the field in the defensive unit's effort last week. He has 11 of the tackles come the solo variety. Vermillion is now the fourth leading tackler in the PSAC at 9.1 per game and 64 in the team's seven games.

Fellow backer Phil DeCecco was right at his 7.0 stops per game mark with seven last week to go with a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry. Blaec Saeger stopped two Golden Rams in the backfield to go with a pass breakup and a sack.

The ESU pass rush and front line continues to be guided by senior All-PSAC East player Dustin Barno. Barno had a solid effort with five hits a week ago while sophomore David Dean had four stops and a tackle for loss. Greg Thoman continues to lead in tackles for loss at 10 while tying Barno at 35 tackles for tops in the defensive line. Zach Toomey has added 16 tackles, five for loss and three sacks.

The Marauder air attack will be facing the interception happy Warrior secondary. The group picked off two more passes last week as Michael Glover tied Nick Beisker for the team lead with five while Pat Good snatched his second of the season.

Marauders Hails Good Pair of Receivers
The Marauders have a good pair of receivers in Ryan Clift and Alfa Jackson. The pair have combined for 43 of the team's 101 catches good for 587 yards. Running back Calvin Everett is third with 16 balls over 98 yards while guiding the team's attack of 295 yards including a 100-yard effort last week over Kutztown.

Quarterback Chuck Andrew will be the team's signal caller and is the team's best passer. He has fired for 777 yards over four games and hit 52.4% of his passes (66 of 126 attempts).

'Ville Defense Guided by Hollister and Steffy
The Millersville defense which ranks 12th in scoring defense has inside linebacker Joe Hollister leading the charge. Hollister has recorded 33 solo and 33 assisted tackles for 66 on the season to rank him third in the PSAC at 9.4 per game. He had a team-high 10 stops a week ago while Ross Pennypacker had nine tackles including two for a loss.

Braden Steffy is the secondary leader with 50 hits and two interceptions while Terrance Trogden is at 29 hits and seven breakups.
Linemen Brian Mielnik and Jamaal Lee guide the line with eight and nine tackles for loss along with two and 2.5 sacks apiece.

Notes: ESU will be at Shippensburg next Saturday for the team's last road contest and only non-East Division contest remaining on their schedule … Jeremy Palm needs only 11 touchdown passes in four games to tie Damian Poalucci's school record 69 career passes.

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