LANCASTER, Pa. --- Moravian College freshman running back Chris Negron has been selected as the Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the second straight week while sophomore defensive back Anthony Orlando and senior defensive back/punt returner Rees Judge earned helmet stickers for being on the Weekly Honor Roll after their performances in the Greyhounds' 41-21 win over Gettysburg College Saturday.
Negron ran for over 200 yards for the second straight week with a career high 251 yards on 37 attempts, the fourth highest single game total in Moravian history. Negron is also just the eighth running back in the 30-year history of the Centennial Conference to rush for over 200 yards in back-to-back games after 218 versus Franklin & Marshall College a week ago. Negron found the end zone twice on Saturday with runs of nine and 18 yards to raise his season total to seven touchdowns, and he also caught one pass for four yards.
Negron also broke Tim Barlok's Moravian freshman rushing record of 665 yards with Negron now at 869 yards for the season with two games remaining. The Greyhounds rushed for 424 yards on 75 carries Saturday, the first time that Moravian had run for over 400 yards in a game since November 8, 2003 when the squad ran for 415 yards at Albright College.
"Chris has shown a tremendous amount of improvement every week, and he is finally hitting his stride and comfortable playing college football," stated head coach Jeff Pukszyn. "Chris used some great cuts to get through the holes and then used his quickness once he got to the outside. The offensive line played an outstanding game as well opening holes for everyone."
Orlando led the Moravian defense Saturday by making a game-high 15 tackles which included 12 solo stops, three tackles for loss, a sack and a pass breakup.
"We moved Anthony up into a nickel linebacker position two weeks ago, and he has shown that he is very comfortable in that placement on the field," Pukszyn said. "Anthony is a very physical player that has a strong football IQ. He had all of his talents on display Saturday."
Judge returned three punts against the Bullets for 39 yards with a career long of 34 yards on his first return of the game to set up the Greyhounds' game-tying touchdown. Defensively, Judge contributed four tackles in the contest and broke up a Gettysburg pass at the two-yard line during the second quarter.
"Rees has been working hard all fall in his first year as a punt returner," Pukszyn said. "He saw a seam open up on that first punt return, took it to the sideline and stayed in bounds to set the offense up in great position to tie the game. Rees has been a great leader this fall, and we're happy he decided to come back and complete this career this season with his fifth year."
Moravian will return to action on Saturday, November 9 in a Centennial Conference game versus Juniata College at Rocco Calvo Field with kickoff set for a 12:00 p.m. in the Greyhounds' final home contest of the season.
