BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football team hosts Utica (N.Y.) University a non-conference contest on Saturday, September 14 for the annual Family Day game. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Rocco Calvo Field in Bethlehem.
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.
Utica coach Blaise Faggiano (Ithaca '93) is in his 17th year as head coach with a record of 86-74.
THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting will be the second contest between the schools as part of a two-game crossover between the Empire 8 and Landmark Conferences for the second straight fall. The Pioneers earned a 35-20 victory in Utica last fall in the first-ever meeting between the programs.
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.
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 has completed 16-of-26 passes for 180 yards with one touchdown and one interception, and Jenkins has run for 11 yards on eight carries while being sacked twice. Freshman Declan McCarthy is 1-for-2 for 12 yards, and he has eight yards on two rushing attempts.
THE BACKFIELD: Graduate student Joey Richmond leads the rushing attack with 37 yards on six carries while junior Isiah Rico has added nine yards on nine 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, and the quartet is joined by freshman Jake Englehart. Senior Dalton Kucher also has starting experience while junior Drew Brizan saw action a year ago.
THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds have seven players that have caught a pass in 2024 led by graduate student Jordan Bingham who has five receptions for 46 yards. Senior Diego Del Castillo has three catches for 59 yards and a touchdown while senior Bryan Monge has added three receptions for 28 yards. Sophomore Nick Coffaro has three catches for 12 yards while junior running back Isiah Rico has one reception for 20 yards. Sophomore Avery Koser has one catch for 19 yards while freshman wide receiver Jacob Sutton added one reception for eight yards.
DEFENSIVE FRONT: Senior Jeremy McGuigan leads the defensive linemen with six tackles while junior Nathan Carr has four tackles with one for loss. Freshman Ryan Burns and sophomore Logan Arteaga have both recorded two stops while junior EJ Harvey, senior Drew Bailey and graduate student Ian Brunner each have one tackle.
THE LINEBACKER CORPS: Junior Clay Basileleads linebackers and the Moravian defense with 11 tackles while freshman Malachi McNeil-Harrison has five stops on the year. Senior Chad Newhard has added four tackles while senior Chris Cacace has three tackles and a pass break-up. Junior Ethan O'Neill also has three stops while junior Jashon Teller and graduate student Declan Coors both have two tackles with Coors adding a tackle for loss.
THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Sophomore Aidan Lane leads the defensive backs with ten tackles including one for loss while sophomore Antonio Bowen has contributed seven stops to go along with an interception. Senior Isaiah Johnson has added five tackles and a pass break-up while juniors Shea Endean and Dorian Gray both have recorded four tackles with a pass break-up. Sophomores Elijah Fajardo and Anderson Louis Jeune has each made two stops.
KICKING GAME: Freshman Ryan Child made his only extra-point of the season, and he has kicked off twice for an average of 63.5 yards. Freshman Jack Corrigan has punted four times this fall for an average of 48.2 yards with a long of 71 yards on his second career attempt. Corrigan has one touchback, one fair caught and one punt inside the 20 yard line.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Freshman wide receiver Josh Ludlow has five kickoff returns for 117 yards while senior wide receiver Will Castel has one punt return for ten yards. Graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham has added one tackle on special teams.
MILESTONE WATCH: The Greyhounds have a pair of student-athletes closing in on milestones for their careers. Graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham needs 124 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 3,509 passing yards, and he needs 491 yards passing to become the eighth player in to reach 4,000 yards. Jenkins is also seventh all-time in completions with 301, tenth in program history with 480 pass attempts and eighth in school history with 32 touchdown passes. Freshman punter Jack Corrgian booted the fourth-longest punt in school history on his second attempt versus Muhlenberg College in the opener with the ball traveling 71 yards.
SCOUTING UTICA UNIVERSITY: The Pioneers are coming off a 41-26 non-conference win versus Union (N.Y.) College to open the 2024 season last Saturday. Junior quarterback Brett Fuller is 23-for-38 for 250 yards with two touchdowns and an interception, and he has run for nine yards on six attempts. His top targets have been senior wide receiver Izzy Maldonado, who has four catches for 42 yards, junior wideout Antonio Cianfarani, who has three receptions for 77 yards, senior tight end Logan Kraft, who has three catches for 25 yards and a touchdown and sophomore wide receiver Gabriel Zawolo, who has three receptions for 25 yards and a score. Senior running back Matt Brantley leads the Pioneers rushing attack with 185 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries while sophomore quarterback Sam Florio has added 58 yards and two touchdowns on nine attempts and senior running back James Salles has nine yards on four carries. Zawolo has returned three kickoffs for 77 yards while freshman running back Robert Lowry IV has two returns for 26 yards. Junior Freddie Callo is 2-for-2 on field goals with a long of 31 yards, and he is 3-for-3 on extra-points and averaging 54.0 yards per kickoff on eight attempts. Callo has also punted twice for an average of 36 yards with one fair caught and one inside the 20-yard line. Senior linebacker Norman Booth leads the Utica defense with six tackles including two for loss, a sack and a forced fumble. Junior defensive back Cam'Ren Brister and senior linebacker Darius Johnson both have five tackles with Johnson adding a half a tackle for loss while junior defensive back Eli Douglas and senior defensive lineman John Stroughn each have four stops with Stroughn contributing one and a half tackles for loss, a sack and three quarterback hurries. Douglas has added an interception he returned 10 yards, and senior defensive back Denzere Woolcock also has one interception.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET: In Utica last fall, The Hounds fell to Utica, 35-20, in non-conference action Saturday as the schools met for the first time on the gridiron. The Greyhounds received the opening kickoff for the second straight week but were stopped after three plays, forcing the Blue & Grey to punt. The Pioneers fumbled the punt, and defensive back Anderson Louis Jeune jumped on the ball for Moravian. The Hounds offense used the miscue to march down the field and take a 6-0 lead on a 12-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jared Jenkins to wide receiver Jordan Bingham. The duo had connected on a fourth down play on the snap prior to the score. Jenkins attempted a two-point conversion pass but missed to make it 6-0 for the Greyhounds with 9:48 to play in the first quarter. Utica moved down to the Moravian 26-yard line on its first possession before turning the ball over on a failed fourth down play. The Blue & Grey's second possession ended in a punt while the Pioneers missed a 29-yard field goal at the end of the first quarter to keep the Greyhounds' 6-0 intact through 15 minutes of action. Moravian moved down the field to start the second quarter and was in the red zone again when Jenkins was intercepted in the end zone. Utica converted the turnover into a six-play, 80-yard drive that finished with a 30-yard touchdown pass as the Pioneers took a 7-6 edge with 7:41 left in the second quarter. The Hounds next drive ended with a punt after picking up three first downs. The Pioneers scored again with just 1:04 left in the opening half on a one-yard touchdown run to head to the locker room with a 14-6 advantage. Moravian opened the second half with an 11-play drive that culminated with running back Nate Boyle scoring on a five-yard run. Jenkins' two-point conversion pass failed again as the Greyhounds cut the deficit to 14-12. After each team punted once, Utica scored on a 17-yard touchdown pass to make the lead 21-12 with 3:30 left on the clock in the third quarter. The Hounds' next possession ended with Jenkins being intercepted on the second play; however, the ball would come right back to the Blue & Grey as defensive back Shea Endean intercepted a pass. Moravian converted the turnover into a 10-play, 43-yard drive with Jenkins finding Bingham for a one-yard touchdown pass on fourth-and-goal. Jenkins scampered into the end zone on a broken two-point conversion play as the Greyhounds cut the deficit to a point at 21-20 with 12:11 remaining in the contest. Both squads punted on their next possession before Utica found the end zone on a 17-yard touchdown pass with 6:21 to go. The Pioneers added the final score on a four-yard touchdown run with 51 seconds remaining to set the final at 35-20. The Greyhounds controlled the clock for 33:24 of the contest, and Moravian's offense had 340 yards on 75 plays including 249 yard passing and 91 yards on the ground. Jenkins completed 27-of-41 passes for 249 yards to go with two touchdowns and a pair of interceptions. Wide receiver Bryan Monge caught a career high eight passes for 32 yards while Bingham finished with seven receptions for 85 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Jordan Lewis grabbed five passes for 34 yards while wide receiver Brad Bryan had four catches for 69 yards and wide receiver Nick Weston caught one pass for 11 yards. Boyle led the Moravian rushing attack with 81 yards and a touchdown on 20 carries, and he caught two passes for 18 yards. Boyle became the 15th Greyhound running back to reach 1,500 career yards during the game as he improved his career totals to 1,553 yards and 12 touchdowns on 384 rushing attempts. Running back Mike Willis contributed 11 yards on two carries. Defensive back/punter Colin Conway averaged 39.7 yards per punt on seven attempts with a long of 58 yards and three inside the 20-yard line, and Conway also made six tackles and recorded a pass breakup. Linebacker Clay Basile led the Hounds' defense with seven tackles with a sack and one and a half tackles for loss while linebacker Ethan O'Neill also made seven tackles. Junior defensive lineman Jeremy McGuigan and Endean both had five tackles with Endean adding his interception and three passes defended while linebacker Chris Ortalano, linebacker Josh Ruela, linebacker Jackson Lake and defensive lineman Nathan Carr all making four stops. Defensive lineman Drew Bailey added three tackles with one for loss while linebacker Jashon Teller had three stops with a half a tackle for loss and defensive back Zach Scillia 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 Greyhounds rank fifth in the Landmark Conference in total offense at 252.0 yards per game after week one, and the Hounds are fourth in passing offense at 192.0 yards per contest. The Blue & Grey lead the Landmark Conference in fewest penalties with one. Senior quarterback Jared Jenkins is fourth in the Landmark Conference in passing yards per game at 180.0, and he is third in passing efficiency with a 124.7 rating. Graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham is third in receptions per game at 5.0 while senior wide receiver Diego Del Castillo is seventh in receiving yards at 59.0. Freshman wide receiver Josh Ludlow is fourth in the Landmark Conference in kickoff return average at 23.4 yards per return on five attempts while senior wide receiver Will Castel is third in punt return average at 2.0 yards per return with one return. Freshman punter Jack Corrigan leads the Landmark Conference in punting with an average of 48.3 yards per punt. Junior linebacker Clay Basile is tied for fourth at 11.0 tackles per game while sophomore defensive back Aidan Lane is tied for seventh with 10.0 stops per outing.