BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football teams hosts SUNY Morrisville in its second straight home non-conference game on Saturday, September 23 on Homecoming. Kickoff is slated for 2:00 p.m. at Rocco Calvo Field in Bethlehem on Homecoming.
THE COACHES: Jeff Long (Muhlenberg '14) is in his first season as Moravian's head coach with a 1-2 record, and he is just the fifth head coach for the Hounds' program since 1955 when Rocco Calvo began his legendary career guiding the Greyhounds. The Blue and Grey have played 830 games over 96 seasons, and Long is the 13th coach since the program resumed action in 1930 after a 25-year break. Moravian's first football game was played in 1898. 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.
SUNY Morrisville coach Ed Raby, Jr. (Alma '12) is in his third year as head coach with a record of 10-14.
THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting will be the first contest between the schools.
GREYHOUNDS IN THE LANDMARK CONFERENCE: After 15 seasons as an associate member of the Centennial Conference, the Greyhounds are moving to the Landmark Conference this fall with all of Moravian's other sports with the Landmark Conference hosting its inaugural season in 2023 after adding Lycoming College and Wilkes University as full members and Keystone College as an associate member. The Hounds were selected fifth in the preseason coaches poll.
BALANCED & EXPERIENCED 'HOUNDS: Of the 75 players on the Moravian roster, 23 are freshmen, 23 are sophomores and 18 are juniors. There are 11 seniors on this season's squad, and the Greyhounds return 47 letterwinners and 14 starters from 2022.
THE QUARTERBACKS: Junior Jared Jenkins has completed 72-of-114 passes for 862 yards to go with six touchdowns and three interceptions this season. Jenkins has been sacked seven times. Junior Carter Hallgren has attempted one pass this fall.
THE BACKFIELD: Senior running back Nate Boyle leads the Moravian rushing attack with 182 yards and three touchdowns on 56 carries. Sophomore running back Camron Tinajero has nine carries for 16 yards while freshman running back LJ Cooper has gained 14 yards on six attempts and freshman running back Mike Willis has 13 yards on four attempts.
THE OFFENSIVE LINE: Moravian has three returning starters in juniors left tackle Reins Leedy, center Brandon Guffy and right guard Paul DeFalco (Hazlet, N.J./Raritan HS). Junior Dalton Kucher has earned the starting left guard spot while freshman Eli Thompson will start at right tackle. The Hounds' line averages 6-2, 277, and the quintet has allowed just four sacks this season. Senior Riley Craft and freshman Mason Ludlow saw action on the line in the game at Utica with Ludlow also starting against The Apprentice School.
THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds have had eight different players catch a pass in 2023 led by senior Jordan Bingham, who has grabbed 21 passes for 250 yards and four touchdowns in his first season at Moravian after transferring from Valparaiso University. Junior wide receiver Bryan Monge has added 15 receptions for 106 yards while senior wide receiver Brad Bryan has 11 receptions for 231 yards and a touchdown. Junior wide receiver Jordan Lewis has caught nine passes for 116 yards and a touchdown. while senior running back Nate Boyle has caught six passes for 81 yards. Senior wide receiver Tim Garlick, who has five catches for 44 yards while sophomore running back Camron Tinajero has four catches for 23 yards and junior wide receiver Nick Weston has one reception for 11 yards. Bingham has one two-point conversion catch on a pass from Boyle to win the game versus Apprentice in the final 20 seconds.
DEFENSIVE FRONT: Junior nose guard Jeremy McGuigan leads the Moravian defensive lineman with 11 tackles with a sack, a tackle for loss and a blocked kick while sophomore defensive tackle Nathan Carr has also made 11 stops. Sophomore defensive end EJ Harvey has 10 tackles with two and a half sacks and two and a half tackles for loss while sophomore defensive end Drew Bailey has contributed seven tackles with one for loss. Freshman defensive lineman Logan Arteaga has made three stops while freshman defensive end EJ Boney and junior defensive tackle Prince Sokpo both had two tackles.
THE LINEBACKER CORPS: Sophomore Clay Basile leads linebackers and is tied for team lead with 23 tackles to go with three tackles for loss, two and a half sacks and two pass breakups while senior Chris Ortalano has contributed 16 tackles and a pair of pass breakups. Sophomore Ethan O'Neill has added 15 stops, with a sack, a tackle for loss, and interception and two pass breakups while freshman Jackson Lake also has 12 tackles and a pass breakup. Sophomore Josh Ruela contributed seven tackles whiles sophomore Jashon Teller has made five stops and added a pass break-up and a half a tackle for loss. Junior Jeremiah Espinosa has recorded three tackles while sophomore Cael Markle has two stops and sophomore Damere Rooker has one tackle.
THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Senior safety Colin Conway leads the defensive backs with 13 tackles to go with one pass breakup. Senior safety Zach Scillia 11 stops with an interception while sophomore cornerback Shea Endean has contributed seven tackles, an interception and four passes defended while. Junior safety Isaiah Johnson has seven tackles and three pass breakups while sophomore cornerback Matt Capobianco has four tackles and four pass breakups. Freshman defensive back Anderson Louis Jeune has a trio of tackles and a fumble recovery.
KICKING GAME: Senior Colin Conway has punted 18 times for an average of 39.5 yards per punt with three fair caught, seven inside the 20-yard line and a long of 59 yards while junior quarterback Jared Jenkins has punted once for 22 yards. Senior running back Nate Boyle is 3-for-3 on extra-points this fall while sophomore wide receiver Sean Murphy has attempted on PAT this season. Freshman Anderson Louis Jeune has kicked off seven times for an average of 52.3 yards while freshman Jackson Lake has kicked off three times for an average of 44.0 yards. Boyle has one kickoff for 39 yards Jenkins has a free kick for 35 yards.
SPECIAL TEAMS: Freshman wide receiver Nick Coffaro has returned three kickoffs for 79 yards with a long of 50 yards, and he has also made a pair of tackles on special teams. Senior wide receiver Jordan Bingham has added three kickoff returns for 63 yards and a special teams tackle while freshman defensive back Anderson Louis Jeune has returned two kickoffs for nine yards. Junior wide receiver Bryan Monge has one kickoff return for 18 yards while sophomore running back Camron Tinajero has one kickoff return for nine yards. Junior wide receiver Nick Weston has one tackle on special teams. Junior wide receiver Will Castel has three punt returns for 33 yards.
MILESTONE WATCH: The Greyhounds have two players closing in on milestones for his career. Senior running back Nate Boyle became the 26th player in school history to reach 1,000 career rushing yards when he reached the milestone versus Juniata College, and Boyle has 1,602 yards on 401 career carries to sit in 13th all-time. Boyle, who has 14 career touchdowns (13 rushing, one receiving) to sit 15th in touchdown scoring, needs 398 yards to become the 12th Greyhound to reach 2,000 career yards. Junior quarterback Jared Jenkins has reached 1,000 career passing yards with 1,454 yards on 113-of-187 to go with 11 career touchdown passes.
SCOUTING SUNY MORRISVILLE: The Mustangs are 1-2 on the season after a 31-20 loss to The Catholic University of America last Saturday. Senior quarterback Steven Frerichs lead Morrisville on the field having completed 51-of-87 passes for 554 yards with five touchdowns and five interceptions, and he has also rushed 99 yards and two scores on 37 carries. Senior wide receiver Jarrell Chaney leads the Mustangs with 16 receptions for 199 yards and a score while junior tight end Quamel Jarvis has eight catches for 118 yards and three touchdowns and sophomore wide receiver Xavier Gaines has grabbed six passes for 86 yards. Junior running back Alex McBurnie leads the Morrisville rushing attack with 133 yards on 30 attempts while Chaney has added 49 yards on six carries. Gaines has returned six kickoffs for 131 yards. Frerichs also punts for the Mustangs with an average of 41.3 yards per punt, two inside the 20-yard line and two touchbacks while sophomore Owen Cole is averaging 61.3 yards on 12 kickoffs with six touchbacks, and he is 6-for-7 on extra points and 2-for-3 on field goals with a long of 41 yards. Junior defensive back Evan Salvaggio leads the SUNY Morrisville defense with 37 tackles including one for loss, an interception returned 62 yards and two passes defended. Senior linebacker Darrius Fulton has contributed 31 stops with one and a half tackles for loss, half a sack and an interception while freshman linebacker Eric Sparkman has made 26 tackles with one and half tackles for loss, one sack, a pass breakup and a forced fumble. Junior defensive back Dante McGowan has made 22 tackles with a half a tackle for loss, three passes defended and a forced fumble while junior defensive back Omar Jarvis and junior defensive lineman David Kelley each have 17 tackles.
THE LAST TIME THEY MET: Moravian and SUNY Morrisville have not met on the gridiron before.
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 third in the Landmark Conference in total offense at 354.7 yards per game after three weeks, and the Hounds are second in passing offense at 287.3 yards per contest. The Blue & Grey are second the Landmark Conference in time of possession at 32:07 per outing. Junior quarterback Jared Jenkins is second in the Landmark Conference in passing yards per game at 287.3, and he is second in passing efficiency with a 138.8 rating. Senior running back Nate Boyle is fourth in the conference in rushing yards at 60.7 per outing and he is third in the Landmark in scoring at 7.0 points per contest while senior wide receiver Jordan Bingham is third in receiving yards at 83.3 per outing, and he is second in scoring at 8.7 points per game. Freshman wide receiver Nick Coffaro is tied for first in the Landmark Conference in kickoff return average at 26.3 yards per return on three attempts while junior wide receiver Will Castel is third in punt return average at 11.0 yards per return on three attempts. Senior defensive back/punter Colin Conway is second in punting with an average of 39.5 yards per punt. Sophomore linebacker Clay Basile is third in the Landmark at 7.7 tackles per game and tied for eighth in tackles for loss with 1.0 per contest. Basile and sophomore defensive lineman EJ Harvey are tied for the conference lead in sacks with 0.83 per contest. Junior defensive back Isaiah Johnson is tied for second in the conference in passes defended with 1.50 per outing while sophomore defensive backs Shea Endean and Matt Capobianco are both tied for fourth with 1.33 passes defended a game.
