Moravian Returns to Rocco Calvo Field to Host Catholic on October 12

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football plays at home for the first time in four weeks with a Landmark Conference game versus The Catholic University of America. Kickoff is slated for 12:00 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 7-8 overall record and a 4-3 slate in the inaugural Landmark Conference season. He coached eight Landmark All-Conference selections including five First Team honorees. Long has spent the previous 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.
     Catholic coach Mike Gutelius (Catholic '92) is in his eighth year as head coach with a record of 27-39. 

THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting is the second contest between the schools with Moravian leading the series, 1-0, after a 36-28 victory in Washington, D.C. last fall.

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 while the Cardinals were picked fifth. The Landmark Conference has announced it will be adding an eighth team in 2025 with Western Connecticut State University becoming an associate member.

LANDMARK CONFERENCE WEEKLY HONORS: Senior quarterback Jared Jenkins was named the Landmark Conference Football Offensive Athlete of the Week for his performance last Saturday. Jenkins completed 17-of-26 passes including four touchdowns and a career-high 375 yards in the Hounds' 55-14 victory at Keystone College to begin the Landmark Conference season this past weekend. Jenkins averaged 22.1 yards per completion with touchdown passes of 12, 30, 64 and 66 yards, and he also rushed for 39 yards on eight attempts. Jenkins moved into fourth in program history for career touchdown passes, now with 40.

BALANCED & EXPERIENCED 'HOUNDS: Of the 102 players on the Moravian roster, 50 are freshmen, 16 are sophomores and 15 are juniors. There are 17 seniors and four graduate students on this season's squad, and the Greyhounds return 41 letterwinners and 13 starters from 2023.

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. 

THE QUARTERBACKS: Senior Jared Jenkins has completed 108-of-166 passes for 1,328 yards with nine touchdowns and one interception, and Jenkins has run the ball 40 times for 44 yards while being sacked 14 times. Freshman Declan McCarthy is 2-for-4 for 42 yards, and he has 67 yards on 11 rushing attempts and one reception for a yard while senior Carter Hallgren is 1-for-1 for a yard to go with a two-point conversion completion, and he also has one rushing attempt for seven yards and a touchdown.

THE BACKFIELD: Graduate student Joey Richmond leads the Moravian rushing attack with 136 yards and a touchdown on 36 carries while junior Isiah Rico has added 101 yards and a touchdown on 35 attempts. Junior Camron Tinajero has 50 yards and three touchdowns on ten attempts while sophomore Cole Maholtz has 34 yards on nine carries. Freshman Jen Bendekovits has run for 13 yards and a touchdown on three attempts and freshman wide receiver Jacob Sutton has run the ball five times for five yards. 

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 15 players that have caught a pass in 2024 led by graduate student Jordan Bingham, who has 35 receptions for 318 yards. Senior Diego Del Castillo has 21 catches for 404 yards and four touchdowns while sophomore Avery Koser has 15 catches for 188 yards and two touchdowns. Senior Bryan Monge has added 10 receptions for 129 yards and a score while sophomore Nick Coffaro has seven catches for 59 yards. Freshman Josh Ludlow has six receptions for 95 yards and a touchdown while graduate student running back Joey Richmond has three catches for 22 yards and a touchdown and junior running back Isiah Rico has two receptions for 33 yards. Senior Will Castel has two catches for 65 yards while freshman Jacob Sutton has two receptions for 18 yards. Junior Ryan Frinzi has added two receptions for 10 yards, and he also has five rushing attempts for 40 yards while junior running back Camron Tinajero has two catches for 14 yards and freshman Gavyn Gennarelli has one reception for a yard. 

DEFENSIVE FRONT: Senior Jeremy McGuigan leads the defensive linemen with 18 tackles, a tackle for loss, a pass break-up and a blocked kick versus Utica (N.Y.) University while junior Nathan Carr has 16 tackles with six and a half for loss and a half a sack. Graduate student Ian Brunner has posted ten tackles with a forced fumble, a quarterback hurry and a blocked kick versus Utica while junior EJ Harvey also has ten stops with a half a tackle for loss. Freshman Ryan Burns has made seven tackles while senior Drew Bailey has contributed four tackles and a quarterback hurry. Freshman Hunter Johnson has four tackles while sophomore EJ Boney and sophomore Logan Arteaga have both recorded two stops and freshman Matthew Martinez has one tackle.

THE LINEBACKER CORPS: Freshman Malachi McNeil-Harrison leads the linebackers and the entire defense with 33 stops on the year with seven tackles for loss, four sacks, three passes defended, a forced fumble and an interception on the final play versus Utica. Junior Clay Basile has contributed 30 tackles with three and a half for loss and a pass break-up while senior Chris Cacace has 29 tackles with two and a half for loss, one and a half sacks and a pass break-up. Junior Ethan O'Neill has recorded 22 tackles while senior Chad Newhard has made 19 tackles including one for loss. Junior Jashon Teller has added 11 stops with a tackle for loss while graduate student Declan Coors has seven tackles with a tackle for loss. Senior Jeremiah Espinosa has added five tackles while freshman Sahmad Bailey has one stop.

THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Sophomore Aidan Lane leads the defensive backs with 27 tackles including one for loss and two pass break-ups while sophomore Antonio Bowen has contributed 19 stops to go along with an interception and a fumble recovery. Senior Isaiah Johnson has added 13 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack, four pass break-ups and a blocked extra-point at SUNY Morrisville while junior Shea Endean has 13 stops and seven pass break-ups. Junior Dorian Gray has seven tackles with a pass break-up while sophomore Anderson Louis Jeune has added five tackles with a pass break-up. Sophomore Cleveland Harding has registered four stops while sophomore Elijah Fajardo and freshman Antonio Rivera both have three tackles. 

KICKING GAME: Freshman Ryan Child is 6-for-10 on extra-points of the season. Freshman Jack Corrigan has punted 20 times this fall for an average of 43.7 yards with a long of 71 yards on his second career attempt, and he has seven punts of more than 50 yards and three longer than 60 yards. Corrigan has four touchbacks, one fair caught and six punts inside the 20-yard line, and he has kicked off 20 times for an average of 56.5 yards and four touchbacks. Corrigan is 2-for-2 on extra points and has had his only field goal attempt of the year blocked. 

SPECIAL TEAMS: Freshman wide receiver Josh Ludlow has ten kickoff returns for 240 yards and a pair of punts for 16 yards while freshman wide receiver Jacob Sutton has two kickoff return for 43 yards. Freshman defensive back Antonio Rivera has one kickoff return for 23 yards while graduate student linebacker Declan Coors has returned one kickoff for six yards. Senior wide receiver Will Castel has three punt returns for six yards while graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham and junior running back Camron Tinajero have both added one tackle on special teams. Freshman long snapper Connor Pennington and junior running back Parker Miller each have 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 became the 23rd player in program history to reach 1,000 career receiving yards, now with 1,148 yards, and he needs 353 yards to become the 12th player to 1,500 yards. Bingham also has become the 12th player to reach 100 career receptions with 104 catches, which is 11th in program history, and he reached the milestone in just in 13 games. Senior quarterback Jared Jenkins is ranked seventh in program history with 4,662 passing yards, and he needs 338 yards passing to become the sixth player in to reach 5,000 yards. Jenkins is also sixth all-time in completions with 392, seventh in program history with 619 pass attempts and fourth in school history with 40 touchdown passes. Freshman punter Jack Corrigan booted the fourth-longest punt in school history on his second attempt versus Muhlenberg College in the opener with the ball traveling 71 yards, and he has three punts over 65 yards and seven of his 20 punts have been longer than 50 yards.

SCOUTING THE CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY OF AMERICA: The Cardinals enter the game at 2-3 overall and 0-1 in Landmark Conference action after a 48-14 loss to No. 10 Susquehanna University at home last Saturday. Graduate student quarterback Joey Gulbin has completed 66-of-99 passes for 778 yards with six touchdowns and four interceptions while senior quarterback John Whelan is 32-for-60 for 377 yards with three touchdowns. The top targets for the duo have been senior wide receiver Anthony Giordano with 22 receptions for 228 yards and a touchdown, senior wide receiver Malachi Hansen with 17 catches for 279 yards and two scores, junior wide receiver Andrew Tabor with 12 receptions for 147 yards and two touchdowns and senior tight end Sam Cornacchione with seven catches for 122 yards. Sophomore running back Daequan Harvin leads the Cardinals' rushing attack with 167 yards and a touchdown on 42 carries to go with 11 receptions for 102 yards and a score while graduate student running back Zach Williams has 113 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries to go with three catches for 27 yards and a touchdown. Hansen also has 14 kickoff returns for 282 yards and three punt returns for 14 yards while Tabor has three kickoff returns for 32 yards. Graduate student kicker Connor Gill is 5-for-5 on extra-points and 1-for-3 on field goals with a long of 43 yards, and he has also punted 27 times for an average of 41.4 yards with a long of 57 yards, two touchbacks, six fair caught, six inside the 20-yard line and four punts of more than 50 yards. Gill has also kicked off 22 times for an average of 59.7 yards with three touch backs while junior kicker Andrew Petrino is 6-for-7 on extra-points and 2-for-2 on field goals with a long of 23 yards. Junior linebacker Michael Hopkins leads the Catholic defense with 36 tackles to go with three tackles for loss, a sack, an interception with a 51-yard return, two passes defended and a quarterback hurry. Sophomore linebacker Sean Finan has contributed 32 tackles with three pass break-ups while senior linebacker Carson Henry has added 31 stops with five for loss, two sacks, an interception with a 20-yard return, two passes defended and a fumble recovery. Senior defensive back Mason Stillwell has registered 29 tackles with one for loss, a pass break-up and a forced fumble while junior defensive back Tyler Donnelly has made 28 stops with a pass break-up and a blocked kick. Sophomore defensive end Connor Jennings leads the Cardinals with two and a half sacks while freshman defensive lineman Tyler McVicker has a pair of sacks.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET: In Washington, D.C. last fall, Moravian scored 28 points in the second quarter, and the Hounds found the end zone of five straight possession to earn a 36-28 Landmark Conference victory at The Catholic University of America Saturday afternoon in the first-ever meeting between the squads on the football field. The Greyhounds received the opening kickoff for the sixth straight game this fall, and the Hounds picked up one first down before defensive back/punter Colin Conway punted the ball inside the 10-yard line. The Cardinals drove past midfield on their opening possession before Moravian defensive lineman Nathan Carr sacked the Catholic quarterback and forced a fumble that defensive lineman Jeremy McGuigan covered at the Catholic 49-yard line. The Blue & Grey were unable to convert the turnover into points, punting after three play. The Cardinals put up the first points of the game on the next drive, going 81 yards in 13 plays to take a 7-0 lead on a three-yard touchdown pass with 3:34 left in the opening quarter. Moravian began at its own 27-yard line and drove down the field. Quarterback Jared Jenkins capped the 14-play, 73-yard drive with a three-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Brad Bryan with 13:05 left in the second quarter. Jenkins then hit wide receiver Jordan Bingham with the two-point conversion to put the Hounds up 8-7. The Greyhounds got the ball right back as running back Parker Miller forced a fumble on the kickoff that junior Jeremiah Espinosa jumped on at the Catholic 30-yard line. This time, Moravian did convert the turnover into points as Jenkins connected on a five-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Jordan Lewis just 57 seconds after the Hounds first score. Bryan raced into the end zone with the two-point conversion as the Blue & Grey extended the lead to 16-7 with 12:08 left in the second quarter. The Cardinals answered back with a 13-play, 75-yard drive to pull within 16-14 on a six-yard touchdown run with 7:13 until halftime. The Greyhounds scored again on their third straight possession as Jenkins found wide receiver Tim Garlick with a nine-yard touchdown pass on a fourth down play with just 48 seconds until the intermission. The two-point conversion failed, leaving the Hounds' edge at 22-14. The drive was kept alive near midfield as Conway threw an 18-yard completion to linebacker Jackson Lane on a fourth down that was initially lined up for a punt. Catholic returned the ensuing kickoff to midfield, however, the Cardinals' quarterback fumbled on the first play with Moravian linebacker Clay Basile covering the ball at the Catholic 43-yard line. The Blue & Grey needed four plays to get into the end zone as Jenkins connected with Bryan on a one-yard scoring strike as time expired. Moravian went for two points again, but the pass failed, sending the Greyhounds to the locker room with a 28-14 advantage. Moravian's defense would force the Cardinals to punt on the opening possession of the second half. The Hounds drove 51 yards on eight plays to score for the fifth consecutive possession. Jenkins tossed his career-best fifth touchdown pass, finding Lewis with a 21-yard reception. Jenkins connected with Bingham again on the two-point conversion to push the Moravian lead to 36-14 with 10:50 remaining in the third quarter. Catholic found the end zone again on its next drive with a one-yard touchdown pass to cap six-play, 59-yard drive and cut the score to 36-20 with 8:45 left in the third stanza. Jenkins was intercepted on the third play of the Hounds' next possession. The Cardinals looked to be turning the miscue into points with the ball at the one-yard line, but defensive back Matt Capobianco intercepted a pass in the end zone to keep the score at 36-20. Moravian moved just past midfield before facing a fourth down. Conway attempted another pass instead of punting but was intercepted. The turnover set up Catholic for a 25-yard touchdown pass with just 17 seconds left in the third to cut the Hounds' lead to 36-28. The Hounds drove down to the Catholic 37-yard line where Jenkins was intercepted again. The Cardinals thought they had a pick-six to get within two points, but an illegal block during the return negated the score, and Catholic had to punt after three plays. Moravian ran out the clock, holding onto the ball for the final 10:28 of the contest with a 19-play drive that saw the Hounds get to the one-yard line before kneeling down three times to run out the clock and remain undefeated in Landmark Conference action. The Greyhounds had 427 yards of total offense with 282 in the air and 145 on the ground while controlling the clock for over 35 minutes. The Hounds were also 5-for-6 on fourth down conversions. Jenkins completed 33-of-50 passes, both career highs, for 264 yards with five touchdowns to tie Christopher Mills single game school record and a pair of interceptions. Jenkins also ran for 48 yards on nine carries while being sacked once. Bryan caught 10 passes for 85 yards and his two touchdowns while Garlick had eight catches for 50 yards and a score. Bingham grabbed six balls for 74 yards while Lewis added three receptions for 21 yards and two touchdowns. Wide receiver Nick Coffaro caught two passes for 10 yards and returned a pair of kickoffs for 28 yards while Lake had one reception for 18 yards and one kickoff return for 28 yards. Running back Nate Boyle led the Moravian rushing attack with 97 yards on 24 carries as he became the 12th Greyhound to reach 1,800 career rushing yards. Boyle also caught a pass for nine yards while running back Camron Tinajero added three yards on five carries and three receptions for 15 yards. Quarterback/kicker Avery Koser once for three yards, and he kicked off five times for an average of 53.0 yards with one touchback. Koser also had a tackle on special teams. Conway punted twice for 76 yards, and he was 1-for-2 passing for 18 yards with an interception. Conway also contributed nine tackles on defense. Defensive back Isaiah Johnson led the Hounds' defense with 10 tackles and a pass break-up while Basile added seven stops and a fumble recovery. McGuigan posted six tackles with a sack and a fumble recovery while linebacker Chris Ortalano and linebacker Ethan O'Neill both had six stops as well. Defensive back Shea Endean made four tackles while defensive back Elijah Fajardo and defensive lineman EJ Harvey both three stops with Fajardo adding a pass break-up. Capobianco had two tackles to go with his interception.

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 371.4 yards per game after week four, and the Hounds are second in passing offense at 274.2 yards per contest. Moravian's defense is first in the conference at 308.2 yards per game, and the squad is second in rushing defense at 121.8 yards per contest, second in passing defense at 186.4 yards per outing and first in points per game allowed at 18.6. The Blue & Grey lead the Landmark Conference in defensive pass efficiency at a 113.5 rating and red zone defense at 56.3 percent. Senior quarterback Jared Jenkins leads the Landmark Conference in passing yards per game at 265.6, and he is first in completions with 108, first in attempts with 166, first in yards with 1,328 and third in passing efficiency with a 148.9 rating. Graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham is first in receptions per game at 7.0 and sixth in reception yards per game at 63.6 while senior wide receiver Diego Del Castillo is fourth in receiving yards at 80.8 and tied for sixth in receptions per contest at 4.3. Freshman wide receiver Josh Ludlow is third in the Landmark Conference in kickoff return average at 24.0 yards per return on five attempts. Freshman punter Jack Corrigan is second in the Landmark Conference in punting with an average of 43.7yards per punt. Freshman linebacker Malachi McNeil-Harrison is first in the conference at 0.800 sacks per game, and he first in tackles for loss at 1.4 per outing and eighth in stops per game at 6.6. Junior linebacker Clay Basile is 12th with 6.0 tackles per contest while senior linebacker Chris Cacace is tied for 13th at 5.8 tackles per outing. Junior Nathan Carr is second in tackles for loss with 1.3 per outing while junior defensive back Shea Endean is second the conference in passes defended with 1.40 per contest and junior defensive back Isaiah Johnson is tied for fourth at 0.80 passes defended per game. McNeil-Harrison is tied for tenth at 0.60 passes defended per outing, and both he and sophomore defensive back Antonio Bowen are tied for second in interceptions per game at 0.40.

THE NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS: Moravian is tied for 12th in NCAA Division III in blocked kicks with the Greyhounds blocking three kicks so far this fall. The Hounds are also tied for 11th in fewest passes intercepted with one and 20th in red zone defense at 56.3%, allowing scores on just nine of opponents' 16 trips to the red zone. Moravian is also 12th on opponent fourth down conversion at 14.3 percent and 37th in passing yards per game at 275.2 yards per contest. Freshman punter Jack Corrigan ranks sixth in the nation in NCAA Division III with an average of 43.7 yards per punt. Graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham is 21st in the country in receptions per game at 7.0 while senior quarterback Jared Jenkins is 20th in completions per game at 21.40, 10th in passing yards with 1,328, 22nd in passing yards per game at 265.6 yards per outing and 28th in total offense at 275.4 yards per outing. Freshman linebacker Malachi McNeil-Harrison is tied for 64th in sacks per game with an average of 0.80 while junior defensive back Shea Endean is tied for 54th in the nation in passes defended with 1.4 per contest. Freshman wide receiver Josh Ludlow is 54th in kickoff returns at an average of 24.0 yards per return, and he is 55th in combined kick return yardage at 256. Senior wide receiver Diego Del Castillo is 45th in receiving yards at 404, and he is tied for 54th in touchdown receptions with four.