District College Football Preview for Saturday, November 20th

By: HSSN Staff
Wednesday, November 17, 2010 | 12:00 AM

A light schedule as the college football season winds down. The Division II playoffs begin with all PSAC matchup and the ECAC holds it‘s annual bowl games with one coming to the region, both of those games can be heard right here on the MSA Sports Network.

The regular season closes down in the Northeast Conference with a pair of games. Conference champion Robert Morris has a bye week and will await Sunday‘s announcement of it‘s opposition for the school‘s first trip to the NCAA FCS playoffs.

Here are previews of all the games, stop back early Sunday morning for recaps of all the action.

NCAA DIVISION II PLAYOFFS
Bloomsburg(9-2) at California(10-1) Noon on WJPA-FM 95.3 and the MSA Sports Network
These two teams have played five times since 2006, the Huskies have won three of the meetings. Cal won the last one and it counted in a big way, coming in 2008 27-24 in the Super Region 1 championship game.

The game features a battle of two of the top offenses in the PSAC. Bloomsburg was second with 426 points scores, Cal third at 391. It's also a matchup of the top two teams in turnover ratio, the Huskies were plus sixteen, the Vulcans plus thirteen.

Bloomsburg enters the playoffs coming off a 56-39 loss to PSAC Champion Mercyhurst last Saturday, ending a nine game winning streak. The Huskies were the sixth seeded team in Super Region 1 and won the PSAC-East by defeating Kutztown last week. Bloomsburg fell from 11th to 20th in the final regular season AFCA Division II poll.

QB Pat Carey threw for 311 yards and three touchdowns in last week's loss. It's the tenth straight game that Carey has thrown multiple touchdown passes. The junior finished the season with 1,816 yards passing, 22 touchdowns and just seven interceptions. Carey was second in the conference in passer rating.

Tailback Franklyn Quiteh left the game in the third quarter with a leg injury. He racked up 104 yards and a touchdown before leaving.. Quiteh is a regional finalist for the Harlon Hill Award, given to the top player in Division II. The freshman led the conference and the nation in rushing with 1.742 yards and finished second in the conference with 19 touchdowns.

Another freshman, Codie Butler racked up 677 yards on the ground, good for tenth in the conference.

Wide receiver Kyle Fisher had six catches for 151 yards in the title game.

The Huskies had the best red zone offense in the conference, scoring 45 of 50 times this season with 31 touchdowns. Bloomsburg was the most penalized team in the conference during the regular season, averaging almost 72 yards per game.

Junior Vince Browning was among the conference leaders in interceptions with four.

Cal makes their fourth consecutive playoff appearance, sealing a home game with a rout of Cheyney last week. The Vulcans win combined with Shepherd's loss to Glenville State, knocked the WVIAC champions out of the number one spot in the rankings and allowed Cal to move up to the number three seed in the region and also moved up three spots from tenth to seventh in the final regular season AFCA Division II poll.

With the victory last week, Cal picked up it's fourth consecutive ten win season. The Vulcans have also made three straight trips to the national semifinals. Cal is also 3-0 vs. the PSAC-East this season.

Cal placed ten players on the PSAC-West First Team, including quarterback Josh Portis, running back Lamont Smith and wide receiver Terrance Moore. Defensive lineman Darnell Harding was named PSAC-West Freshman of the Year.

Portis now ranks second all-time at Cal with 66 touchdown passes, with thirty coming this season. The senior finished the season with 2,350 yards and just seven interceptions. Portis led the league with a passer rating of 160.8.

Smith finished third in the PSAC in rushing with 1,136 yards and sixth with twelve touchdowns.

Junior wide receiver Chedrick Cherry caught three touchdown passes last week, a career high. Cherry finished tenth in the conference with 665 yards on 48 catches, he also had twelve touchdowns.

The Vulcans were the top defense in the PSAC, allowing just 145 points all season. Not surprisingly, Cal also had the best red zone defense, allowing just 14 scores in 23 chances, with ten touchdowns. Junior Shawn Anderson led Cal with four interceptions.

The kickers could end up deciding this one, and both teams sport good ones. Cal's Marc Domonkos was 47-48 on extra points and 12-16 on field goal attemps. Freshman Dan Fisher from Bloomsburg was 25-26 on PAT's and 20-23 on field goals.

The winner will travel to Erie next Saturday to meet 11th ranked Mercyhurst, the Lakers handed both the Huskies and Vulcans losses at Tullio Field this season. The PSAC champions were placed as the second seed in Super Region One.

The top seed was given to 13th ranked Kutztown(10-1). The Golden Bears await the winner of Saturday's game between fourth seed Shepherd(9-1) and fifth seed Shaw(9-2). Shepherd was the WVIAC champion, but fell nine spots in the rankings from ninth to eighteenth with a loss to Glenville State last week, that likely would have given Shepherd the top seed in the region. Shaw moves into the top 25 at number 25.

ECAC SOUTHWEST BOWL
Franklin & Marshall(6-4) at W & J(8-2) Noon on WJPA-AM 1450 and the MSA Sports Network
It's the eighth meeting between the Diplomats and Presidents. W & J leads the series 5-2. The last meeting was in 2003, won by the Presidents 36-14 in Lancaster.

Franklin and Marshall lost in the Centennial Conference finale, 57-35 to Gettysburg, in which the Bullets scored on their first ten possessions.

The Diplomats defeated Wilkes 29-24 in the ECAC South Atlantic Bowl last season.

John Kaschak is the leading rusher with 673 yards, he also has 47 catches for 389 yards, with seven touchdowns. Kaschak had 23 carries for 101 yards and a touchdown last week, also five catches for 62 yards.

John Harrison is the quarterback, the Diplomats can air it out. Harrison is 231 for 350 for 2.450 yards with 23 touchdowns and twelve interceptions. Harrison tossed four touchdown passes last week, three to Michael Deutch. Harrison had two interceptions returned for touchdowns last week.

Jay Ridinger has 74 catches for 852 yards and six touchdowns. Jarrell Diggs grabbed 51 passes for 532 yards. Deutch made 30 catches during the season, eight coming last week for 102 yards.

W & J enters the bowl game coming off a victory over rival Waynesburg 31-30 in overtime last week, for their seventh straight win. The Presidents stopped a two point attempt to win it. Sophomore running back Tim McNerney ran 23 times for 107 yards. Quarterback Gino Rometo threw for 293 yards and a touchdown.

It's the first appearance in an ECAC Bowl for the Presidents since 2003, the last time the Presidents did not make the NCAA playoffs. W & J defeated Wilkes 41-19 in the ECAC Southwest Bowl that season.

McNerney finished fifth in the conference with 862 yards rushing and third with fifteen touchdowns.

Rometo threw for 1,983 yards and completed 65 percent of his passes with seventeen touchdowns and six interceptions. The senior finished second in the conference with a passer rating of 149.1.

The Presidents placed four players on the PAC Post-Season First Team. Offensive lineman Gary Flavion, wide receiver Jordan Roycroft, defensive back Craig Sedunov and punter Joe Kelly.

Roycroft caught a 25 yard touchdown pass in overtime, he had ten catches for 139 yards. Roycroft also went over the 100 catch mark for his career. The senior led the conference with 67 catches and was second with 714 yards.

Sedunov became the fourth player in school history to make 300 tackles, he went over the mark with seven stops last week.

W & J was third in the PAC in both scoring offense with 302 points and scoring defense, allowing 184 on the season. The Presidents also finished the season with a plus three in turnover ratio.

Duquesne(6-4) at Bryant(7-3) Noon
Both teams are 4-3 in the Northeast Conference.

Duquesne defeated Saint Francis 41-17 last week. Sophomore quarterback Sean Patterson was named NEC Offensive Player of the Week. Patterson threw for 278 yards and five touchdowns in the win, he also ran for a score.

Patterson is tied for third in the conference with 1,853 yards. He has thrown eighteen touchdowns with just nine interceptions.

Senior wide receivers Dave Williams(Gateway) and Connor Dixon(South Park) both went out in front of the home crowd last week in a good way. Williams had five catches for 100 yards, Dixon had five catches for 109 yards. Both scored touchdowns. Williams leads the conference with 57 receptions, Dixon is fifth with 41. Williams is fifth in scoring with nine touchdowns.

Sophomore running back Larry McCoy ran for 101 yards on 23 carries. McCoy has hit the century mark in five games this season. McCoy is fourth in the conference with 1,131 yards and tied for ninth with six scores.

Junior cornerback Samad Wagstaff was named NEC Defensive Player of the Week. Wagstaff picked off three passes in Bryant's 27-21 win over conference champion Robert Morris last week, denying the Colonials a perfect conference record. One of those inteceptions ended in a 90 yard return for a touchdown for Wagstaff.

Running back Jordan Brown ran for 138 yards and two touchdowns in last week's win, it's the ninth time this season that Brown ran for 100 yards or more. The sophomore leads the NEC with 1,311 yards and eighteen touchdowns. Mike Canfora is third in the conference with eleven touchdowns, he appears nowhere else among conference leaders.

Max Machdo and Wagstaff are tied for the NEC lead with four interceptions each.

Bryant is 8-0 all-time against NEC teams from the Keystone State. The Bulldogs are also unbeaten at home this season.

Saint Francis(1-9) at Central Connecticut State(7-3) Noon
The Red Flash fell to Duquesne 41-17 last week to fall to 1-6 in NEC play. Saint Francis has dropped eighteen consecutive road games.

Linebacker Scott Lewis became only the second player in Division I FCS history to record 500 or more tackles for his career. Lewis finished with eight tackles to give him 507.

Senior Kyle Harbridge continued his return from injury with 131 yards and a touchdown. Harbridge has scored in back to back weeks for the Red Flash. It was his third 100 yard game of the season and fourth for his career.

Senior Omar Winston is seventh in the conference with 32 catches.

The Blue Devils defeated Monmouth 49-48 in double overtime last week, they are 6-1 in conference play. Last week's game saw over one thousand yards of total offense. The game was decided when head coach Jeff McInerney went for two in the second overtime and quarterback Gunnar Jespersen hit Josue Paul for the successful conversion.

Defensive end Lawton Arnold was named the NEC Special Teams Player of the Week. The sophomore returned a short kickoff seventy yards for a score in the second quarter and later blocked a field goal attempt in the fourth quarter to keep CCSU in the game.

Jespersen is third in the conference with a passer rating of 137.4. The junior has thrown for 1,719 yards with eleven touchdowns and seven interceptions.

Everette Benjamin ran for 184 yards and a touchdown on 28 carries. Benjamin has rushed for 100 yards or more seven times this season. The senior is third in the conference with 1,213 yards and fourth in the conference in scoring with eleven touchdowns.