District College Football Preview for Saturday, November 28

By: Bruce Markey
Wednesday, November 25, 2015 | 9:22 PM

And then there were three district college football teams alive in the post season. SRU and IUP hope to both advance and meet in the Super Region ! final while Duquesne makes their initial trip into the FCS playoffs.

Here are previews of ALL 3 GAMES, with recaps coming Saturday night.

NCAA Division II Playoffs/Super Region 1 Semifinal
Assumption (11-1) at Slippery Rock (11-1)   Noon
A battle of the third and second seeds in the region with the winner to advance to the regional final next weekend. The two teams have never met. Slippery Rock is ranked 8th in the D2football.com poll, while Assumption is ranked 17th.

Assumption has won 10 straight games since a 40-31 loss at LIU Post in week 2. The Greyhounds defeated sixth seed Bowie State 51-29 last week. Marc Monks threw for 4 td passes and James Ward ran for 2 scores in the win.

Monks is the backup quarterback, Tobey Brendan threw for 1,751 yards and 13 td’s, he missed the Bowie State game. Monks has 582 yards and 8 td passes.

Alex Shain is the leading rusher at 1,009 yards. Ward needs 83 yards to also reach 1 thousand on the year.

Deonte Harris has 70 catches, Ashton Grant has 62, both have 9 touchdowns. Cole Tracy has made 21-25 field goals this year with his longest at 52 yards. It will be interesting to see how Tracy deals with the tricky wind on top of the hill at SRU. 

The Rock blasted seventh seed Bowie State 40-21 at Mihalik-Thompson Stadium last Saturday. Shamar Greene(West Mifflin) ran for 154 yards and 2 touchdowns in the Rock’s first home playoff win since 1999.

The Rock is averaging 48 points per game. SRU has scored 307 of their 576 points in the first half.

Greene leads the team in rushing with 1,316 yards and has 14 touchdowns. Nania needs 280 passing yards to reach 3 thousand for the season. The former Hempfield quarterback has fired 27 td passes on the year and has completed 56 percent of his passes.

The Rock has 3 talented receivers. Cornelius Raye(Allderdice) leads with 50 catches and 7 touchdowns. Jaimire Dutrieuille(Woodland Hills) has made 36 and Marcus Carter(New Castle) with 35. Dutrieuille is averaging 23 yards per punt return. Raye lead with 6 catches for 151 yards last week.

Deontae Fleming and Derrick Fulmore(West Mifflin) each have 4 interceptions. Teven Williams leads the defense with 87 tackles. Marcus Martin, also from West Mifflin, was named all PSAC West first team. The linebacker has 12 sacks and 4 fumble recoveries.  

IUP (10-1) at Shepherd (10-0)   Noon
It is the fifth seeded Crimson Hawks on the road for the second straight week. IUP won at Charleston 47-21 last Saturday. Lenny Williams ran for 151yards and 4 touchdowns as IUP scored 34 unanswered points in the second half.

IUP makes its 16th appearance in the D-II playoffs. The Crimson Hawks are 6th in D-II at 305 rushing yards per game. IUP has outscored the opposition 132-21 in the opening quarter this year. 
 
Williams(Sto-Rox) has been named as a finalist for the Harlon Hill trophy, given to the best player in D-II. Williams has run for 1,145 yards and 12 scores while throwing for 1,423 yards.

Chris Temple is the leading rusher….by a yard. Temple has 1,146 yards and 17 td’s, he posted 116 rushing yards last week. Walt Pegues is the top receiving target with 54 catches.

The IUP defense has picked off 21 passes this year, with 6 going for touchdowns. Kevin Clarke leads with 69 tackles.

Shepherd is the Mountain East champion and received a bye into the regional semifinals as the top seed. The Rams average 43 points per game and are ranked #5 in the AFCA top 25  and #7 in the D2football.com poll.

Allen Cross leads Shepherd with 696 rushing yards. QB Jeff Ziemba has thrown for 2,842 yards and 26 td’s with just 2 picks. Billy Brown is his favorite target with 61 catches. Jabre Lolly has been a force at the goal line with 16 touchdowns.

Adam Coles and Tre Sullivan are tied for the team lead with 3 interceptions each.

Shepherd leads the series 2-1. IUP won the last meeting in 2012 in the opening round of the playoffs.

Division 1 FCS Playoffs/1st Round
Duquesne (8-3) at William & Mary (8-3)   3:30pm
The first round of the FCS playoffs features a first ever meeting of the Dukes and the #13 Tribe.

Duquesne won the NEC title and automatic bid with a 30-20 home win over Saint Francis last week. The NEC representative has not won a playoff game since 2012. Duquesne has won 4 straight games.

Rafiq Douglas led the Dukes into the title game with 165 rushing yards and 3 touchdowns against the Red Flash. Douglas needs 23 yards to hit 1 thousand for the season, he has 11 td’s. He was also name the NEC Offensive Player of the Week.

Chris King is the Duquesne all-time leader with 163 catches. King leads the team with 69 catches, while Wayne Capers(Char Valley) has grabbed 44. King has 7 touchdowns, Capers has 6.

Kicker Austin Crimmins has kicked 42 career field goals, a Dukes record. QB Dillon Buechel(Montour) has thrown for 2,448 yards and 16 touchdowns.

Christian Kuntz leads the defense with 4 interceptions. He was named NEC Defensive Player of the Week. 

The Tribe finished 6-2 and were tri-champs of the CAA. William & Mary makes their 10th playoff appearance, but first since 2010. Head coach Jimmye Laycock is in his 36th year.  William & Mary has outscored opponents 120-45 in the second quarter.

William & Mary comes off a 20-9 loss to Richmond, breaking a 6 game winning streak. The Tribe did not have a touchdown. William and Mary fell 35-29 at Virginia and 24-23 at Deleware.

Kendall Anderson is the leading rusher and scorer with 1,219 yards and 13 touchdowns.
QB Steve Cluley has thrown for 2,438 yards and 13 touchdowns, he threw 3 interceptions last week. DeVonte Dedmon has 47 catches and 7 td’s.

William & Mary has several WPIAL players on the roster. WR Kevin Hart(Seton LaSalle), WRChris Conlan(Quaker Valley) and OL Domenic Martinelli(Montour). Hart has 22 catches and 3 touchdowns while Martinelli starts at right guard.