Gameday 9/18/04 - Game #3 West Conn

Rowan Stomps West Conn By Tom Wilson JT@rowanfootball.com Photo coutesy of The News-Times/David W. Harple WestConn linebacker Oral Ingram drags down Rowan wide receiver Brad Stys after Stys caught a pass in the first half Saturday at WestConn. Arriving in Danbury after battling two touch non-conference opponents in prior weeks, Rowan easily handled Western Connecticut, 43-7 in the Colonials New Jersey Athletic Conference opener in front of 875 Westside Athletic Complex Saturday afternoon. Head coach Jay Accorsi tweaked his starting lineup trying to improve the performance on both sides of the ball. Senior Mike Seidenberg a tight-end and back up quarterback was moved to outside linebacker. Seidenberg also handled the punting duties, replacing previous starter Jon-Michael Shaddow. Western Connecticut Game 3 - 2004 Play WGLS-FM audio highlights Since Western Connecticut plays a similar spread offense to Rowan's, the Profs decided to go away from their base 4-3 defense to a 3-4. Its looks like the tweaking worked. Rowan scored 43 straight points before Western Connecticut's lone touchdown in the fourth quarter for a 43-7 conference victory on Saturday afternoon. The Profs are 2-1 overall and 1-0 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference. Utilizing nine different receivers quarterback Mike Orihel led the Profs with 241 yards passing and three touchdowns. Rowan had a 7-0 lead after the first quarter. At 5:25, running back Brandon Medine scored with a 26 yard run which was the third play of the drive that covered 42 yards. The Profs led 35-0 at the half after scoring 28 points in the second quarter. Pat Thompson had a nine-yard touchdown run at 12:11. The drive took 16 plays and totaled 85 yards. Berry had two catches in the drive for 17 yards and Medine had one carry for 11 yards. Orihel's first touchdown pass came on the next drive, a 17-yarder to wide receiver Sakeen Wright at 9:12. His second was a 23-yard touchdown pass to Berry (4:26) and his third was nine yards to Silva (1:46). Berry also had a 10-yard catch in the drive that only took four plays, 50 yards. Silva's touchdown drive was also four plays, 43-yards. "We had a good of idea of how we wanted to play (Rowan) and what we wanted to do," said Colonial center Bucky Jordan in The News-Times, "but penalties and other mistakes hurt. You can make mistakes and get away with them against the teams we played before today (Fitchburg and Salve Regina) but you can't make them against a team like Rowan." In the third quarter, Damian Shaddow made his first field goal of 25 yards at the 10 minute mark. The team safety came at 4:11 when cornerback Yasin York tackled running back Jason Adamson in the endzone. Shaddow ended the Profs' scoring with a 22-yard field goal with 1:24 left in the quarter. The Prof defense held the Colonials to 229 yards, 224 passing and five rushing on 30 rushing attempts. Mike Seidenberg was the Profs' tackle leader with eight followed by end Chinedu Njoku with seven. Linebacker Mike McClain added five tackles, one fumble recovery and one interception return for 42 yards. End Brian Bond and linebacker Sean Boyle each recovered a fumble. Pat Thompson totaled 131 of Rowan's 197 yards rushing in 19 attempts. Brandon Medine carried the ball eight times for 73 yards. Colonial quarterback Joe Dimeglio made 28 completions in 53 attempts for 224 yards. Western Connecticut's lone touchdown was a recovered fumble in the end zone by free safety Chris Venice. Venice ended the game with seven tackles and two fumble recoveries. David Cournoyer logged 86 yards with seven receptions. Linebacker Jason Alcin had 11 tackles. "We had a great start on defense," Venice said The News-Times. "We were going along so well for those first few series. Then the bottom kind of fell out."

Profs Try to Regroup Against Colonials Western Connecticut 2003 Highlights Play WGLS-FM audio highlights By Tom Wilson JT@rowanfootball.com This is only the third meeting between Rowan University and Western Connecticut State University. Last year, Rowan won at home against WCSU, 25-19. The Profs defeated the Colonials in their first meeting, 43-14 which was in the second round of the 2001 NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. Last year, quarterback Mike Orihel scored the winning touchdown with a seven yard run and he completed the two-point conversion pass to Joe D'Imperio. Orihel finished the game with 195-yards with 17 completions in 30 attempts and had one TD. His touchdown pass was 14-yards to Phil Silva. Pat Thompson carried the ball 22 times for 78 yards. He also had a 26-yard touchdown pass. Western Connecticut quarterback Mike Scipione threw 20 completions in 39 attempts for 197 yards and one TD. He tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Vincent Sheperis. Sheperis led the receivers with 147 yards on 13 catches. Last week, Western Connecticut defeated Salve Regina on the road, 44-14. Quarterback Joe Dimeglio totaled 216 yards passing and threw two touchdown passes (54 and 19 yards) to Vincent Sheperis. Sheperis led the receivers with 109 yards on seven catches. Jason Adamson rushed for 83-yards (19 attempts) and had two touchdowns (two and 10 yards). Anton Armstead and Rick Jackson scored with 44 and four yard runs respectively. Chris Taylor started the scoring with a 33 yard field goal. Adamis Gonzales added six catches for 69 yards. Dimeglio is a transfer from the Univerity of New Haven. Last year he played in 10 games and passed for 1,834 yards (157 of 315) and nine TDs. Dimeglio is second in the NJAC in passing average (309.5) and total offense (320.0). Sheperis was selected a 2004 Lindy's College Football Magazine Preseason All-American. Last year he was a member of the Freedom Football Conference first team. He holds the school records for most catches a game (13), season (74) and career (122) and most receiving yards a season (1,061). His 121.0 yards per game is second in the conference. Adamson is averaging 103.0 yards per game and is ranked second. In the conference, Western Connecticut is ranked second in scoring defense (15.5), pass defense (127.0), rushing defense (104.5) and total defense (231.5). Chris Venice leads the defense at free safety. He is followed in tackles by corner Ryan Ellis and linebacker Jason Alcin. Corner Tyrell Williams and rover Ray Cosentino each have an interception. Chris Taylor is the NJAC leader in scoring (kicking) with 7.5 points per game. He has nine PATs and two field goals. His longest field goal was 34 yards. For the Profs, Orihel is averaging 321.0 yards per game which is first in the conference. He is also the leader in total offense with 333.5 yards per game. Orihel has 53 completions in 82 attempts and eight TDs. His 157.7 pass efficiency is second in the NJAC. His top receiver Phil Silva is tied for second in receptions per game (6.5) and is fourth in receiving yards (90.0). Silva is joined in the starting lineup by seniors Jon Berry and Tyree Jackson. Thompson is averaging 4.7 yards per carry and 80.5 per game. In the conference team stats, Rowan is first in pass offense (321.0) and pass efficiency (157.7). The Profs are also second in total offense (416.5), third in scoring offense (30.0) and fourth in rushing offense (95.5). In the last game, the Profs forced four turnovers. Strong safety David Smith recovered a fumble and had an interception. McClain also had a fumble recovery while corner Yasin York recorded an interception. Against Southern, McClain moved to outside linebacker and Aaron McCord started in the middle. McCord contributed with seven tackles and a sack. McClain is seventh in the NJAC with a 9.5 tackle average. Bond is tied for third in sacks (1.0) and tied for fourth in tackles for a loss (1.50). Kicker Damian Shaddow is perfect in PATs with four in four attempts. I think the Profs are going to be able to score. They've have proven ability to explode with quick points. What Rowan needs is to mix in some longer drives with or without points. Make the Colonials drive a long field. So. Conn got some cheap scores on turnovers in Rowan territory last week. CNU got some cheap scores also in week one. The Profs defense has played well, making some key stops in the past two weeks. The team is a little banged up from the level of early competition. Loser of this game might be on the outside looking in at the NJAC title hunt. Profs will put this one in the bank and recouperate a little during the bye next week.

Rowan 2 - 1	43
at
Western Connecticut 2 - 1	7
Sept 18, 2004 Westside Athletic Complex Danbury, CT 1:00 PM
Listen to the Game on Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM Pregame Show 12PM

NJAC Week #3

NJAC Week #2