Gameday 12/4/04 - Delaware Valley NCAA Quarterfinal

Aggies Planted by Profs 56-7 Photo slide show 18 photos 36 seconds By Tom Wilson JT@rowanfootball.com Gameday this past Saturday started out in fine fashion. I went up to will call to pick up my press pass, so I could take photos and cover the game. Never been a problem before. I even called first thing the Monday morning prior to the game, so I wouldn't get left off a full media list. As the student attendant is flipping through the passes once… twice… and a third time I knew the NCAA pulled me from the list. The Rowan AD comfirmed it by telling me the NCAA representative waited until late Friday night to scratch me from the list of press passes. I'm not "qualified" media. Whatever that means. Nothing Joy Solomen our AD could do. You see the NCAA doesn't care much about DIII sports, except at playoff time when they take over the event. I guess it doesn't mean much during the season when I'm the only person covering the game sometimes. It also doesn't mean much when I'm helping the New York Times guy write his article by being able to actually identify Rowan players out of uniform. Or the numerous cameramen who show up and can't identify any one on the team, even the head coach Jay Accorsi. Seems to me like "qualified media" might do a little research before they set foot on the field. I'm also a D3football.com correspondent and top 25 voter that has written numerous articles and submitted many photos of Rowan and opposing teams for d3football.com. Lastly, forget that I do this for solely for the love of DIII football and the Profs up to and including spending a few thousand dollars maintaining Rowanfootball.com. One would think a 3 year old website supported by fans, alumni, players, and coaches with over 1,500,000 hits and browsed by "qualified media types" (I can see your IP addresses) might merit a press pass. A big thank you to those NCAA representatives that make arbitrary decisions like this. So I took photos from the fence line. Not my best work but hey one does what one can. Sorry for the rant... Quarterback Mike Orihel threw for 252 yards and five touchdown passes to lead Rowan University over Delaware Valley College, 56-7 in the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division III Championship Tournament. Rowan (10-2) will play the winner of the Linfield-Occidental quarterfinal game on Saturday, December 11 in the semifinals. The Profs will travel to Oregon if Linfield wins but if Occidental is the winner, the semifinal game will be at Rowan. The 56 points was a school record for most points in a playoff game. The old mark was 55 when Rowan shutout Ursinus, 55-0 in second round of the 1999 national tournament. In the other semifinal game, Mount Union will host Mary Hardin-Baylor. The national championship, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, will be played on Saturday, December 18 at Salem Stadium in Salem, VA. Orihel made 21 of 33 attempts and his TD passes were three, 19, 15, 30 and 12 yards. It was the second time he had five touchdowns passes in a game this season. Sakeen Wright led the receivers with 11 catches for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Wright has 16 touchdowns on the season. Phil Silva contributed with 57 yards on three receptions and two touchdowns. Running back Brandon Medine had one touchdown rushing and one receiving. Ulysses Encarnacion carried the ball nine times for 62 yards and one touchdown. Kicker Damian Shaddow made eight extra points. For Delaware Valley, quarterback Adam Knoblauch passed for 118 yards with 15 completions (38 attempts). Steve Cook rushed for 88 yards on 18 attempts and scored the lone TD with a 10 yard run. Linebacker Mike Seidenberg led the Profs' defense with nine tackles (6-3) while linebackers Mike McClain and Randy Tosh followed with eight apiece. Seidenberg also recorded an interception and two pass breakups. Free safety Eric Bailey also had an interception. Aggies' free safety Kyle Mancuso compiled nine tackles (4-5) and linebacker A.J. Neal followed with eight (4-4). Cornerback Kevin Bliss posted his fourth interception on the season. The Prof players felt that they had something to prove. As a team and organization they realized thought many people the Beast of the East had left with KC Keeler to the University of Delaware, including the Aggies. Funny how a team that is 27-6 (3 losses to DII schools, 3 DIII losses by a total of 5 points) in head coach Jay Accorsi's tenure while playing one of the toughest schedules in the country, is a Beast no more. Well the Beast came back with a vengeance as Rowan started the game with 42 straight points, 14 in the first quarter and 28 in the second. It could have been even uglier. The Profs scored on their first drive of the game that was four plays, 62 yards. Wright had a three-yard TD pass from Orihel (13:58). On the first play, Orihel connected with Wright for a 53-yard pass. Rowan ended the quarter with a seven yard touchdown run by Encarnacion (1:20). Wright contributed with three receptions for 25 yards in the drive that covered 61 yards in nine plays. In the second quarter, Orihel hit Medine and Wright with 19 (12:56) and 15 (10:54) yard TD passes. Medine's drive started on the Delaware Valley 33 yard line after the Profs stopped the Aggies on a fourth-and-one. Wright scored on the next drive that only took three plays, 29 yards. It started with a 25-yard punt return by Joe D'Imperio and the Aggies received a 15-yard face mask penalty that put Rowan on the Delaware Valley 29 yard line. With 3:20 left, Orihel hit Silva with a 30-yard TD toss. The drive started when the ball was turned over on downs on the Rowan 42 yard line. The Profs' last touchdown of the half came on a recovered blocked punt by Encarnacion with 1:24 left. The punt was blocked by Brian Jenkins. The Aggies scored in the third quarter. Cook's touchdown drive took 12 plays and spanned 62 yards. It was his 14th rushing TD on the year. Rowan added two more touchdowns in the fourth quarter. Silva had his second touchdown catch of 12 yards (13:38). Medine had the last score with an eight yard run with 1:23 left in the game. In the bracket, Rowan was the number one seed in its region while Delaware Valley was seeded second. Rowan advanced to the quarterfinal game with a 45-14 victory over Hobart College and the team had a bye in the first round. The Profs are in the postseason for the 11th time. Delaware Valley defeated Shenandoah, 21-17 in the first round and St. John Fisher in the second. This was the first appearance for the Aggies in the NCAA tournament. Delaware Valley was a good squad that just ran into a buzzsaw. I even had a beer in the parking lot with their head coach GA Mangus, about an hour or so after the game. Nice guy and it was obvious that he expects the Aggies and the Profs to tangle again. Judging from the look in his eye I expect a better performance from Delaware Valley next time.

Rowan and Del Val Similarly Successful By Tom Wilson JT@rowanfootball.com The top two seeds in the region will meet in the NCAA Division III quarterfinals on Saturday as No. 2 Delaware Valley comes to Glassboro to take on No. 1 Rowan. Many similarities exist in the road taken in 2004 by the Aggies and Profs. Come from behind… making the plays when it counts… winning ugly have been the themes to more that a few Delaware Valley and Rowan wins this year. The Aggies could easily be 4-6 and the Profs could be 5-5. Delaware Valley had a narrow victory over Juniata and late come from behind victories over Susquehanna, Kings, Lycoming, Albright, and Widener. The Aggies followed that up with more late come from behind playoff victories over Shenandoah and St. John Fisher. Rowan had some of there own late game magic. The Profs survived bad officials and held on for a one-point win against Christopher Newport. Rowan had late come from behind victories against Cortland and Kean. They also beat Brockport in overtime. The Aggies reached the regional final and improved to 12-0 on the season with another come-from-behind victory, this time a 26-20 home triumph over third-seeded St. John Fisher College in the second round. They scored two times in the final 62 seconds to erase an eight-point deficit and notched their sixth, fourth-quarter comeback this season. Delaware Valley trailed 20-12 before quarterback Adam Knoblauch hit wideout David Carmon for a 16-yard touchdown pass and then found wideout John Kiphorn for the two-point conversion to the contest with 1:02 remaining. Then cornerback Kevin Bliss intercepted a St. John Fisher pass and returned it six yards to the Cardinal 26-yard line with 41 seconds remaining. Four plays and 32 seconds later, Knoblauch scored on a bootleg from two yards out to complete the improbable comeback. Delaware Valley's offense struggled in the red zone against St. John Fisher, but the unit did compile 614 yards (two shy of the school record) on 102 plays (one shy of the mark). The Aggies are averaging 29.2 points and 439.7 yards per game. In NCAA stats, Delaware Valley is ranked 22nd in total offense (439.7), 24th in passing offense (264.0) and 35th in points allowed (16.4). Leading the offense is Knoblauch as the junior holds nearly every Delaware Valley passing mark in the record book. He set new single-game standards against St. John Fisher by completing 36 of 59 passes for 423 yards. Three of the tosses went for touchdowns and he also rushed for 36 yards and the game-winning score. Knoblauch is 227-for-411 this season for 3,117 yards and 26 touchdowns (all are single-season records except for touchdowns - he is two shy of his own mark in that category) while also netting 409 yards and 10 trips to the end zone on 87 rushes. He is the Aggies' all-time leader in completions (579), attempts (1,128), passing yards (7,859), passing touchdowns (72) and total offense (8,660). Carmon, a sophomore, became Delaware Valley's single-season leader in both receptions (75) and yards (1,129) last week, breaking the previous marks of 74 catches and 1,127 yards by Rich Gear in 2001. Carmon hauled in nine passes for 94 yards and two scores against St. John Fisher and moved into fourth place on the all-time list with 119 catches and fifth with 1,625 yards. Fellow sophomore Don Marshall follows with 47 receptions for 1,013 yards and nine touchdowns. He is one of just three players in Aggie history to go over 1,000 receiving yards in a season and his career total of 1,539 yards ranks seventh. Marshall caught six passes for a game-high 138 yards and one touchdown against St. John Fisher. Kiphorn, a sophomore transfer, tied five others for the school's single-game receptions record with 11 catches for 125 yards last week. The performance upped his season numbers to 32 grabs for 372 yards and two touchdowns. The Aggie ground attack is paced by another record setter as junior tailback Steve Cook owns Delaware Valley's single-season marks for attempts (277), yards (1,382), rushing touchdowns (13) and total touchdowns (14). He is also third on the Aggie all-time list with 2,168 yards and is 467 yards shy of that record as well. Cook carried the ball 25 times for 111 yards against St. John Fisher - the ninth time he has gone over the 100-yard mark this year. Defensively, Delaware Valley allows an average of 16.4 points and 281.6 yards per game (106.7 rushing, 174.9 passing). The unit limited St. John Fisher to 288 yards of total offense last week, including just 43 yards in the air, and recorded the biggest turnover of the season with Bliss' interception. The pick was the 20th of the season for the team. Senior linebacker Andrew Erby was named the 2004 Middle Atlantic Conference Defensive Player of the Year as he leads the Aggies for the fourth consecutive season in tackles (84) and is the school's all-time leader in the category with 362. He also has six pass breakups and four sacks on the year and notched seven tackles last week. Fellow linebacker A.J. Neal follows with 68 tackles while also adding four pass breakups, two interceptions and one sack. The sophomore led Delaware Valley with nine tackles last week, including six solo stops. Sophomore defensive end Anthony Silver was a force to be reckoned with last week as he recorded five tackles, three sacks, two pass breakups and a forced fumble against St. John Fisher. He leads the Aggies with 9.5 sacks, 25 tackles for losses and nine pass breakups and is tied for third in total tackles with 70. Bliss' interception against St. John Fisher was his third of the season. He also had one tackle to up his season total to 30. Fellow cornerback Dawaine Whetstone has six interceptions to pace the squad. Since 1991, Rowan has made 11 appearances in the NCAA Championship Tournament. The Profs have a 24-10 mark in the national tournament. Rowan has played in the championship game, the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl, five times in the last 11 years (1999-98-96-95-93). In 2001, 1997 and 1992, Rowan reached the semifinals of the tournament. This season, Rowan is 9-2 with its only two losses coming against Division II schools Southern Connecticut and Virginia State. Following its first-round bye as the top seed in the region, the Profs opened playoff action with a 45-14 dismantling of fourth-seeded Hobart College. After falling behind 7-0, they scored 38 straight points and finished the afternoon with 583 yards of total offense while allowing just 294. In NCAA stats, Orihel is ranked 10th in the nation in pass efficiency (156.9) and 14th in total offense (288.9). Rowan is 12th in passing offense (287.2), 18th in total offense (442.4) and 28th in scoring offense (35.5). Rowan averages 35.5 points and 442.4 yards on offense. Leading the squad is sophomore quarterback Mike Orihel, who grew up near Delaware Valley and starred on championship teams at Central Bucks West High School. Orihel, the 2004 New Jersey Athletic Conference Offensive Player of the Year, has completed 218 of 358 passes (60.9%) for 2,852 yards and 35 touchdowns while throwing just seven interceptions. He has also scored eight touchdowns on the ground. Last week against Hobart, Orihel was 21-for-29 for 253 yards and three touchdowns. Orihel's favorite targets are junior wideouts Sakeen Wright and Phil Silva. Wright leads the team with 48 receptions for 670 yards and 14 trips to the end zone. He made five grabs for 27 yards and two scores against Hobart. Silva follows with 40 catches for 501 yards and five touchdowns. He caught three passes for 23 yards and also rushed for a touchdown last week. Senior Pat Thompson is Rowan's leading rusher with 1,234 yards and six touchdowns on 229 carries, but he left the Hobart game with a knee injury. He had already notched 153 yards and two scores on 22 carries before suffering the injury. Rob Richardson and Brandon Medine will have big shoes to fill this week as they will replace Thompson in the backfield. Medine and Richardson are averaging 4.3 and 3.9 yards per carry. Orihel was chosen the conference's Offensive Player of the Year. This is his second season directing the Profs' offense. Last year, he was selected the NJAC Offensive Rookie of the Year. In the conference, he is first in passing (288.2) and pass efficiency (156.9) and second in total offense (288.9). Wright is averaging 60.9 receiving yards per game and 14.0 per catch. This is his first season with the Profs. He was named to the All-Conference first team with wide receiver Phil Silva. They are joined in the starting lineup by Tyree Jackson. The Profs' defense allows 23 points and 324.3 yards per game, but 51 of the 253 points they have allowed this season was scored by Division II Southern Connecticut. They were dominant against Hobart last week, especially in the first half when they allowed just 44 total yards and the early touchdown was set up by a Rowan turnover. Several players have contributed to the team's success on defense. Linebacker Randy Tosh leads the team in tackles and has also registered five sacks, one interception and two fumble recoveries. The sack leader is end Brian Bond with 10 who has forced a fumble and recovered one. Linebacker Mike Seidenberg and cornerbacks Yasin York and Eric Bailey each have recorded two interceptions. Seidenberg has also recovered two fumbles and posted five sacks. He started the season at tight end. Delaware Valley has only given up eight sacks. The Profs will need to get pressure on Knoblauch. His main targets are No. 87 Don Marshall listed at 6'0" 175 lbs and No. 21 David Carmon listed at 6'2" 185 lbs. No. 5 Steve Cook is the main rusher at 5'9" 200 lbs. The Aggies are a big play come from behind team, so Rowan needs to avoid giving up big plays. The Rowan offense will be without Sr. running back Pat Thompson who had ACL/LCL surgery on Tuesday. Both Medine and Richardson are very capable replacements. It will be important for them to get over the 100-yard mark. The Profs have only given up 14 sacks, the majority to DII teams. Orihel and his battery of receivers have been really locked in the past few games. If that continues it could be a long day for Delaware Valley. The weather might have some effect on both offenses as the forecast currently calls for some showers and a high of 48 degrees. Rowan has played a tougher schedule this year than the Aggies. That will hopefully pay dividends on Saturday. See you in the Boro.