Gameday Week 10/03/2003 - Game #4 College of NJ

Game... Set... Lions 22-20 Captains from both sides shake hands before the battle. Photo by Tom Wilson. College of NJ Game 4 Play WGLS-FM audio highlights By Tom Wilson JT@rowanfootball.com Rowan's 16 game regular season winning streak ended this past Friday night at John Page Field in Glassboro. With 1:34 left in the game, senior Qb. Bob Schurtz sold a short out pattern with a pump fake causing Prof defensive back Kevin Evans (a late substitution for Yasin York, who was injured the play before) to bite. Schurtz then unleashed a perfect pass to Wr. Alan Kotteles that was caught in stride for 36 yard winning TD. After trailing 20-16 with just over four minutes to play in the game, the drive started on the Lions' 29 yard and covered 71 yards in five plays. The PAT attempt was blocked by Rowan's Kevin Evans. This final score put the Lions up 22-20. Rowan had one last attempt to get into field goal range. The Profs were driving down the field and got deep into Lions' territory before the Lions' defense was able to regain possession of the ball after Qb Mike Orihel was sacked for a loss by lineman Michael Sykes and Scott Paterson making it 3-14 from TCNJ's 40 yards line. Orihel would fail to find a receiver and the Lions would take over on downs from their own 40-yard line and held on to record the key NJAC win. After the two teams played to a scoreless first quarter, the Lions came up with a 7-0 halftime lead after senior quarterback Bob Schurtz capped a 61-yard drive with a two-yard rush with just 1:30 in the first half. The Lions had an opportunity to make it 10-0 at the half after lineman Justin Mannick picked off Orihel with 1:08 left in the half and returned it to the Profs' 11-yard line. The Lions' kicker, Blake Abbot missed a 28-yard field goal to the left that would have given TCNJ three more points. In the first half, Orihel had an 8-14 effort for 60 yards with two interceptions, while Schurtz was 7-14 with 66 yards. TCNJ's senior running back Jon Hedgepeth racked up 52 first half yards in the first half, while helping the Lions collect 114 yards of total offense to Rowan's 86 yards of first half total offense. In the second half, the Profs evened the score when junior running back Patrick Thompson collected a 31-yard rushing score with 2:47 left in the third quarter. Abbot would hit a 27-yard field goal with 14:15 left in the fourth quarter putting the Lions up 10-7. Thompson would add another score to give his team a 14-10 lead as he added a 65-yard rushing score with 13:19 left to play. Hedgepeth scored on a three-yard rush with 11:20 left and gave TCNJ a 16-14 lead. After hitting 15 straight PAT's Abbot missed his first career PAT on the point after try as Rowan's Kevin Bellamy blocked the PAT. Orihel would give his squad he lead back as he found senior Eugene Racz from 24 yards out and put Rowan up 20-16 with 4:12 left to play. Two unforced errors by the Profs in the 4th quarter helped seal their fate. The Prof defense forced a punt early in the 4th, unfortunately the bouncing, rolling punt was muffed by Rowan returner Jabril Joseph. This led to a 27 yard field goal by Abbot, putting the Lions up 10-7 with 14:15 left to play. With 8:09 left Damian Shaddow made an apparent 20 yard field goal, but Rowan was flagged for not having enough men on the line of scrimmage. The subsequent 25 yard attempt was wide. It may have been a referee error, since it looked to me like the officials didn't account for an unbalanced Prof line. But then again, officiating was bad for both sides. It seems that DIII officiating keeps getting worse every year. I've yet to see a good officiating crew this year. For Rowan, quarterback Mike Orihel (fr. Trenton, NJ/Central Bucks West (PA)) threw 13 completions in 26 attempts for 185 yards, with two interceptions and one TD. Endre Racz (sr. Wanaque, NJ/Lakeland Reg.) led the receivers with four catches for 61 yards and one TD. Pat Thompson (jr. Camden, NJ/Camden) rushed for 191 yards with 18 attempts and two touchdowns. Linebackers Domenic Tomeo (sr. Bellmawr, NJ/Triton Reg.), Todd Trout (jr. Laurel Springs, NJ/Triton Reg.) and Mike McClain (jr. Rockaway, NJ/Morris Hills) all posted nine tackles. The Lions' defense was led by linebackers SteveVogt (jr. Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Twp.) and Ray Bateman (jr Somerville, NJ/Somerville) with nine tackles apiece. Safety John Sher (so. Margate, NJ/Holy Spirit) contributed with eight tackles while safety Jason Julio (sr. Long Branch, NJ/Long Branch) and tackle Scott Paterson (sr. Scotch Plains, NJ/Scotch Plains-Fanwood) each had seven tackles. Cornerback Jeremy Julio (sr. Long Branch, NJ./Long Branch) and defensive back Ernie Covington (fr. Delran, NJ/Delran) each recorded an interception while defensive back Todd Mayes (so. Jackson, NJ/Jackson Mem.) and wide receiver Howard Taylor (fr. Trenton, NJ/Ewing) both recovered a fumble. The Lions netted 276 yards of total offense, while Rowan finished with 396 yards of total offense, including 310 in the second half. TCNJ had the time-of-possession advantage 33:09 - 26:51. The lead changed five times in the contest. The College of New Jersey is 3-1 overall and 2-0 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). Rowan has an overall record of 3-1 and a 0-1 NJAC mark. This was the 45th meeting between Rowan and TCNJ. The Lions' win snapped the Profs' five game win streak against TCNJ. Next game Oct 11th against Buffalo St., John Page Field 1:00PM

Lions Look for Upset at Rowan By Tom Wilson JT@rowanfootball.com Well here we are again Lions vs. Profs. Rowan had a bye last week and has a little less that two weeks to get ready to host the College of NJ. This is the first NJAC contest for the Profs and like last year, has first place implications. If the Profs lose the Lions will take over sole possession of first place in the NJAC, damaging Rowan's playoff aspirations early in October. This is the 45th meeting between Rowan University and The College of New Jersey. TheProfs lead the series, 28-14-2. Last year, Rowan defeated TCNJ, 30-25 on the road. The Profs have won five straight games against the Lions. Rowan's last loss to TCNJ was a 28-27 loss during the 1998 regular season, which the Profs avenged in the NCAA playoffs, winning 26-2 that same year. Rowan's margin of victory in the past three meetings has been 5.3 points per point per game. Usually, a playoff atmosphere is expected when the Profs and Lions tangle in the regular season. In 2002, the third ranked Rowan Profs held on to collect a 30-25 road win over TCNJ in Lions' Stadium. The Lions jumped out to a 19-0 lead before the Profs got on the scoreboard. Runningback Tim Kosuda put the Lions up 6-0 when they scored on their first drive as he rushed in from 11 yards out. He added a two-yard run with 4:13 left in the first quarter to increase the Lions' lead to 13-0. With 8:20 left in the second quarter, TCNJ's junior punter Jonathan Mizglewski punted the ball and a Rowan player touched the ball and did notpick up the punt and the Lions' Anthony Sorrentino recovered the loose ball in the endzone to score the team's third TD of the night. Rowan's quarterback Tony Racioppi ran the ball in from eight yards out to put the Profs on scoreboard, trailing 19-7 at the half. Rowan would open the game up in the third quarter when they scored three straight times and took the lead, 24-19 with 3:05 left in the third quarter. Senior defensive end Gerrit Tosh picked off Bob Schurtz and returned the ball 16 yards to make the score TCNJ 19-14 with 12:53 left in the third. Rowan's kicker Nick Frade would hit a 26-yard field goal and pull his team with in two points, 19-17 with 4:29 left. Wide receiver Jon Berry would pick up a 53-yard pass from Racioppi and bring it in for the go ahead score for Rowan, 24-19 with 3:05 left in the third quarter. Kosuda added his final score of the night as he ran the ball in from seven yards out and as the Lions went for a two-point conversion and failed, had a brief 25-24 lead with 12:43 left in the game. Berry would catch his second TD pass of the night to give the Profs the lead for good as he picked up a 42 yards strike on a pitch out pass from Racioppi to senior Michael Osborne. Berry finished two TD catches on the night for 95 yards, while Racioppi threw for 234 yards in the win. Schurtz was picked off three times and was 13-28 with 152 yards passing in the loss. The Lions had an opportunity to possibly win the game with 1:16 left to vplay as they went for it on 4-2 at the Rowan six-yard line. Jon Hedgepeth was stopped on the play by Junior linebacker Domenic Tomeo and pushed back two yards, ending the Lions possible rally. Tomeo would finish with a game-high 20 tackles, including 13 assistedstops with three for losses, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Sophomore defensive back Nick Lopez added 17 tackles as well for the Profs as they gave up 414 total yards in the game, while the Lions held the Profs to 328 yards on the night. Last year's contest, was very energy charged from the outset. Fan participation and animosity affected both teams, as heated exchanges occurred between Prof and Lion players and fans alike. We spoke with a few former players from both teams to get a little more insight into perhaps the biggest NJAC rivalry. "Preparing for the Rowan game every year was always our most intense and focused week of practice. The locker room was more serious and joking around was limited. It was also expected that no one would miss practice that week. No excuses. And as with any other rivalry, the emotion involved with either a win or loss was amplified. At that time the TCNJ/Rowan was by far the biggest of all conference rivalries. We were both consistently in contention for the NJAC title and national playoffs. Even after graduation, we always want TCNJ to do well, but the Rowan game is the one that means the most," stated Joseph Sciarrone, a TCNJ running back and kick returner from 1994-97. "The week of the Trenton game was always an intense week for us. Coaches always like to say its just another game, but it was anything but "just another game". As players, we always knew that the conference champion would be the winner of the Rowan/Trenton game. Practices were more intense and a little more crisp. Coaches and players watched a little more film than normal. It was basically a playoff atmosphere," explained Burt Chaney, a Rowan offensive tackle from 1995-98. "I played at Trenton as a DB from 1992-95 and in 4 years, I never beat Rowan. I've always said that I would have traded in every win I had in college if I could have beaten Rowan once. Those games year in and year out were the emotionally draining ones on the schedule," said Thomas Cahill, a former TCNJ defensive back. "During Rowan week, I blew off classes to watch more film than you could possibly imagine. If a class was during practice time, I blew those off too. "Rowan Week" took priority over anything else. As an athlete, you always wanted to prove yourself against the best and at the time the "Beast of the East" was it. I always felt as if we were David trying to slay Goliath, especially back then. We were the "smart school" always trying to take down the athletic powerhouse who got all the D-1 transfers," Cahill remembered. Although the rivalry between the two teams has been quite heated, respect between the two teams is apparent. In addition to meeting every year since 1964, the teams have met three times in the NCAA playoffs (1996, 97, 98). "I grew up in Florida and moved to NJ after my senior year of high school. I moved to the Williamstown area where, through mutual friends, I met and knew a few players that went to Trenton State(TCNJ). Of course there was always the well-mannered banter back and forth," said Tim Hershey, a from Glassboro State(Rowan) linebacker from 1980-83. "During my playing days, both Trenton State and Montclair State were the biggest rivals we had. We usually played Trenton State around the 4th game of the season, whereas Montclair was the last game of the season. It would've been nice to beat Trenton State my senior year, but it was even better to win my last game as a PROF over Montclair State (ranked 6th in the country at the time)", said Hershey. "I was lucky enough to play with All-American LB Leroi Jones and WR Taman Bryant (former New York Giant/NFL Europe) for a short time in the now defunct Trenton Lightning indoor football team. We talked a little bit about our games and laughed about the rivalry. I got the impression that they always respected Trenton on the field, which made me feel good because I never always got that impression when the team was under the Keeler regime," Cahill explained. "We played twice a year, every year, except maybe for one season [in 1995 TCNJ did not reach the playoffs]. We played a regular season game, and then we would face them again in the playoffs. We won all the playoff games against them. But they won a few of the regular season games. (TCNJ was the NJAC conference champion in 1996 and 1998)," Chaney said. "I did get to know a few of the guys. We had a mutual respect for each other. We had so many great battles. Even though we hated them before and during the game, you couldn't help but respect them, " said Chaney. "During the time I was at Rowan, we knew that either Rowan or TCNJ was going to win the conference. I think the close proximity [the two schools are 45 minutes apart] and the fact that so many of the Rowan guys knew so many of them [TCNJ players] and played against or with them in high school had a lot to do with it," Chaney stated. "I think it was the most intense right after I graduated, in '96-99 when they played each other 2-3 times in the playoffs after playing in the regular season. I think that is when the respect was really earned on both sides," said Stephan Guidette, a TCNJ defensive end from 1993 -95. This is Eric Hamilton's 27th season as head coach for The College of New Jersey. Hamilton is the most successful football coach in school history at TCNJ. He has a career won-lost record of 159-97-6. His teams have won seven New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) Championships. Hamilton was named the NJAC Coach of the Year in 1983, 1990, 1994, 1996 and 1998. Five times he has directed the Lions to postseason appearances in both the ECAC and NCAA Division III Tournaments. In 1990, the Lions advanced to the NCAA quarterfinals for the first time. In 1995, TCNJ won its first ever ECAC Championship. The Lions also advanced to the NCAAs in 1996, 1997 and 1998. In 1977, Hamilton was named head coach at the College at the age of 23. He was the youngest collegiate head coach in the country at that time. In 1985, Hamilton had his 56th career win against Ramapo College, 28-0, on Nov. 16. The victory made him the winningest coach and moved him ahead of Bob Salois, his former coach. Hamilton played for the Lions from 1971-74 . He has produced 19 All-Americans (two Kodak, nine Associated Press, one AFCA , seven Football Gazette), 60 ECAC All-Star selections and 117 NJAC first team members . Last week, TCNJ had a 34-6 win at Southern Virginia (Sept. 27). Quarterback Bob Schurtz passed for 92 yards and one TD. He completed a 21 yard TD pass to Joe Franzone. Franzone led the receivers with three catches for 36 yards. The Lions had touchdown runs by Gregg Silvesti, Cory Schoonover and Mike Markey . Blake Abbot kicked a 28 and a 27yard field goal. Schoonover finished the game with 92 yards on 13 attempts. Schoonover was named the NJAC Offensive Rookie of the Week while defensive back Maurice Carter was selected the Defensive Rookie of the Week. Carter recorded two interceptions. End Mike Sykes was tied for fifth in the nation in sacks per game (2.0) and was also tied for 19th in tackles for a loss per game (2.8). Jon Hedgepeth is averging 97.8 yards rushing per game which is second in the NJAC. He is also second in all-purpose yards (116.5). Schurtz is third in total offense (178.2) and fourth in passing yardage (161.2). Franzone is ranked third in receptions (3.75) and receiving (53.5) yards per game. Joe Bergondo is the kick return leader with a 22.4 average. Abbot is first in kick scoring (6.5) and field goals (1.0). Sykes is the sack leader (1.75) and first in tackles for a loss (2.62). TCNJ leads the conference in scoring offense (27.5), rushing (223.0) and total offense (394.0). Rowan came from behind to defeat Western Connecticut, 25-19 (Sept. 20). The Profs trailed 19-7 at the half. In the third quarter, Damian Shaddow kicked a 21 yard field goal and Endre Racz scored with a 26 yard pass from Pat Thompson. Rowan trailed 19-17. Quarterback Mike Orihel had the game winning touchdown with a seven yard run in the fourth. Orihel finished the game with 17 completions in 30 attempts for 195 yards. Racz led the receivers with seven catches for 159 yards. Thompson was the leading rusher with 22 carries for 78 yards. Cornerback Kelvin Bellamy was named the NJAC Defensive Player of the Week for his performance against Western Connecticut. Bellamy recorded two interceptions and recovered a fumble. In the individual NCAA statistics, Bellamy was tied for 40th in punt return average (12.3). Linebacker Domenic Tomeo had a 12.3 tackles per game average which was tied for 31st in the nation. In forced fumbles per game, end Brian Bond had a 1.0 average which tied him for third. Rowan was ranked 12th in the nation in scoring defense (6.3). The Profs were also tied for 27th in turnover margin (1.7), 37th in rushing defense (85.3), tied for 38th in pass efficiency defense and 40th in total defense (256.7). Orihel is the conference leader in passing average (214.3) and total offense (236.7). He is also first in scoring (10.0). Racz averages 5.33 receptions and 91.7 yards per game which is first in the NJAC. Mike Pernell and Tyree Jackson are ranked fourth (3.67) and fifth (3.5)in receptions per game. In rushing, Thompson is fourth (62.7) followed by Tremaine Hill fifth (53.0). Bellamy is first in interceptions (1.0) and punt return average (12.3). Tomeo is averaging 12.3 tackles per game which is second. Bond is tied for first in fumbles forced with three while linebacker Todd Trout is tied for first in passes defended with five (four breakups and one interception). Rowan is ranked first in pass offense (223.0) and second in scoring (25.3), rushing (156.0), total offense (379.0) and pass efficiency (120.4). On defense, the Profs are first in scoring defense (6.3), rushing (85.3), total defense (256.7), pass efficiency (82.9) and turnover margin (1.67). The Profs have had problems going vertical and getting the deep passing threat going in the first three games. Previous teams have either taken the deep option away (Wesley) or focused on the short passing game, feeling that Rowan has lacked the time and/or timing to go deep (West Conn). I think the Lions will stack the box quite often and blitz looking to prevent the short timing patterns and the run, especially if WR Jon Berry is not 100%. My feeling is that after the West Conn game, teams won't respect the Rowan deep threat with Orihel at QB. He should have a few an opportunities change TCNJ's perception by connecting on some big plays Friday night. The Lions have lost quite a few starters to graduation, however they are 3-1 with one loss to D1-AA La Salle. The big guy Schurtz is back at QB, and has a much better arm than the quarterbacks Rowan has faced thus far. Franzone has been his primary target. Schurtz will need another receiver to step up with a big game Friday. TCNJ needs to manufacture a consistent enough offense to allow their defense to rest. In the Profs 3-0 start, the team has basically worn down the opponent's defense, and pulled away. Rowan needs to eliminate the coverage mistakes that led to two West Conn TD's two weeks ago. The run defense has been pretty solid, except for some over pursuit that left some cutback lanes for West Conn running backs. Once again statistics and other intangibles point to a big Prof victory Friday night, however if time of possession is pretty even, it could be another close one. Since I've only been close to predicting the score of one game this year (Wesley), I thought I'd let the Rowan poll on the left do the talking. 59% (108 votes at I write this) pick the Profs by 10+. "Throw out the records when RU plays Trenton or Montclair, because it just doesn't matter. Two years ago was a perfect example when Rowan barely defeated TCNJ," states Hershey. So get ready for the battle on Friday. See you in the Boro. Thank you to Thomas Cahill, Burt Chaney, Stephen Guidette, Tim Hershey, and Joseph Sciarrone for all their help.

 

College of NJ 4 - 1	22
at
Rowan 3 - 1	20
Oct 3, 2003 John Page Field Glassboro, NJ 7:00 PM
Listen to the Game on Rowan Radio 89.7 WGLS-FM Pregame Show 6PM

NJAC Week #5

NJAC Week #4

2003 NJAC Standings