Gameday Week 11/16/02 - Game #10 Montclair St.

2002 NJAC Champs NJAC Commissioner Terry Small presents the NJAC Trophy to the Rowan players Prof Seniors celebrate 2nd straight NJAC title and first undefeated regular season since 1997. Montclair State Game 10 Play WGLS-FM audio highlights By Tom Wilson I am very happy to be done with Montclair, but not for the reasons you may think. It continues to be one of the worst atmospheres for football. No parking, crappy turf, bad lights, obnoxious MSU fans, to name a few of my even year complaints. The bad weather just added to the Transilvanian affects. I spent the whole game on the Montclair side in order for better picture taking angles. I suffered through a shrill screaming mother and her young daughter. Its probably why the halftime entertainers (frisbee catching dogs) were a little jumpy for the first two quarters. Another octave higher and those two gals would have been dog whistles. Ouch! My ears are still ringing. Then there were the ten or so MSU students standing directly behind the Red Hawk bench booing their own team… Thankfully, the Prof football team gave me a good measure of salvation. They continued exactly where they left off last week by pounding an upstart Montclair team. As mentioned in the pregame story, the Red Hawks had done just enough of the right kind of winning to sneak into the playoffs with the NJAC title, had they beaten Rowan. The Profs got on the board with their first possession as they drove to the one yard line, but settled for a Nick Frade field goal with 9:37 in the first quarter. On the next possession, QB Tony Racioppi hit WR Luis Cortes on a 59 yards strike. Two plays later Racioppi hit Michael Osborne from five yards out, opening up a 10-0 lead with 4:10 left in the opening quarter. WR Endre Racz hauled in a seven yard TD pass with 11:49 left in the second quarter to make it 17-0. A roughing the kicker penalty on the Profs, kept a Red Hawk drive alive midway through the second quarter. MSU QB John DiGirolamo hit WR Eric Magrini on a seven yard score to make the score 17-6. Rowan struck right back moving 80 yards in four plays. Racioppi completed a 33 yard pass to Cortes and RB Tremaine Hill finished the drive with a 23 yard run for a TD and 24-6 lead. LB Domenic Tomeo put the nail in MSU's coffin just before half as he intercepted a DiGirolamo pass and returned it 8 yards for the TD to put the Profs up 32-6 at the break. In the second half, Rowan added another TD on a four yard pass from Racioppi to Osborne with 3:24 left to put the score at 39-6. MSU put up one more TD as WR Chris Becker pulled in a four yard TD pass from DiGirolamo to make the score 39-12 early in the fourth. Nick Frade added a 27 yard field goal and QB Mike Seidenberg finished the Profs scoring with a 1 yard TD run. Racioppi completed 21 of 36 passes for 262 yards and 3 TD's, including seven to Osborne. Cortes had 105 yards receiving. Hill was the leading ground gainer with 77 yards and Rowan outrushed MSU 169-57. Rowan is home for the 2nd round of the NCAA playoff Nov 30th at 12 PM. They will play the winner of the Springfield @ Brockport game on Nov 23rd. The Profs garnered their first bye of the expanded playoff system with a 10-0 regular season.

NJAC Title on the Line, Profs Try for Playoff Bye by Tom Wilson What is this the Dixie Conference? Perish the thought that Montclair can actually get an automatic Pool A bid with a win over the Profs. Then the Red Hawks, at 6-4, head into the NCAA playoffs, leaving Rowan to fend for one of the three Pool C bids available nationally. MSU (5-4, 4-1 NJAC) has done just enough of the right kind of winning to put them in contention for the NJAC title. The up-and-down Red Hawks lose to the likes of Wilkes and Buffalo State and then beat TCNJ 40-7. Which MSU team is going to show up this Saturday? As long as the Profs come to play it really shouldn't matter. This is the 42nd meeting between Rowan and Montclair. The Red Hawks lead the series 23-18. Last year, Rowan won at home over MSU 53-21 taking the NJAC crown. QB Tony Racioppi passed for 358 yards and a school record seven touchdowns. The defense also recorded five interceptions. This is the fourth straight year Rowan and MSU are playing for the NJAC title. MSU won it in 1999 beating the Profs in Glassboro 28-24. Rowan avenged that loss a few weeks later by pounding the Red Hawks 42-13 in the NCAA East Region finals. In 2000, the Profs lost on the road to MSU 17-13 and were eliminated from playoff consideration. Last Saturday, Montclair beat NJCU 20-8. QB John DiGirolamo passed for 154 yards with 10 completions in 17 attempts and one TD. RB Zack Earvin rushed for 81 yards with 17 carries and 1 TD. Pre-season All-AmericanWR Eric Magrini totaled 44 yards with four catches. Rowan is first in the NJAC in scoring offense (34.8 ppg), scoring defense (11.9 ppg), pass offense (289.7 ypg), total offense (447.8 ypg), pass efficiency, pass defense efficiency and first downs (185). The Profs are also second in rushing offense (158.1 ypg). MSU is fourth in scoring offense (24.8 ppg), third in scoring defense (16.0 ppg), third in total offense (368.1 ypg), fourth in pass efficiency, third in pass defense efficiency, and third in first downs (168). The Red Hawks are first in the NJAC in pass defense (154.1 ypg) and total defense (271.3 ypg), while being fifth in red-zone defense. The Profs are fourth in pass defense (192.3 ypg) and total defense (320.3 ypg), while being first in red-zone defense. Three time NJAC and ECAC Offensive Player Week, QB #3 Tony Racioppi leads the Rowan into the conference title game. He is first in the NJAC in passing average (274.1 ypg / 21TD's) and total offense (286.3 ypg). The running game is handled by #8 Creg Bethea (568 yards/ 5.3 avg / 9 TD's) and #20 Pat Thompson (383 yards/ 5.8 avg / 3 TD's). Both have the ability to run away from or over defenders. The wide receiving corps are stellar, and have been getting better each week. Seven different talented receivers have combined for 135 receptions, 2,209 yards, 16.4 avg, and 21 TD's. They are led by #11 Micheal Osborne, #80 Jon Berry, #45 Luis Cortes, #15 Endre Racz, #39 Joe D'Imperio, #16 Tyree Jackson, and #88 Phil Silva. Defensively the Profs are led by d-linemen #58 DE Gerrit Tosh, #90 DE Brian Bond, #99 DT Jermaine Ruffin, #94 DT Chuck Dougherty. They have combined for 15.5 sacks. The linebackers #22 Nick Lopez, #44 Domenic Tomeo, #35 Curtis Custis all have the size and speed to cover the pass and the rush. In the defensive backfield the Profs are led by #2 Gabe Spitale, #12 Kevin Evans, #25 Kelvin Bellamy and #32 Vince Devine. They haved help hold opponents to 11.9 ppg with 13 interceptions. Depth on both sides of the ball have helped keep the Profs fresh for 4 quarters. The Red Hawks are led by # QB John DiGirolamo (150 completions, 2182 yards, and 14 TD's), he is second in passing and total offense (232.2 ypg). #2 RB Jermarl Buie is second in rushing (615 yards/ 5.2 avg / 76.9 ypg / 6 TD's). The receivers are led by #85 WR Eric Magrini and #6 WR Jasper Hankins who have combined for (88 receptions / 1,328 yards / 9 TD's). Defensively they are led by #17 LB Keith Migliorino (71 tackles / 41 solo/ 1 int) #27 LB Ray Meyer (65 tackles / 41 solo / 7 sacks) and #10 DE Maurice Green (49 tackles / 32 solo). MSU is gunning for an upset, and with a win will grab the Pool A playoff bid. They will pull out all the stops. Expect a lot of blitzing from the Red Hawks, because otherwise Racioppi will pick them apart anyway. So they might as well blitz and hope he can't get it to the hot receiver. You'll probably see Rowan rush for over 100 yards and throw for another 280 - 300 yards. There are just too many weapons on both sides of the ball for MSU to contend with. The Rowan offense is too explosive and the defense is fast and aggressive. Even if it happens to be close the Profs can win the field position battle because they have the better kicking game with #19 Nick Frade (Rowan's All-time leading scorer with 228 points). His kickoffs are rarely returned, and he can pin a team deep with his precision punts. As long as the Profs don't let Buie run wild and keep Magrini in check, Rowan should win this one pulling away in the second half 38-17.

NJAC Week #11