The College of New Jersey the College of New Jersey P.O
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Ann King Sports Information Director The College of New Jersey The College of New Jersey P.O. Box 7718 Ewing, NJ 08628-0718 609-771-2517 [email protected] LIONSLIONS TCNJ vs. FDU-FLORHAM, SEPTEMBER 16, 2005 TCNJ LOOKS TO GET BACK ON TRACK 2005 TCNJ SCHEDULE TCNJ’s football team finds themselves at 0-2 for the first time since the 1992 (0-2, 0-1 NJAC) campaign. TCNJ dropped the season opener, 30-13 to No. 19 ranked Sept. 2 MUHLENBERG ......... L, 13-30 Muhlenberg College and then fell 30-14 to SUNY Cortland in the squad’s Sept. 10 *SUNY CORTLAND .. L, 14-30 NJAC opener. The last time TCNJ started 0-2 was in 1992 as the Lions of Sept. 16 FDU-FLORHAM ......... 7 p.m. then Trenton State College went 0-4 to start the season and finished the Sept. 29 *at Rowan .................... 7 p.m. year at 3-7. Ironically, it was the Devils of then FDU-Madison that helped the Oct. 8 *at Wm. Paterson .... 3:30 p.m. Lions snap the losing skid with a 15-0 road win on October 9. Oct. 15 *at W. Conn. State ....... .1 p.m. Next up for TCNJ is FDU-Florham, which stands at 0-1 on the season Oct. 22 LaSALLE ................. ..1 p.m. after dropping the season opener, 49-3 to No. 10 ranked Delaware Valley Oct. 29 *MONTCLAIR STATE .. Noon College last week. Nov. 5 SUNY-BROCKPORT ..... Noon Nov. 12 *at Kean University ...... 1 p.m. SCOUTING THE DEVILS: FDU-Florham entered the 2005 season having *Indicates NJAC Game collected the program’s best showing since the 1999 season, but quickly Home contests are in all Caps found their opening day spirits dashed. They bring a record of 0-1 into the non-league contest after they dropped a 49-3 home decision to Delaware 2005 FDU-FLORHAM Valley College. The Devils fell at the hands of the reigning Middle Atlantic SCHEDULE Conference Champions, after allowing 588 yards of total offense. (0-1) FDU’s lone points of the game came on a 31-yard field goal by senir Sept. 10 DELAWARE VALLEY . L, 3-49 Michael Rabasca (Clifton, NJ/Clifton). Sept. 16 at TCNJ ......................... 7 p.m. The Devils were led on the ground by junior running back Phil Sylvester Sept. 24 at Wilkes University ...... 1 p.m. (Brooklyn, NY/Bishop Ford) as he had 95 yards rushing on 12 carries, Oct. 1 LYCOMING COLLEGE 1 p.m. including a long of 37 yards. Sophomore back Daniel Harrison (Trenton, Oct. 8 at Lebanon Valley ........ 1 p.m. NJ/Notre Dame) added 61 rushing yards as well. Oct. 15 MORAVIAN ................ 1 p.m. Junior quarterback Dan Huff (Sayreville, NJ/Sayreville War Memo- Oct. 22 at Albright College ........ 1 p.m. rial) completed just 3-of-17 pass attempts in the season opener for 23 pass- Oct. 29 SUSQUEHANNA .... .... 1 p.m. ing yards and was picked off once and sacked another time, while sopho- Nov. 5 at King’s College ........... 1 p.m. more signal caller Don Stoltz (Lititz, PA/Warwick) was sacked three times Nov. 12 JUNIATA COLLEGE... 1 p.m. and intercepted another time. Rabasca punted seven times in the game for 216 yards, good enough for Current NJAC a 30.9 per punt average, while connecting on a long of 43 on the game. On defense, sophomore Michael Lotwich (Dumont, NJ/Dumont) led Standings the way with eight tackles and an interception which he returned 19 yards. Sophomkore defensive back Billy Williams (Neptune, NJ/Netune) added Team NJAC Overall Streak six tackles and an interception as well for the Devils. WCSU 1-0 2-0 W-3 SUNY Cortland 1-0 2-0 W-2 SERIES HISTORY (TCNJ leads 6-0): Friday night’s contest marks the sev- Rowan 0-0 1-0 W-1 enth time these two teams have met on the gridiron. TCNJ owns a 6-0 edge Kean 0-0 1-0 W-1 in the series history which first started in 1989. Since 1989, the Lions have Montclair State 0-0 0-1 L-3 managed to post a pair of shutout wins in previous encounters (15-0, 1992 Wm. Paterson 0-1 1-1 L-1 and 24-0, 1997). TCNJ 0-1 0-2 L-2 All-Time Series History: 1989 TSC 21-7 FDU-Madison 1990 TSC 43-3 FDU-Madison WWW.TCNJATHLETICS.COM 1991 TSC 34-7 FDU-Madison 1992 TSC 15-0 FDU-Madison 1997 TCNJ 24-0 FDU-Madison 1998 TCNJ 24-13 FDU-Madison 2005 TCNJ FOOTBALL PAGE 1 SEPTEMBER 16, 2005 TCNJ vs. FDU-FLORHAM, SEPTEMBER 16, 2005 HAMILTON vs. 2005 OPPONENTS WADE WATKINS MEMORIAL SCHOLARSHIP: The Wade Watkins Memo- Opponent W L T rial Scholarship Fund was first started in 1997 to honor the late Wade Watkins, vs. Muhlenberg 0 1 0 a 1986 graduate of the College and a former assistant coach for both the vs. Cortland 6 3 0 Lions and the Devils. Watkins passed away on December 12, 1993 and the vs. FDU-Florham 6 0 0 scholarship fund was established in his name in 1997. There have been two vs. Rowan 10 21 0 contests where a portion of the proceeds raised went to the scholarship fund vs. W. Paterson 23 4 1 and with tonight’s match-up the scholarship fund remains active to support a vs. Western Ct. St. 2 1 0 man who was a friend and a mentor to both gridiron programs. vs. LaSalle 1 1 0 vs. Montclair St. 10 17 1 TCNJ’S ERIC HAMILTON (172-104-6)… The most successful head football vs. Brockport 2 6 0 vs. Kean 24 3 1 coach in school history, Eric Hamilton is in his 29th season as the head coach for his alma mater. The coach of seven NJAC championship teams, he is now in his third decade in the league. Five times cited as the NJAC COMPARING THE NUMBERS Coach of the Year, he has also guided the Lions to six postseason appear- ances as well. TEAM COMPARISONS Hamilton now owns a 172-104-6 career record. His 172 wins ranks fifth TCNJ........Category .................... FDU all-time in Division III entering the campaign amongst active Division III coaches. 12.5 Rushing Offense ... 183.0 In addition, his .6222 career win percentage ranks 40th all-time amongst 121.5 Passing Offense ..... 23.0 active Division III coaches. 134. Total Offense ........ 206.0 His accomplishments have not gone unnoticed, as he has twice been selected Coach of the Year by the New Jersey College Football Writers 13.5 Scoring Offense ....... 3.0 Association (1980 & ’81) and as NJAC Coach of the Year by the conference coaches in 1983, 1990, 1994, 1996 and 1998. To date, Hamilton has pro- 129.5 Rushing Defense .. 260.0 duced 20 All-American performers, 63 Eastern College Athletic Conference 183.5 Passing Defense .. 328.0 (ECAC) All-Star selections, and 129 All-NJAC first team performers. 313.0 Total Defense ....... 588.0 FDU-FLORHAM’S RICH MOSCO (3-24)... A 1970 graduate of West Liberty 30.0 Scoring Defense ..... 49.0 State, Rich Mosco is in his fourth season with the Devils. A veteran of the coaching ranks, Mosco is in his 35th year of coaching football having had 2-25 3rd Dn.Conv.......2-12 experience on the collegiate and high school levels. 0-2 4th Dn. Conv. ........... 0-1 Prior to taking over as head coach, Mosco served as the offensive coordi- nator for FDU-Florham the previous two years. Before coming to the FDU- Florham program in 2000, he spent five years at Monmouth University as the 7-44 Sacks By-Yards ..... 1-11 coach of the running backs and tight ends. He is actually in his second tour 9-62 Sacks Allowed ....... 4-23 of duty with the Devils after previously working on the coaching staff from1985- 6-35 Penalties-Yards ...... 4-29 1989 as the offensive coordinator and helped the Devils to a 21-15 record 22:09 Avg. Time of Poss. 27:26 during that tenure. Mosca played scholastically at Red Bank High School, where he captained the football team. While there, he played offensive and defensive line. He went on to Concordia College, where he was a member of the WVIAC champions as a freshman in 1967. After his freshman year, Mosca transferred to West Liberty State where his playing career was cut short by injury. LIONS’ STADIUM Now in its 21st year of operation, Lions’ Stadium has provided area fans with top-caliber athletic competition in a variety of sports after receiving a new AstroTurf surface in the spring of 1999. Lions’ Stadium has been the home of TCNJ football since 1984. Since debuting in Lions’ Stadium on Sept. 14, 1984, TCNJ has compiled a record 2005 TCNJ FOOTBALL PAGE 2 SEPTEMBER 16, 2005 TCNJ vs. FDU-FLORHAM, SEPTEMBER 16, 2005 All-Time NJAC Football of 66-39-2 against all foes. In their facility debut, the Lions fell 26-17 to Champions William Paterson, but have since combined for a .6458 win percentage in Year Champion the facility. While in action on Friday nights, TCNJ has also gone on to 2004 Rowan University accumulate a record of 28-17-1 in Lions’ Stadium. TCNJ has had 107 home 2003 Montclair State University varsity football contests in the facility since it opened its gates in 1984. 2002 Rowan University 2001 Rowan University AROUND THE NJAC THIS WEEK There are two NJAC match-ups this 2000 Montclair State University week as SUNY Cortland will travel to Kean on Saturday and Western Con- 1999 Montclair State University necticut State University visits Rowan in NJAC action.