FOOTBALL 2014 GAME NOTES Frostburg State vs. Utica GAME 3 Saturday, Sept. 20, 2014 ● 12:00 pm Charles A. Gaetano Stadium ● Utica, N.Y. Live Stats/Video: www.ucpioneers.com Setting the Scene Frostburg State (2-0) Frostburg State Stat Leaders Frostburg State has its second-straight road game this Saturday when Rushing G Att Net TD YPG Sept. 6 Geneva W/24-19 it visits Utica College in Utica, N.Y. The Bobcats and Pioneers enter the Chuky Iweh 2 37 94 0 47.0 Sept. 13 at Shenandoah W/20-10 Saturday showdown at 2-0 and the meeting will be the Empire 8 opener Ben Sasu 2 18 83 2 41.5 Sept. 20 at Utica * Noon for both schools. Sept. 27 St. John Fisher * 1:00 pm Passing G C-A-I Pct. Yds TD Frostburg defeated Geneva 24-19 in its season opener and beat Oct. 4 Buffalo State * 1:00 pm Ken Emmons 2 21-37-1 56.8 314 1 Shenandoah 20-10 last Saturday in the first meeting between the Oct. 11 at Brockport * 1:00 pm schools. Oct. 18 Ithaca * - Homecoming 1:00 pm Receiving G Rec Yds TD YPG Oct. 25 at Alfred * Noon Utica shutout Misericordia 55-0 in its opener and posted a 23-16 win Haydan Roberts 2 10 132 1 66.0 Nov. 1 at Hartwick * 1:00 pm over Union (N.Y.) last weekend. Myles Burgess 1 4 76 0 76.0 Nov. 15 Salisbury * ! 1:00 pm Defense G TT SKS TFL Int. * Empire 8 Conference Opponent The Series Rowan Pinkett 2 23 1-8 3-25 - ! 16th Annual Regents Cup Saturday’s matchup between Frostburg and Utica will be the fourth meeting between the schools. FSU captured the first meeting, 44-24, in William Sewell 2 15 2-18 3-21 - Location: ......................Frostburg, Md. 2011, but Utica has rebounded to capture the last two. Keith Smith 2 15 - - - Enrollment: ............................5,400 It’s A New Day Nickname:...........................Bobcats Utica Stat Leaders Colors: ........................Red and Black DeLane Fitzgerald was named Frostburg’s 13th head football coach fol- lowing a national search in January 2014. Upon his arrival at Frostburg, Rushing G Att Net TD YPG Stadium: ................Bobcat Stadium (4,500) Fitzgerald quickly filled out his coaching staff and began recruiting his Will Kassar 2 20 106 3 53.0 Head Coach:.................DeLane Fitzgerald first class. He also set about raising the team’s G.P.A through new study Jesse Baldassare 2 32 103 1 51.5 Record at FSU ...........................2-0 hall rules. Career Record: ...................26-30/5 yrs. Passing G C-A-I Pct. Yds TD Sports Information Dir. .............Noah Becker On the field, Fitzgerald has Frostburg off to its first 2-0 start since 1999. Will Kassar 2 16-38-2 42.1 263 1 Contact: ..301-687-4371 / [email protected] The Bobcats defeated Geneva (24-19) and Shenandoah (20-10) and are averaging 291.5 yards of offense, while holding the ball for 34:00 Receiving G Rec Yds TD YPG minutes per contest. Jared Beniquez 2 9 192 1 96.0 Utica (2-0) Anthony Acevedo 2 5 134 0 67.0 Sept. 6 at Misericordia W/55-0 Fitzgerald came to Frostburg following an eight-year stint at Southern Sept. 13 at Union (N.Y.) W/23-16 Virginia in Buena Vista, Va., including the last five seasons as head Defense G TT SKS TFL Int. coach. Prior to his arrival, SVU averaged just two wins per season and Sept. 20 Frostburg State * 12:00 pm Jonathan Cappotelli 2 24 - - - after his fifth year, Southern Virginia finished 8-2 and was ranked No. 1 Juwan Wilson 2 22 - - - Sept. 27 Brockport * 7:00 pm in the United States Collegiate Athletic Conference coaches’ poll. Oct. 4 at Ithaca * 1:00 pm Brandon Burnham 2 14 - 1.5-2 Oct. 11 at Salisbury * 12:00 pm Fitzgerald also has coaching stints at Bethel University (Tenn.), Tennes- Oct. 18 St. John Fisher * 1:00 pm see-Martin, James Madison and the Bridgton Academy (Maine). Team Comparisons Oct. 25 at Buffalo State * 2:00 pm FSU Category UC Nov. 8 Alfred * 1:00 pm Frostburg Football History 134.5 Rushing Offense 157.5 Frostburg is in its 54th year of collegiate football in 2014 and the Bob- Nov. 15 at Hartwick * 1:00 pm 157.0 Passing Offense 213.00 cats have an overall record of 237-268-8. The Bobcats appeared in the 291.5 Total Offense 370.5 * Empire 8 Conference Opponent 1993 NCAA Playoffs and have played in seven ECAC Bowl Games, the 22.0 Scoring Offense 39.0 Location: .........................Utica, N.Y. last coming at Bobcat Stadium against Moravian in 2005. Enrollment: ............................3,700 Prior to joining the Empire 8, FSU competed in the Atlantic Central 131.5 Rushing Defense 97.5 Nickname:.......................... Pioneers Football Conference for 12 seasons from 1999-2010, capturing league 180.5 Passing Defense 101.00 Colors: ......................Orange and Blue titles in 1999, 2003 and 2004. 312.0 Total Defense 198.5 Stadium: ............Charles A. Gaetano Stadium Head Coach:...................Blaise Faggiano A Win Would .... 14 / 35 (40%) 3rd Down Conv. 16 / 31 (51.6%) Record at UC ....................26-34 (6 yrs.) - Lift the Bobcats to 238-268-8 overall 2 / 4 (50%) 4th Down Conv. 0 / 6 (0.0%) Career Record: ........................26-34 - Be the first time Frostburg has started 3-0 since 1999 Sports Information Dir. ........... Gil Burgmaster - Be the eighth 3-0 start in program history - Hand FSU its 15th win over a school from the state of New York (15- 13 - 96 Penalties - Yards 19 - 219 Contact: ......315-792-3772 / [email protected] 33-1) 34:00 Avg. Time of Poss. 28:09 /FrostburgStateAthletics @FrostburgSports /FrostburgSports FOOTBALL 2014 GAME NOTES 2014 Empire 8 Standings Empire 8 Update All nine Empire 8 football schools opened their 2014 seasons with a week-one victory. Following last weekend, however, Overall Conference five schools moved to 2-0, two teams suffered their first losses of the season and two schools had a bye week. Frostburg, W L W L along with Alfred, Brockport, Buffalo State and Utica all earned their second wins. Alfred 2 0 0 0 Brockport 2 0 0 0 This Week In The Empire 8 Buffalo State 2 0 0 0 Eight of the nine Empire 8 teams are in action in week three of the 2014 football season and all eight schools enter league Frostburg State 2 0 0 0 play. Frostburg travels to Utica, Alfred visits Buffalo State, Hartwick travels to Ithaca and St. John Fisher rounds out the day when it faces Brockport. Utica 2 0 0 0 Ithaca 1 0 0 0 Frostburg State at Utica - 12:00 pm St. John Fisher 1 0 0 0 Alfred at Buffalo State - 12:00 pm Hartwick 1 1 0 0 Hartwick at Ithaca - 1:00 pm Salisbury 1 1 0 0 St. John Fisher at Brockport - 6:00 pm 2014 D3football.com Top 25 Empire 8 Preseason Poll The Frostburg State football team was picked to finish ninth in the 2014 Empire 8Athletic Conference Preseason Coaches - Week 2 - Poll released in late August. St. John Fisher received eight of the nine first-place votes along with 64 points and was picked to win the league title. Salisbury (53 pts.) and Ithaca (52 pts.) round out the top three. No. Team Record Pts. Prev. 1 UW-Whitewater (24) 2-0 624 1 The Coaches 2 Mary Hardin-Baylor (1) 2-0 592 2 Fitzgerald hit the ground running following his hire at Frostburg State and he quickly filled out his staff with some of the nation’s top coaches. Tye Hiatt (OC/QB), John Kelling (DC/LB) and Peter Mayer (ST/DB) will serve as the Bobcats’ coor- 3 Mount Union 1-0 579 3 dinators. Joining them are Ben Crowder (RB), Sam Daniels (DT), Pete Hansen (DE), Angelo Luvara (T/TE), Nate Sievers 4 Wesley 2-0 539 4 (OL), Tyler Condiff (Asst. LB), Kenny Johnson (WR), Tyler Stevens (Asst. WR), Dernard Bryan (Asst. OL), Victor Andersen 5 North Central (Ill.) 1-0 516 6 (Asst. DB) and Tim Arnold (Asst. RB). 6 Linfield 1-0 508 5 7 UW-Platteville 2-0 454 8 Preseason All-American Frostburg has had several players named Preseason Division III All-Americans by USA College Football over the last few 8 St. John Fisher 1-0 416 9 years and this summer junior linebacker Rowan Pinkett was named to the preseason third-team defense. 9 Wartburg 2-0 396 15 10 John Carroll 1-0 386 10 Pinkett had a breakout season last fall after leading the Bobcats and finishing fifth in the Empire 8 with 104 total tackles. 11 St. Thomas 2-0 359 11 For his efforts, he was named to the All-Empire 8 Second Team. He averaged 10.4 tackles per contest and finished with 10 12 Hobart 2-0 330 12 or more tackles in five games. 13 Wabash 1-0 310 14 Pinkett picked up in week one where he left off a year ago, finishing with 12 total tackles, one tackle for loss with a forced 14 Johns Hopkins 2-0 283 13 and recovered fumble against Geneva. Those numbers earned him both Empire 8 and ECAC Northeast Defensive Player 15 Bethel 0-1 244 7 of the Week honors. 16 Heidelberg 1-0 228 18 17 Pacific Lutheran 1-0 206 17 Following two games, Pinkett leads the Bobcats and is tied for second in the league with 23 total tackles.