Northeast Conference 200 Cottontail Lane • Vantage Court North • Somerset, NJ 08873 (732) 469-0440 • Fax (732) 469-0744 • www.northeastconference.org For Immediate Release September 7, 2007 Second Week of NEC Football Features All Seven Teams and Season's First League Game Somerset, NJ -- The NEC kicks off its second week of football with all seven teams in action. Six schools will be playing their second game of the year, while Saint Francis (PA) begins its 2007 campaign after being idle last week. Opponents from the Patriot League, MEAC, and MAAC are all on Saturday’s docket. Week Two is also home to the season’s first conference showdown with defending champion Monmouth hosting Robert Morris. Robert Morris at Monmouth Kickoff: Saturday at 1:00 pm Location: West Long Branch, NJ (Kessler Field) Fast Stat to Track: Keep an eye on Monmouth wide receiver Adam San Miguel’s (North Bergen, NJ/St. Peter’s Prep) total number of catches on Saturday. The all-NEC wideout needs four more catches to become the school’s all-time receptions leader. Current Dallas Cowboy Miles Austin presently holds the top spot with 150 career catches. Preview: The first NEC game of the season pits defending league champion Monmouth against veteran head coach Joe Walton’s Robert Morris team. The Colonials search for their first win over Kevin Callahan’s Hawks since 2002. Monmouth has triumphed in the last four meetings, including a 16-7 decision last October on the way to its fifth NEC title. Robert Morris –also a five-time NEC champion— looks to tilt the all-time series with Monmouth back in its favor after splitting the first 12 meetings. The Hawks may not have come away from last Saturday’s season opener at Maine with a win, but they did find some apparent answers on defense. Junior Matt Sterner (Bethlehem, PA/Liberty) led a number of first-year starters in filling the holes on a defensive unit that lost nine starting players from last season’s championship run. Sterner made 14 tackles in the 21-14 loss to the Black Bears. Rookie Jon Stolarz (Andover, NJ/Hopatcong) started at safety for the Hawks, making 10 tackles. Stolarz and veteran defensive back Ayo Falae (Newark, NJ/Barringer) face the league’s most experienced quarterback in Erik Cwalinski (Jacobsburg, OH/Shadyside)–a preseason all-NEC pick. Cwalinski threw for 236 yards in the week one loss to Dayton, while the Monmouth defense allowed Maine to pass for a mere 64 yards. Cwalinski passed for 62 of those yards on one play when he hooked up with senior receiver Mario Hines (Ecorse, MI/Ecorse) for a first-quarter touchdown. The speedy Hines –a 2006 all-NEC first team return specialist—has now scored a touchdown in week one for three straight years. Junior tight end Regis Flowers (Irwin, PA/Norwin) presents another pass-catching threat for the Monmouth defense to contain. Taking over for former all-NEC tight end Jarvis Powers, Flowers caught a team-high four balls for 49 yards last week. If you are unable to get to Kessler Field for Saturday’s game, you can see both teams later on this season as part of NEC Football’s television package. Monmouth travels to Central Connecticut State on October 27 for an 11:00 am kickoff on Fox Sports New York, while Robert Morris plays at preseason NEC favorite Albany on November 3 in a game that can be seen on Fox Sports Net-Pittsburgh and Time Warner Cable 3 beginning at 1:00 pm. Albany at Fordham Kickoff: Saturday at 6:00 pm Location: Bronx, NY (Jack Coffey Field) Fast Stat to Track: Keep track of tackles by Albany linebacker #52 Colin Disch (North Plainfield, NJ/North Plainfield). The two-time NEC Defensive Player of the Year is only two takedowns short of becoming the Great Danes’ all-time leader in tackles. (NEC Football Week Two Preview; 1-of-3) Central Connecticut State University • Fairleigh Dickinson University • Long Island University Monmouth University • Mount St. Mary’s University • Quinnipiac University Robert Morris Unviersity • Sacred Heart University • St. Francis (NY) College Saint Francis (PA) University • Wagner College Preview: Albany and long-time head coach Bob Ford meet a familiar face on Saturday at Fordham’s Jack Coffey field. The Great Danes have battled the Rams in each of the past three seasons and are all too familiar with Fordham’s second-year coach Tom Masella. Before defecting to Fordham, Masella led Central Connecticut State to back-to-back NEC titles, beating Albany twice on the way. Now, Masella leads his young Rams up against an experienced Albany squad that makes life tough on opposing offenses. The Great Danes were the NEC’s top defense last year, ranking amongst the nation’s top-five in points per game (13.0) and total defense (240.8 ypg). They don’t appear willing to surrender that moniker anytime soon, having only allowed 13 points in the season opener at Colgate. Senior defensive end Mark Sheehan (Waterford, NY/Catholic Central) produced nine tackles and three sacks against Colgate to claim the season’s first NEC Defensive Player of the Week award. This week, he will try to wrap up sophomore quarterback John Skelton who completed a last-second comeback at Rhode Island in the opener. Skelton found fellow sophomore receiver Jason Caldwell in the end zone with 15 seconds remaining to lift Fordham to a 27- 23 win. Sheehan will have plenty of help in trying to spoil Fordham’s home opener and 125th Anniversary Football Season celebration. Senior linebacker Colin Disch needs two tackles to reach 355 for his career and take over the top spot in program history. The preseason all-NEC selection made seven stops at Colgate as did junior safety Dave West (Toms River, NJ/TR North). When these two teams meet a defensive struggle usually ensues. Two of the last three meetings, including last season’s 9-7 Fordham triumph, have seen no more than 16 total points scored. The lone deviant was when Albany blasted the Rams 41-0 in 2005. Wagner at Iona Kickoff: Saturday at 1:00 pm Location: New Rochelle, NY (Mazzella Field) Fast Stat to Track: Despite outgaining Western Connecticut in their opener, Wagner lost the time of possession battle by holding the ball for only 26:56. Look to see if the Seahawks can increase that number against a run-oriented Iona team. Preview: Wagner tries for its fifth straight win over a Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference opponent when the Seahawks visit Iona. Head coach Walt Hameline picked up his 180th career victory last week when his Seahawks triumphed, 20-7, at Western Connecticut. Hameline’s resume is even more impressive when involving MAAC schools. Wagner has emerged victorious in ten of its last 11 meeting with teams from the MAAC, including last year’s 7-3 homecoming win against the Gaels at Wagner Stadium. Both teams enter the game well-decorated with weekly awards from their opening day efforts. Wagner running back Jason Butler (Syracuse, NY/ Henninger), the reigning NEC Offensive Player of the Week, rushed for 139 yards on 27 carries on opening night, but on Saturday he will be going up against a defensive unit that finished third overall in Division I FCS for total defense last season. Linebacker Adam Lipski — the MAAC Defensive Player of the Week — is one of ten returning players on that defense. He and his mates will also have to contend with Butler’s ability to catch the ball out of the backfield. The senior running back took a Matt Abbey (La Canada, CA/St. Francis) screen pass 78 yards for a touchdown in the opener. Lipski, who made a career-high 13 tackles in Iona’s 14-12 win over Delaware Valley joined teammates Dane Samuels and Caesar Sanchez on the MAAC’s weekly honor roll. Samuels was the league’s top offensive player, rushing 23 times for 113 yards. Sanchez provided blocking at fullback, while also catching a pass for 26 yards on his way to receiving the conference’s top rookie billing. Wagner placekicker and punter Piotr Czech (Keyport, NJ/Keyport) joined Butler as an NEC weekly award recipient. Czech, who boasts one of the strongest and most accurate legs that the conference has seen in recent years, was perfect on his two field goal attempts and added two PATs. The NEC Special Teams Player of the Week also helped the Seahawks dominate the field position game, nailing two kickoffs for touchbacks and pinning WestConn inside the 20 twice on punts. Iona also has an accurate leg on its roster if needed; senior Chris Lofrese connected on 12 of 14 field attempts last season. La Salle at Sacred Heart Kickoff: Saturday at 1:00 pm Location: Fairfield, CT (Campus Field) Fast Stat to Track: Despite starting a rookie quarterback, Sacred Heart did not commit a turnover in the season opener at Assumption. Look to see how the turnover battle takes shape against the giveaway-prone Explorers. Following a season in which they posted a -9.0 turnover margin, La Salle gave the ball away five times during last week’s home opener and only managed two takeaways. Preview: Meeting for the first time ever, the two teams enter the game after completely opposite experiences in week one. Sacred Heart rode the arm of rookie quarterback Dale Fink (Swansea, IL/Althoff Catholic) to a 41-20 road win against Division II Assumption, while La Salle’s first game was not nearly as pleasant. The Explorers were shut out at home by Division III Ursinus, 28-0, marking the second straight year they fell to the in-state foe.