20072007 FOOTBALLFOOTBALLFOOTBALL NN EWSEWS && NN OTESOTES 200 Cottontail Lane, Vantage Court North, Somerset, NJ 08873 Football Contact: Ralph Ventre, Asst. Director of Communications Phone: 732-469-0440/Fax: 732-469-0744 • www.northeastconference.org E-Mail: [email protected] Albany • Central Connecticut State • Monmouth • Robert Morris Sacred Heart • Saint Francis (PA) • Wagner NEC Football Northeast Conference Football Facts & Figures (Week 7 - October 15, 2007) Last Week’s Results School NEC Pct. Overall Pct. Streak Home Away Neutral Saturday October 13 1. Wagner 3-0 1.000 5-1 .833 W4 2-0 3-1 0-0 CENTRAL CONN. ST. 16, ROBERT MORRIS 10 Central Conn. St. 2-0 1.000 4-2 .667 W2 3-0 1-2 0-0 WAGNER 45, MONMOUTH 16 Albany 1-0 1.000 3-3 .500 W2 2-1 1-2 0-0 Duquesne 24, SAINT FRANCIS (PA) 17 4. Robert Morris 2-2 .500 3-4 .429 L3 1-3 2-1 0-0 ALBANY 38, SACRED HEART 7 5. Monmouth 1-2 .333 1-5 .167 L1 0-2 1-3 0-0 NEC team in CAPS. Home Team underlined 6. Saint Francis (PA) 0-2 .000 0-5 .000 L5 0-3 0-2 0-0 Sacred Heart 0-3 .000 2-5 .286 L5 1-2 1-3 0-0 This Week’s Schedule Saturday October 20 NEC Football Offensive Player of the Week ALBANY at SAINT FRANCIS (PA) 1:00 pm Jason Butler, Wagner CENTRAL CONN. ST. at WAGNER 1:00 pm Sr., RB, 6-1, 180, Syracuse, NY/Henninger ROBERT MORRIS at Duquesne 1:00 pm Butler posted the highest single-day rushing total in the NEC thus far this season, running the ball 31 Marist at SACRED HEART 1:00 pm times for 201 yards and four touchdowns. The senior running back’s sixth straight 100-yard game NEC team in CAPS propelled Wagner to a 45-16 rout at defending league champion Monmouth. Butler has been the conference’s most productive back by far this year, amassing 860 yards (143.3 yds/g) during the season’s NEC Offensive Player of the Week first six games to rank sixth amongst all DI FCS players. His phenomenal senior season has Wagner atop Sep. 4 Jason Butler, Wagner the NEC standings at 3-0. Sep. 10 Vinny Esposito, Albany Sep. 17 Jo Jo Freeman, Central Conn. St. Sep. 24 Alvin Hill, Robert Morris NEC Football Defensive Player of the Week Oct. 1 Jason Butler, Wagner Oct. 8 Dave Sinisi, Monmouth Ernie Greywacz, Central Connecticut State Oct. 15 Jason Butler, Wagner Jr., DE, 6-3, 215, New Canaan, CT/New Canaan Greywacz single-handedly killed two late Robert Morris drives with a sack and an interception, allowing NEC Defensive Player of the Week CCSU to hang on for a 16-10 NEC victory. With RMU facing a third down and seven and under five Sep. 4 Mark Sheehan, Albany minutes remaining in the game, the junior defensive end dropped quarterback Erik Cwalinski for a 13- Sep. 10 Dave Casale, Albany Sep. 17 Chad Wengert, Robert Morris yard loss. The RMU offense received another chance with 2:01 left to play, but Greywacz quickly stifled Sep. 24 John Wilson, Sacred Heart the Colonials’ two-minute drill by intercepting a pass on the drive’s first play. Greywacz made a total of Oct. 1 John Wilson, Sacred Heart Oct. 8 Robert Brown, Wagner eight tackles, five solo, to help CCSU extend the nation’s sixth-longest home winning streak to 11 games. Oct. 15 Ernie Greywacz, Central Conn. St. NEC Football Special Teams Player of the Week NEC Special Teams Player of the Week Sep. 4 Piotr Czech, Wagner Piotr Czech, Wagner Sep. 10 Michael Walser, Robert Morris Sr., K/P, 6-5, 215, Keyport, NJ/Keyport Sep. 17 Piotr Czech, Wagner Sep. 24 Mike Wall, Albany Czech tallied nine points in Wagner’s rout at Monmouth, connecting on his lone field goal attempt (39 Oct. 1 Piotr Czech, Wagner yards) and all six PATs. The preseason all-NEC selection also handled the kickoff and punting duties. He Oct. 8 Al Phillips, Wagner Oct. 15 Piotr Czech, Wagner dropped one of his four punts inside the opponents’ 20-yard line, which marked the 16th occasion he has done that this season. He also averaged 64.1 yards on eight kickoffs. NEC Rookie of the Week NEC Football Rookie of the Week Sep. 4 Dale Fink, Sacred Heart Sep. 10 Dale Fink, Sacred Heart Scott Lewis, Saint Francis (PA) Sep. 17 Myles Russ, Robert Morris Fr., LB, 5-11, 200, South Fork, PA/Bishop McCort Sep. 24 Nick Schirtzinger, Robert Morris Lewis spearheaded a solid Saint Francis (PA) defensive effort by making 15 tackles in Saturday’s 24-17 Oct. 1 Ryan Shepard, Saint Francis (PA) Oct. 8 Bobby Giles, Monmouth loss to Duquesne. The Red Flash severely limited Duquesne to 28 yards on the ground. Not only has Oct. 15 Scott Lewis, Saint Francis (PA) Lewis led SFPA in tackles during each of the past three weeks, but the freshman linebacker now leads the entire nation (DI FBS and FCS) with 13.00 stops per game. He also assisted on one tackle for a loss this week. NEC Football Notes: WEEK SEVEN (7) (through games of Oct. 15) NEC Notebook By The Numbers Two streaks were kept alive this past Saturday... Central Connecticut State extending the nation’s fifth longest 143.33 rushing yards per game active home winning streak to 11... the Blue Devils have won 17 of their last 18 home games... Monmouth tailback Dave Sinisi (Cedar for Wagner’s Jason Butler. The senior Grove, NJ/Cedar Grove) has now scored a touchdown in 18 straight games, account- back sits sixth in DI FCS with that mark. ing for the longest active streak in all of Division I... Sinisi scored TDs on an eight-yard On Saturday, the NEC Offensive Player pass and a one-yard run in MU’s loss to Wagner... ending at the expense of CCSU’s home of the Week ran 31 times for 201 yards winning streak was Robert Morris’ road win streak of seven... Two kickers became their program’s career field goal leaders on Saturday... all-NEC preseason selection and four TDs. It was the best single- senior Jason Fralicker (North Tonawanda, NY/North Tonawanda) of Albany nailed game performance of any runner in the a 39-yarder to surpass Bryan Bagstad’s total of 22... Saint Francis (PA) senior kicker conference thus far this season, eclips- Adam Sciulli (Pittsburgh, PA/Central Catholic) hit a 28-yarder to top the Red Flash ing the 200-yard effort of Monmouth’s record book with 22 career makes... Wagner benefitted from two 100-yard rushing performances in its trouncing of Monmouth... in addition to Jason Butler amassing the Dave Sinisi. highest single-day rushing total of any NEC back this season with 201, junior Rodney Davis (Bristol, PA/ Neshaminy) ran 10 times for 117 yards and two TDs... the NEC is home to three of the nation’s top-10 punting teams... Wagner (sixth), Robert Morris 0 fumbles lost by Albany in their 38-7 (seventh), and Albany (ninth) represent the conference amongst the leaders in net punting yardage... Wagner and Albany also have two nationally-ranked field goal kick- triumph over Sacred Heart as well as ers... the Seahawks’ Piotr Czech (Keyport, NJ/Keyport) is tied for fourth in DI FCS the entire season. The Great Danes and with 1.83 field goals per game (11-12 total), while Fralicker is tied for ninth at 1.67/ Northeastern are the only two teams in gm (10-15 total)... Wagner senior cornerback and preseason all-NEC pick Al Phillips the nation yet to lose a fumble. (Hialeah, FL/American) made to interceptions against Monmouth to move up the Seahawks’ all-time ranks... now with 15 career picks, Phillips moved past Tom Masella (1978-81) into third place all-time... Masella later resurfaced in the NEC as CCSU’s head coach, leading the Blue Devils to back-to-back NEC titles in 2004 and 2005 before 130 total yards gained on two scor- moving onto take the reigns at Fordham... two of the three unbeaten teams in league play meet this week... CCSU (2-0 NEC) travels to Wagner (3-0 NEC)... the other un- ing plays by Wagner junior Rodney beaten Albany (1-0 NEC) plays at Saint Francis (PA). Davis. The running back took a sec- ond-quarter screen pass 55 yards to the NEC Week Seven Review: The Butler Did It Again as Wagner house. In the third quarter, he pro- Rolls to 3-0 in League; Albany and CCSU Also Perfect duced a 75-yard TD run. Wagner continued its impressive start to conference play, upping its first-place record to 3-0 with a 45-16 rout of defending NEC Champion Monmouth. Albany cruised in its NEC opener, rolling past Sacred Heart 38-7 on Homecoming at Alumni Field. Central Connecticut State is right on Wagner's heels after extending the nation's sixth-longest 524 yards of total offense for Al- current home winning streak with a 16-10 decision over Robert Morris. The Blue Devils are now 2-0 in league competition. Future NEC member Duquesne outlasted bany in its 38-7 league win over Sa- Saint Francis (PA), 24-17, at De Gol Field in Loretto, PA. cred Heart. The total was the highest of any NEC team this past week. Wagner Wagner (5-1, 3-0 NEC) ran all over the defending champion Hawks (1-5, 1-2 NEC) was not far off, amassing 518 yards in thanks to senior running back Jason Butler's (Syracuse, NY/Henninger) sixth straight 100-yard day.