Tuesday, October 1, 2013

WILKES FOOTBALL GAME NOTES VS. LEBANON VALLEY (HOMECOMING)

Wilkes Colonels (2-2, 1-2) vs. Lebanon Valley Dutchmen (3-1, 2-1)
Saturday, October 5, 2013 - 1:00 p.m.
Schmidt Stadium

THE MATCHUP
Wilkes University hosts Lebanon Valley College on Homecoming 2013 at Schmidt Stadium. Wilkes is coming off a 33-14 win at Misericordia University, while Lebanon Valley posted a 65-21 victory against FDU-Florham last week. Prior to kickoff with the Dutchmen, the 1993 MAC Championship football team will be honored, and at halftime Wilkes will recognize all of its former/current athletes on the MAC All-Century Teams.

 THE HEAD COACHES
Colonels coach Frank Sheptock (Bloomsburg ‘85) enters his 18th year on the Wilkes sideline, racking up a 105-77 (.576) record. With the 105 victories, Sheptock is the all-time winningest coach in school history, passing Colonel legend Rollie Schmidt’s (1962-1981) 90 wins two seasons ago. Sheptock has led the Colonels to two NCAA and seven ECAC playoff berths during his tenure, along with a MAC championship (2006). Wilkes made the NCAA playoffs in 2005 and 2006, going 19-4 overall, including a 42-0 win over Washington & Lee in the first round of the 2006 playoffs. Since 1996, Sheptock has coached 12 All-Americans and 133 All-MAC performers.

Jim Monos (Shippensburg ‘72) finished his 20th year as head coach of the Lebanon Valley College football team in 2012. He began his second stint at LVC in 2004 after serving as the Flying Dutchmen head coach from 1986-96. Through the 2012 season, Monos has directed the Dutchmen to a 93-107-2 record, and is the all-time leader in wins at LVC. His 202 games coached is also a school record, and he is the only coach in program history to take the team to three postseason appearances. The Dutchmen capped off another winning season in 2012, earning eight all-MAC awards after a 6-4 season. It represented the fifth consecutive winning season, the first time that had happened since 1963.

THE SERIES
This will mark the 42nd meeting between the two schools, as Wilkes holds a 23-18 lead in the series. LVC has taken the last two contests, with the last Wilkes win coming in 2010 in overtime 35-28 in Annville, Pa.

UP NEXT
The Colonels are idle next week (Oct. 12) on their bye week and return to action Saturday, October 19 when they travel to Albright College for an MAC matchup at 1:00 p.m.

THE MAGIC 300
Wilkes earned its 300th win in the program’s 68 years of existence last Saturday at Misericordia. The Colonels currently boast a 300-301-8 (.499) overall mark heading into the contest with Lebanon Valley.

ON TOP OF THE RECORD BOOK
Going into today’s game against Lebanon Valley, Sheptock’s 105 wins stands as the school’s all-time leader. Sheptock’s 105 career wins has been built up over 17 seasons of work and includes a program-record 11 wins in 2006. He reached the 100-win plateau last season in a 37-27 victory against FDU-Florham on September 29. In 182 career games, Sheptock has a winning percentage of .576.

COLONELS NOTES
• Coach Sheptock has a long history with LVC having recorded his 91st win against the Dutchmen in Annville in 2010 passing legendary Colonel coach Rollie Schmidt for the school’s all-time wins mark. Wilkes defeated LVC 35-28 in overtime that day overcoming a 22-point fourth quarter deficit. Then a freshman and playing quarterback, Alex George led the Colonels in the win posting 101 total yards and four touchdowns (all in the fourth quarter).

• Sophomore running back Patrick Ingulli ran for a team-high 62 yards in the win at Misericordia bringing his career total to 873 yards, just 127 shy of 1,000 for his career in just 14 games (62.3 yards per-game).

• Senior All-MAC linebacker Tate Moore-Jacobs led the Colonel defense against Misericordia as he has all season finishing with a game-high 11 tackles. With the 11 stops, Moore-Jacobs currently has 400 career tackles over his four-year stint in the Navy and Gold. Moore-Jacobs has reached double-digit tackles in 27 of 34 career games.

• Freshman quarterback Taylor Young looked more than poised in his first collegiate start at Misericordia finishing 13-for-21 for 179 yards and three touchdowns, the first of his career at Wilkes to wide receiver David Claybrook on an eight-yard crossing route. The rookie duo would hook up later in the game on a 23-yard pitch-and-catch for a score.

SCOUTING WILKES OFFENSE (SPREAD)
• The Wilkes ground game got back on track in the win over Misericordia totaling 216 yards on 50 carries (3.6 yards per-rush) and one score after struggling against Widener totaling just 107 yards on 47 attempts (2.3 yards per-rush) in week two. The Colonels rank fifth in the MAC averaging 164.8 yards per-game on the ground.

• With the dual threat ability to throw or run, Young has thrived in the Wilkes offensive scheme and will only get better with more reps and experience. For the season, Young has thrown for 207 yards on 15-for-28 passing with three touchdowns and three interceptions (103.5 yards passing per-game).

• The Colonel receivers and tight ends enjoyed their finest outing of the season posting a combined 179 yards receiving and three touchdowns (Claybrook 2/Conklin 1) last week.

SCOUTING WILKES DEFENSE (4-3)
• The Colonels defense has been using a bend but not break style allowing 23.8 (6th in the MAC) points per-game, but using turnovers (5 interceptions/10 fumble recoveries) and situational stops to get off the field and setup the Wilkes offense.

• Wilkes has been winning the turnover battle thus far this season collecting five interceptions and forcing a MAC-high 10 fumbles, all being recovered by the Colonels. Teams are also just converting 48 percent (28-58) of the time on 3rd down and 18 percent (2/11) on fourth down. Wilkes caused three fumbles against Misericordia last week including one that was returned for a touchdown by DJ Shuttleworth but was called back on an illegal block on the return.

• Tate Moore-Jacobs is the league’s top tackler averaging 13.8 stops per-game. His 25 total solo stops rank fifth in the MAC, while his 30 assisted tackles lead the conference.

SCOUTING LEBANON VALLEY OFFENSE (MULTIPLE/PRO SET)
• The Lebanon Valley offense tops the MAC in scoring thus far this season averaging 36.5 points per-game including three games of 28+ points and a 65-point effort last week in the win over FDU-Florham. Its 394.3 yards of total offense only trails Delaware Valley (437.3 yards per-game) as tops in the league.

• The Duchmen enjoy a balanced attack hurting opposing defenses both on the ground and in the air as their 12 rushing touchdowns are best in the MAC and seven passing scores are tied for second.

• Quarterback Brian Murphy is fifth in the MAC throwing for 202.3 yards per-game (809 total yards) on 50-for-89 passing and seven scores (tied for first in MAC).

SCOUTING LEBANON VALLEY DEFENSE (3-4)
• The LVC defense is allowing 21.7 points per-game, doing a fine job of stopping the run allowing just 105.0 yards per-game on the ground through the first four contests of the year.

• Frank Gaffney is a big part of the Dutchmen defense leading the team in tackles (28) and ranking second in the MAC in tackles-for-loss (9.0) and sacks (6.0).