The Keystone Cup is handed out annually to the winner of the Delaware Valley-Widener contest to symbolize small college football excellence in the Philadelphia area. Widener holds a 24-8 advantage since the Cup was first awarded in 1981, but seven of the Aggies’ eight wins have come in the last 10 meetings. The Pride have won two of the last three including last year’s 42-23 triumph that sealed the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) championship and an automatic berth to the NCAA Division III playoffs.
At 6-3 overall and 6-2 in the conference, Widener is still alive in the championship hunt but it needs some help. The Pride, who sit a game behind Lebanon Valley College (8-1, 7-1), need to beat Delaware Valley and have Lebanon Valley lose at Albright College to gain a share of the crown. They also need Lycoming College to lose at home to Stevenson University in order to claim the MAC’s automatic berth to the NCAAs.
For Delaware Valley, the conference championship is out of reach, but a postseason spot for the 10th time in the last 11 years is still in the picture and a win over the defending MAC champs would increase its portfolio for the ECAC selection committee. The Aggies improved their record to 6-3 overall and 5-3 in the MAC with last Saturday’s 31-27, come-from-behind win at Wilkes University.
Delaware Valley trailed by 10 points early in the fourth quarter, but notched a pair of touchdowns, including one with 1:29 remaining for the win. The victory clinched a winning record for the team for a school-record sixth consecutive year and the 10th in the last 11 campaigns (they went 5-5 in 2007).
For the season, the Aggies are ranked third in the conference in scoring with an average of 30.6 points per game. The offense is second in total yardage (420.4 avg), third in rushing (207.0 avg) and fifth in passing (213.4 avg).
Senior tailback Kyle Schuberth (Darby, PA/Monsignor Bonner) made school history last week as he became just the second player to rush for more than a 1,000 yards in three consecutive seasons (Matt Cook is the other). He netted 117 yards at Wilkes to up his season total to 1,005 on 178 carries and in just seven games (he missed the first two with an injury). Schuberth leads the MAC in rushing while his 11 touchdowns on the ground this year also tops the conference.
Schuberth is ranked second in school history with 40 rushing touchdowns and 41 overall scores while his 3,433 yards leaves him 97 yards behind Steve Cook (3,530 yards from 2002 to 2005) for second place in that category as well.
Backfield mate Chris Smallwood (Philadelphia, PA/Upper Moreland) is coming off his first two-touchdown effort in an Aggie uniform as he rushed for a score and caught a scoring pass at Wilkes. The junior transfer has 148 yards and three touchdowns on the ground and five catches for 40 yards and a score on the year.
Two-time all-conference quarterback Aaron Wilmer (Philadelphia, PA/George Washington) has played in seven contests this year and has completed 123 of 213 passes for 1,633 yards and 13 touchdowns. He has also rushed for 285 yards and two trips to the end zone. Last week, Wilmer was 16-for-30 for 226 yards and the two, fourth-quarter scores.
Junior Rasheed Bailey (Philadelphia, PA/Roxborough) has caught 14 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns over the last two weeks, including the game-winning 19-yard grab off a deflection with 1:29 to go against Wilkes. For the year, he leads the team with 42 catches for 811 yards and six touchdowns.
Freshman wideout Tyler Bing (Galloway, NJ/Absegami) recorded his first collegiate score with a 31-yard run at Wilkes. He has 190 yards on 22 carries while also catching eight passes for 77 yards and averaging 21 yards on 20 kickoff returns.
On the defensive side of the ball, Delaware Valley is still tops in the MAC in passing with an average of 179.3 yards allowed per game. The unit is fourth in total yardage (342.6 avg) and seventh in both scoring (23.9 avg) and rushing (163.2 avg).
Sophomore safety Danny Wynne (Hatfield, PA/North Penn) has a chance to hit the 100-tackle plateau this week as he enters the contest with 91 stops (52 solo). Twelve of the tackles came at Wilkes.
Sophomore linebacker Ken Kenner-English (Philadelphia, PA/Roman Catholic) tied Wynne with a career-high 12 tackles, including 2.5 behind the line of scrimmage. He is tied for second on the team with 63 stops on the year and leads the team with six pass breakups.
Fellow linebacker Bernard Avery (Philadelphia, PA/Father Judge) also has 63 tackles and the junior is also tied for team-high honors in sacks with three. He had four tackles and one sack last Saturday.
WIDENER UNIVERSITY
The Pride, under first-year head coach Bobby Acosta, won for the fourth time in the last five games with a 52-20 rout of a King’s College squad that had won five in a row including an overtime win over Delaware Valley. They led 45-7 after three quarters of play and finished the afternoon with 537 yards of total offense. The performance helped keep the Widener offense atop the MAC in scoring (32.2 avg), passing (290.1 avg) and total yardage (435.0 avg). The rushing attack is seventh with 144.9 yards per game.
The Pride’s offense begins with junior All-American wideout Anthony Davis, who has caught a school-record and conference-leading 79 passes for 937 yards and eight touchdowns. He had three grabs for 66 yards and a score last week. Davis also leads the MAC on special teams with an average of 26.9 yards per kickoff return.
Freshman Seth Klein has stepped right in at quarterback and has completed 250 of 328 passes for a MAC-high 2,501 yards and 15 touchdowns. He was 15-for-27 for 223 yards and two scores against King’s.
Junior Couve LaFate had a career rushing day against King’s as he netted 174 yards and two touchdowns on 19 carries, including a 91-yard scoring burst. For the year, he has had 92 attempts for 523 yards and five trips to the end zone.
Defensively, Widener is fourth in the conference in both scoring (19.3 avg) and rushing (127.6 avg), fifth in total yardage allowed (355.4 avg) and ninth in passing (227.9 avg). The unit has reached the quarterback for a MAC-best 32 sacks.
Linebackers Brandon Harper and Dylan Ditmer pace the team with 61 and 57 tackles respectively and the two combined for 15 stops last week. Ditmer, a senior, also has four forced fumbles, three sacks and one interception to his credit.
Senior Colin Masterson leads the Pride secondary from his safety position. He has 47 tackles, six pass breakups and two interceptions on the year, including two tackles in the win over King’s.
