#14 Baldwin Wallace Yellow Jackets at Muskingum University Fighting Muskies
Saturday, September 22, 2012
1:30 p.m.
McConagha Stadium
Download the complete Yellow Jacket Games Notes in .pdf format by clicking HERE.
RADIO -- BW campus radio station WBWC, 88.3 FM, broadcasts all home and away Yellow Jacket football games. You also can listen to the games live via the WBWC Internet Web site atwww.wbwc.com. The pregame show generally starts 20 minutes prior to kickoff. For more information, please call the station offices at (440) 826-2145 or its listening line at (440) 826-2187. Senior Kelly Rosemond (krosemon@bw.edu) is the Sports Director.
TODAY'S GAME: The Yellow Jackets enter this game ranked 14th nationally (d3football.com Division III poll) and with a 2-0 overall and 1-0 OAC record following their thrilling, 32-28 win at OAC and Cleveland cross-town rival John Carroll University. BW also opened its season by beating Bluffton University, 45-13, on Sept. 8 and has won three straight games dating back to last year and 10 of its last 12.
The Fighting Muskies enter this game at 0-2 overall and 0-1 in the OAC following a 57-0 loss at No.2-ranked the University of Mount Union last Saturday in Alliance. Muskingum opened its season by losing to Waynesburg (Pa.) University, 34-23.
SERIES NOTES -- The Yellow Jackets and the Fighting Muskies have previously met 55 times on the gridiron with BW holding a 40-13-2 series lead, including a 29-17 victory a year ago at The George Finnie Stadium. The series began in 1917 with the Muskies defeating the Yellow Jackets, 25-7. BW has won six straight games in the series and has outscored Muskingum, 211-77, during that time span. The last Muskingum win came in 2005 when the Fighting Muskies beat the Yellow Jackets, 16-10, in New Concord. BW has beaten MU 15 of the last 16 meetings.
SCOUTING THE YELLOW JACKETS -- Offensively, the Yellow Jackets average 38.5 points per game and have amassed 446.0 yards of total offense per game, including 203.0 rushing and 243.0 passing yards, in their first two wins of the season. Ryan O'Rourke (Avon) has completed 25-of-45 passes for 55.6 percent for 482 yards and five touchdowns with two interceptions and has run the ball eight times for 23 yards and a TD. In the backfield, Tyler Lohr will get the bulk of the carries and is joined by sophomores Sebastian Zuluaga (Naples, Fla./ Gulf Coast) and Nolan Sordyl (Gurnee, Ill./ Warren Township) and freshman Isaac Reed III (Lehigh Acres, Fla./ Lehigh). Lohr has a team-high 167 yards rushing in 34 attempts with a TD. Reed is second with 97 yards in 11 attempts with a TD. Zuluaga has 37 yards in 10 attempts and Sordyl has 21 in nine trips with a TD. The receiving corps are led by Josiah Holt, junior Cory Lanterman (Streetsboro) and sophomore TE Daryl Jones (Cleveland/ Villa Angela-St. Joseph). Holt has eight catches for 194 yards and three TDs, Lanterman, the Sept. 8 OAC Offensive Player of the Week, has four for 119 yards and two TDs and Jones has two grabs for 35 yards. The line is anchored by senior Academic All-OAC tackle Clay Wolf (Parma Heights/Padua) and junior guard Jason Cook (Streetsboro).
Defensively, the Yellow Jackets allow 20.5 points per game and 344.0 yards of total offense per contest, including 159.5 yards per game on the ground and 184.5 yards per game through the air. BW has forced five turnovers in two games and is a plus-2 (+2) in the giveaway-takeaway catagory. The defense is led by Max Wagner, senior end Joe Fitch (Elyria/Elyria Catholic) and senior cornerback Brandon Russo (Olmsted Falls). After two games, junior free safety Zach Barley (Hudson) tops the team with 15 tackles and senior Academic All-OAC outside linebacker Nick Milano (North Royalton/Padua Fransiscan) and junior middle linebacker Michael Stacchiotti (Girard) are tied for second with 12 stops each. Fitch has the most QB sacks with 2.5. Russo, senior LB Brian Ellis (Fort Mitchell, Ky./ Dayton) and Austin Cordova (Perry) each have intercepted a pass.
On special teams, BW has one of the top return groups in Division III in Josiah Holt, Kevin Johnson and punt return specialists in senior WR Pat LaGuardia (Brunswick?Padua) and junior Kory Gillissie (Parma/ St. Ignatius). Johnson, the Sept. 8 OAC Special Teams Player of the Week, averages 55.0 yards in two returns, including a 94-yard TD -- the second kick return TD of his career -- versus Bluffton. Holt averages 28.2 yards in four returns and has three career return TDs. Junior placekicker Chris Mohler (Kent/ Roosevelt) is improved and solidifies the kicking game. He has connected on 9-of-9 PAT kicks and 2-of-4 field goals and is second in scoring with 18 points. Junior Matt Harmon (Canfield) is the punter. He averages 31.1 yards in nine attempts so far.
LAST WEEK AT JOHN CARROLL -- In its last game, a thrilling, 32-28 Cuyahoga Gold Bowl Trophy Game victory at John Carroll University, Baldwin Wallace was led by the spectacular performance of Holt and a key interception by backup cornerback Cordova . Holt accounted for 327 all-purpose yards as he caught a game-high six passes for 173 yards and three TDs, including the game-winning 84-yarder from O'Rourke with 1:21 left in the game, ran the ball seven times for 41 yards and returned four kickoffs for 113 yards. O'Rourke completed 13-of-28 passes for 266 yards with three TDs and no interceptions and scored on a 1-yard TD run. Tyler Lohr led the running game with 17 carries for 90 yards. Zach Barley (Hudson) led all BW tacklers with 11. Cordova picked off a JCU-Mark Myers pass with 13 seconds left in the contest. With its win, BW now leads the all-time series against JCU (began in 1923) by a 25-23-4 count and leads the Gold Bowl series (began in 1989) by a 13-11 advantage.
SCOUTING THE FIGHTING MUSKIES -- Offensively, Muskingum is scoring 11.5 points per game and averaging 148.0 yards of total offense, including 72.0 rushing and 76.0 passing yards. Sophomores Alex Meredith and Jerry Manukin have both played QB so far. In two games, Meredith has completed 11-of-33 passes for 33.3% for 124 yards with two TDs and two interceptions. Manukin has played in one game and is 4-of-7 for 57.1% for 28 yards with zero TD and interceptions. Junior RB Anthony Frye leads the Fighting Muskies on the ground with 53 yards in 28 attempts and has caught four passes for 11 more yards. The top receiver is junior James Washington who has caught five passes for 68 yards and both of Muskingum's offensive TDs this season.
Defensively, the Fighting Muskies allow 45.5 points per game and 440.5 yards of total offense, including 249.5 rushing and 191.0 passing yards. Muskingum is led by sophomore free safety Jaques Dorsey-Merrion , junior LB Erik Hall and sophomore LB Zack Harris. Dorsey-Merrion has a team-leading 21 tackles and an interception. Hall is second with 15 tackles and a QB sack. Harris and freshman LB Chaney Fulton are tied for third with nine stops each.
On special teams, junior PK Caleb Carpenter handles the placements and senior Danny Snively is the punter. Caleb Carpenter is 1-of-1 in field goal attempts and 2-of-3 in PAT kicks for five points scored. Snively averages 36.1 yards in 15 attempts with two landing inside the opposition's 20-yard line. Andrew Davis returns kickoffs and Thomas Ross Jr. punts. Davis averages 22.9 yards in seven kickoff returns, including an 85-yarder for TD versus Waynesburg. Ross averages 9.5 yards per punt return in two attempts.
LAST GAME AT MOUNT UNION -- In its last game, a 57-0 loss to No.2-ranked the University of Mount Union in Alliance, Muskingum gave up 619 yards of offense and trailed 38-0 at halftime. Offensively, the Muskies had just 59 yards of offense (31 rushing and 28 passing)
