Moravian Set to Host Dickinson in Annual Homecoming Game on October 16

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football squad hosts Dickinson College on Saturday, October 16 in a Centennial Conference contest. Kickoff for the annual Homecoming game is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Rocco Calvo Field in Bethlehem.

THE COACHES: Jeff Pukszyn (Moravian '98) is entering his 11th season as Moravian's head coach after ten years as an assistant coach with the program. Pukszyn joined the Moravian staff as a part-time coach in 1997 after a three-year playing career that saw him named to the All-Middle Atlantic Conference First Team in 1994 and 1996. He was inducted into Moravian's Hall of Fame in 2019. He was also a two-time captain. Pukszyn became part of the coaching staff full-time in 1999 as defensive coordinator and added the titles of assistant head coach in 2001 and special teams coordinator in 2007. In 2015, Pukszyn led the Greyhounds to an 8-3 record and a berth in the inaugural Centennial-MAC Bowl Series while being named both the Centennial Conference and American Football Coaches Association Division III Region 2 Coach of the Year. He has been a part of 270 games for Moravian since 1994 with a 128-141-1 record.
     Dickinson coach Brad Fordyce (Springfield '97) is in his fifth year as head coach with a 14-21 mark.

THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting will be the 24th in the series with the Greyhounds leading the series 12-9-2. Moravian, which has won eight of the last 10 contests between the schools, earned a 24-6 victory in Bethlehem in 2019 while the Red Devils last triumph was a 36-29 win in Carlisle in 2018.

GREYHOUNDS IN THE CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE: Moravian joined the Centennial Conference as an associate member in the sport of football in 2007. The Greyhounds were selected seventh in the Centennial Conference preseason coaches and sports information directors poll. Dickinson was picked to finish fifth in the poll.

BALANCED & EXPERIENCED 'HOUNDS: Of the 84 players on the Moravian roster, 21 are freshmen, 13 are sophomores and 18 are juniors. There are 31 seniors including two fifth-year players on this season's squad, and the Greyhounds return 43 letterwinners and eight starters from 2019.

THE QUARTERBACKS: Senior Christopher Mills has completed 82-of-164 passes for 965 yards this season with three touchdowns, seven interceptions and a long of 78 yards. He has also carried the ball 21 times and been sacked 14 times. Junior Brad Bryan saw his first career action against Susquehanna University and has a total of five pass attempts and three rushing attempts for eight yards. 

THE OFFENSIVE LINE: Moravian has one returner on the offensive line in senior Frank Sallusti at right guard. The Greyhounds will add four other seniors to the starting offensive line with Jaequan Swint at left tackle, Jack Fineanganofo at left guard, Ryan Kennedy at center and Craig Krug at right tackle. The Greyhounds' front five has an average size of 6-1, 275. Sallusti has one tackle this season, and junior Nate Bendekovits saw playing time at right tackle against Johns Hopkins University.

IN THE BACKFIELD: Sophomore Nate Boyle leads the Moravian rushing attack with 252 yards and one touchdown on 55 carries including a 52-yard run at King's College while senior Carrington Smith has added 107 yards on 36 attempts. Junior Angelo Macera has contributed 36 yards in 10 carries while sophomore Isaac Cherry has 32 yards on 10 carries. 

THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds have had 10 different players catch a pass this season led by senior Trevor Cunningham, who has 29 catches for 517 yards and three touchdowns including one of 74 yards at King's College and another for 78 yards at Juniata College. Senior Nick Petros has 26 receptions for 248 yards while freshman wide receiver Jordan Lewis has nine receptions for 91 yards. Senior wide receiver Cory Little has seven catches for 53 yards while sophomore running back Nate Boyle has caught four passes for 12 yards. Junior tight end Ethan Deater has two catches for 14 yards while senior running back Carrington Smith and junior tight end Chris Carpini each have one catch this fall for eight yards. Sophomore wide receiver Tim Garlick has added one reception for 10 yards while senior defensive back Romello Walters has one catch for four yards while playing on both sides of the ball against Susquehanna University.

DEFENSIVE FRONT: Junior Javi Espinal-Katz leads the Moravian defensive line with 19 tackles including seven tackles for loss, four sacks, two quarterback hurries and a pass break-up. Senior Brady Hornbaker has 18 stops with five tackles for loss, half a sack and a fumble recovery while senior Collin Frost has 11 stops. Senior Brandon Nemeth has made eight tackles with a half a tackle for loss while junior Riley Brody has made four tackles with one for loss. Sophomore Jabir Abdallah has also contributed four tackles and senior Matt Eroh has added two tackles. 

THE LINEBACKER CORPS: Senior Noah Breidinger leads the linebackers and the entire Moravian defense with 37 tackles including three for loss, one pass break-up and a forced fumble. Sophomore Nick Levinski has 25 tackles with two for loss, two sacks and a quarterback hurry while senior Nicholas Azpeitia has added 16 tackles with a half a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery. Senior Francis Lagreca has recorded 13 tackles with one and a half for loss and a half a sack while junior Jack Gawlik has eight tackles too with one and a half tackles for loss, a sack, three pass break-ups and a quarterback hurry. Senior Matt McNally has made seven stops while sophomore Colin Conway has added six stops with a half a tackle for loss and half a sack while. Freshman Jeremiah Espinosa has recorded five tackles while senior Brian Harris has made three tackles. Sophomore Chris Ortalano has added two tackles.

THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Senior Romello Walters leads the defensive backfield with 31 tackles to go with four pass break-ups, an interception with a 15-yard yard return for a total of five passes defended and two forced fumbles, and Walters has also seen action as a linebacker. Freshman Chad Newhard has 30 tackles, two tackles for loss, a half a sack and an interception he returned six yards while senior Connor Lyon has recorded 23 tackles, an interception for a 22-yard return and two passes defended. Senior Jackson Buskirk has recorded 21 tackles with one and a half for loss, an interception returned 29 yards and two passes defended while senior Justin McRae has added 19 stops with one tackle for loss and two pass break-ups. Junior Ethen Aquino has 12 tackles while sophomore Matt Blazofsky and graduate student Renard Nicholson have both made four tackles. Junior Stefan Lorick and sophomore Ben Carlin each have three tackles while senior Jalen Richardson has a pair of tackles and three pass break-ups. Junior Joe Voitek has made one stop.

KICKING GAME: Junior Trevor Yacuboski is 5-for-9 on field goal attempts this season with a long of 39 yards, and he is also 4-for-4 on extra-points. Yacuboski has kicked off 13 times for an average of 55.1 yards, and he has punted 16 times for an average of 35.1 yards with eight fair caught, four inside the 20-yard line and one blocked while recording one tackle. Senior Nick Petros has punted 11 times with an average of 34.9 yards per punt, and he has a long of 50 yards, one fair caught and one inside the 20-yard line this season. 

SPECIAL TEAMS: Senior wide receiver Cory Little has returned 11 kickoffs for 256 yards, and he has recorded two tackles while senior defensive back Romello Walters has five kickoff returns for 156 yards. Senior defensive back Jalen Richardson has returned two kickoffs for 32 yards and junior defensive back Ethen Aquino has one kickoff return for 29 yards. Senior defensive back Connor Lyon has five punt returns for 10 yards while senior linebacker Noah Breidinger has 16 yards on one rushing attempt on a fake punt versus Johns Hopkins University. Freshman wide receiver Nick Weston has made three tackles while senior long snapper RJ Guffy has recorded a pair of tackles. Junior wide receiver Nick Basenese, junior running back Angelo Macera and senior wide receiver Joe LePoidevin each have one tackle on special teams. 

MILESTONE WATCH: The Greyhounds have four players closing in on milestones for their careers. Senior wide receiver Nick Petros is second in school history with 2,037 receiving yards, and he needs 663 yards to break the school record. Petros is fourth in program history with 146 receptions and needs 14 to set the school record, and he is tied for second with 17 career touchdown receptions, just two shy of setting the school record. He is tied for sixth with a 35.8 career punting average on 148 punts (sixth all-time) for 5,293 yards (fifth in school history). Senior quarterback Christopher Mills became the seventh Greyhound to throw for 4,000 yards, moving past the milestone at Juniata College. Mills, who has 4,103 yards, is also sixth all-time with 330 completions, seventh with 591 pass attempts and eighth with 28 touchdown passes. Senior wide receiver Cory Little became the fifth player in school history with 1,000 kickoff return yards in a career, now with 1,064 yards, and he is sixth with 44 kickoff returns. Senior defensive back Jackson Buskirk has moved into a tie for seventh in the Moravian record books with 160 career solo tackles. Buskirk has registered 243 career stops.

THE CENTENNIAL CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Greyhounds are sixth in total offense in the Centennial Conference after the first half of the season at 273.8 yards per game. Moravian is ninth in rushing offense at 80.8 yards per contest and sixth in passing offense at 193.0 yards per outing. The Hounds are ninth in the conference in scoring at 9.8 points per game, and the squad ranked seventh in scoring defense at 29.6 points per contest. Moravian is currently fourth in the conference in total defense, allowing just 312.2 yards per game. The Greyhounds are sixth in rushing defense at 103.0 yards per outing and fourth in passing defense at 20.2 yards per contest. Individually, freshman running back Nate Boyle is third in the Centennial Conference at 63.0 rushing yards per game while senior wide receiver Trevor Cunningham is sixth in receptions per game with 5.8 and third in receiving yards per game at 103.4. Senior quarterback Christopher Mills is seventh in the conference in passing efficiency with a 96.9 rating while senior defensive back Connor Lyon is tied for sixth in punt returns with five and senior wide receiver Cory Little is fourth in kickoff returns with an average of 23.3 yards per runback. Defensively, senior linebacker Noah Breidinger is tied for eighth in the conference at 7.4 tackles per game while senior defensive back Romello Walters is 18th at 6.2 tackles per contest and tied for second in the conference with two forced fumbles. Freshman defensive back Chad Newhard is tied for 19th with 6.1 stops per outing.

THE NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Greyhounds have three players ranked in the top 50 in the latest NCAA Division III statistics. Senior wide receiver Trevor Cunningham is 30th in both receiving yards with 517 and receiving yards per game at 103.4 while junior kicker Trevor Yacuboski is tied for 29th in field goals made per contest at 1.0. Senior defensive back Romello Walters is tied for 14th in forced fumbles per game at 0.40. 

OVERTIME 'HOUNDS: Moravian has played a total of 11 overtime games since the NCAA instituted the rule for the 1996 season and is 8-3 all-time in the extra-session after defeating Gettysburg College, 16-13, on September 11, 2021. Five of those ten overtime games have been against Juniata College with the Greyhounds going 4-1 in those games. Moravian's contest in Huntingdon in 2008 marked the first time in the Greyhounds' have needed more than one overtime session in a game. The 2008 season also marked the third year that Moravian has played at least two overtimes games in one season, the other years were 1999 when the Greyhounds played three overtime games and 1997 when Moravian played two overtime contests. 

SCOUTING DICKINSON: The Red Devils enter the game at 2-3 overall and 2-2 in Centennial Conference action after a 24-6 win over McDaniel College. Dickinson is led on the field by senior quarterback Tim Graham, who has completed 51-of-103 passes for 749 yards to go with four touchdowns and five interceptions. Junior quarterback Caleb Pruitt is 30-for-69 for 524 yards, four touchdowns and three interceptions. Senior quarterback Robert Geiss leads the Red Devils with 25 catches for 382 yards and two touchdowns while freshman wide receiver Princeton Douglass has 24 receptions for 361 yards and a score. Sophomore wide receiver Bryce Peterson has added 10 catches for 189 yards and a touchdown while junior defensive back Johnny Knight has 12 receptions for 124 yards and a score. Sophomore tight end Devlin McCool has a pair of touchdowns and a total of three catches for 29 yards while freshman running back Diante Ball has eight catches for 125 yards and two touchdowns. Ball also leads the Dickinson rushing attack with 251 yards and a touchdown on 61 carries while Douglass has picked up 77 yards and a score on 12 attempts. Geiss, who is 4-for-8 passing for 47 yards and a touchdown, has rushed for 58 yards and a score on 13 carries while junior running back Bryce Taylor has 48 yards and two touchdowns on 26 attempts. Douglass has returned 11 kickoffs for 251 yards while junior wide receiver Daniel Bathon has five punt returns for 16 yards and seven kickoff returns for 139 yards. Geiss has punted 22 times for an average of 37.0 yards per punt with a long of 66 yards, six fair caught, two inside the 20-yard line and one touchback. Sophomore Raleigh Wynot is 3-for-5 on field goals with a long of 25 yards, and he is 13-for-14 on extra-points this season. Junior linebacker Brian Snow leads the Dickinson defense with 50 tackles to go with nine tackles for loss, two sacks and two pass break-ups. Sophomore defensive back Tommy Buchert has added 38 tackles with a half a tackle for loss, two interceptions, three passes defended and a fumble recovery while senior defensive back Dominic Fusco has made 25 tackles with four for loss, one sack, one pass break-up, one forced fumble and one fumble recovery. Freshman defensive back Alex Sullin has contributed 23 stops with one for loss, two interceptions, three passes defended and a fumble recovery while sophomore linebacker Chris Klem has 21 tackles with four for loss, one and a half sacks and an interception. Senior defensive back Taj DeFrance leads the Red Devils with three interceptions and 10 passed defended to go with 19 tackles and a fumble recovery.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET: In Bethlehem in 2019, Moravian celebrated Senior Day with the squad third straight victory as the Greyhounds defeated visiting Dickinson College, 24-6, in Centennial Conference action at Rocco Calvo Field. After being honored in pregame, two seniors shined during the game including wide receiver Alex Pierce, who caught a career high 12 passes for a career-best 160 yards to go with a pair of touchdown receptions as he became the 21st player in school history to surpass 1,000 career receiving yards. Running back Roberto Diez added 88 yards on 29 carries on the ground with one touchdown as he helped the Greyhounds control the ball for 39:28 of the game. Quarterback Christopher Mills paced the Moravian offense to a season-high 448 yards on 80 plays as he completed 24-of-41 passes for 341 yards with the two touchdown passes to Pierce. Mills' completions, attempts and yards were all career highs while the completions and yards are the tenth-best game in school history. Mills also became just the ninth quarterback in school history to reach 3,000 career passing yards. Wide receiver Nick Petros added eight catches for 132 yards, his eight 100-yard receiving game. Both Pierce and Petros had a 45-yard reception in the victory. Diez added three receptions for 49 yards while offensive lineman Zach Cregar caught a deflected pass. Running back Sherwin Stewart ran for 23 yards on six carries. Moravian's defense limited the Red Devils to 267 yards on 57 plays, and the Greyhounds came up with five interceptions including two by defensive back Connor Lyon, the second one was late in the fourth quarter and his 32-yard return to the one-yard line sealed the victory. Defensive back Tim Valentine had an interception in the red zone he returned 10 yards while defensive back Justin McRae had a 33-yard interception return on the last play of the first half and defensive back Jackson Buskirk also had an interception. Buskirk led the defense with seven tackles to go with one tackle for loss and two passes defended while defensive back Nate Chapman, linebacker Tanner Barr and linebacker Nicholas Azpeitia all had six stops with Barr breaking up a pass and Azpeitia adding a half a tackle for loss. Defensive lineman Brady Hornbaker made four stops with one for loss while defensive lineman Mike O'Hagan added three stops with a half a tackle for loss. Wide receiver Ethen Aquino contributed three tackles on special teams while Petros punted four times for an average of 30.2 yards. Kicker Trevor Yacuboski made three extra-points and a 22-yard field goal but was just wide right on a 33-yard attempt. Jack Coary kicked off five times for an average of 58.2 yards. The Red Devils picked up two first downs on the game's opening drive before punting the ball to the Greyhounds. Moravian, which started at its own five-yard line, also picked up two first downs before turning the ball back to Dickinson on downs when Mills had a pass tipped that Cregar grabbed and was tackled immediately. Dickinson moved down into the red zone and attempted a 33-yard field goal attempt, but Trystin Golowski's kick sailed wide left. The Blue and Grey couldn't capitalize on the miss and punted the ball away. On the Red Devils' second play and the first of the second quarter, Lyon made his first interception at the Dickinson 42-yard line to set up Moravian's offense. Mills capped off the seven-play, 42-yard drive with a nine-yard touchdown pass to Pierce. Yacuboski split the uprights to give the Hounds a 7-0 lead with 11:28 to play in the first half. Three plays into the Red Devils next drive, Buskirk made an interception at the Moravian 39-yard line, one play after Dickinson earned a first down by penalty. Once again, the Hounds were able to convert the turnover into points with Diez scoring his eighth rushing touchdown of the season on a one-yard run as the Blue and Grey moved ahead 14-0 after Yacuboski's kick with 6:29 before the intermission. Dickinson had to punt on its next drive and Moravian moved into the red zone before Yacuboski's 33-yard field goal attempt was wide right with 26 seconds before the intermission. McRae picked off the final pass of the half at the Moravian 21-yard line and returned it 33 yards to send the Greyhounds to the locker room with a 14-0 advantage. Moravian had the ball first to begin the second half and Mills connected on a 45-yard touchdown to Pierce on the fifth play to finish of the 72-yard drive. Yacuboski made it 21-0 just 2:34 into the second half. After another punt by the Red Devils, the Greyhounds moved into the red zone once again before the drive stalled. Yacuboski hit his third field goal in three games as he connected on a 22-yard attempt to extend the lead to 24-0 with 2:21 left in the third quarter. Dickinson would finally get on the scoreboard with a touchdown run by quarterback Robert Geiss with 48 seconds left in the third quarter, but the Red Devils missed on the two-point conversion to keep the score at 24-6. The fourth quarter saw the Greyhounds punt three times while Valentine and Lyon ended two of Dickinson's three possessions with their interceptions while the Red Devils other drive ended on an incomplete pass on fourth down.