Moravian Set to Host Wilkes in Annual Homecoming Game on October 11

BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football squad hosts Wilkes University for Homecoming on Saturday, October 11 in Landmark Conference action. Kickoff is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Rocco Calvo Field in Bethlehem.

THE COACHES: Jeff Long (Muhlenberg '14) is in his third season as Moravian's head coach with an overall record of 11-15. In his debut campaign, Long led the Greyhounds to a 4-6 overall record and a 3-3 slate in the inaugural Landmark Conference season. Last fall, Long guided the Hounds to a 7-4 mark, a 4-2 Landmark Conference record and the 2024 Cape Charles Bowl Championship with a win over Shenandoah (Va.) University. He has coached 21 Landmark All-Conference selections including seven First Team honorees.  Long spent the previous six seasons with the Blue Streaks including the last three years as defensive coordinator. He began his time at John Carroll as the defensive line coach and has also been a secondary coach and linebackers coach. Prior to coaching at John Carroll, Long spent two seasons as a defensive line coach at Wilkes University, and he also worked as a scouting intern for the Philadelphia Eagles in 2015.
     Wilkes coach David Beiver (East Stroudsburg '09) is in his second year with the Colonels with a 10-5 record.

THE SERIES: Saturday's meeting will be the 50th in the series with Moravian leading the series 30-18-1. The Colonels posted a 47-28 win in Edwardsville last fall while the Greyhounds' last win in the series was a 26-14 victory in Edwardsville on November 20, 2010 to win the ECAC Division III Southeast Bowl Championship.

GREYHOUNDS IN THE LANDMARK CONFERENCE: The Greyhounds will compete in the Landmark Conference this fall for the third straight season. The Hounds were selected second in the preseason coaches poll while the Colonels were picked third.

THE QUARTERBACKS: Sophomore RJ Hart is 29-for-58 for 209 yards with two touchdowns and four interceptions while graduate student Jared Jenkins has completed 23-of-34 passes for 238 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions, and Jenkins has run the ball four times for three yards. Sophomore Declan McCarthy is 10-for-28 passing for 84 yards with one interception, and he has five yards on 21 rushing attempts while sophomore wide receiver Ryan Bender is 3-for-5 foe 13 yards. Sophomore punter/kicker Jack Corrigan is 2-for-2 for 38 yards and two first downs on fake punt plays at Muhlenberg College and versus Ursinus College.

IN THE BACKFIELD: Sophomore Jed Bendekovits leads the Moravian rushing attack with 108 yards on 36 carries while graduate student Joey Richmond has recorded 99 yards on 32 attempts. Freshman Dorian Thomas has gained 74 yards on 22 carries while senior Camron Tinajero has 12 yards on 14 attempts and senior Isiah Rico has run the ball twice.

THE OFFENSIVE LINE: Moravian has one returning starter on the offensive line in junior Mason Ludlow. Senior Drew Brizan has seen action and moved into the starting lineup while sophomores Dylan Nolter and Ali Wezza and freshman Marquis Labossiere round out the starting lineup. Junior Hezakyah Hynson and freshmen Dante Downey and Michael Longo have seen action this fall.

THE WIDE RECEIVERS: The Greyhounds have had 13 different players catch a pass in 2025 led by junior Avery Koser (Center Valley, Pa./Southern Lehigh HS), who was named the Sean Keville '94 MVP at Muhlenberg in the season opener. Koser has 16 receptions for 221 yards and four touchdowns while sophomore Josh Ludlow has 14 catches for 124 yards. Sophomore Gavyn Gennarelli has seven catches for 30 yards while sophomore Chris Brown has seven catches for 37 yards. Senior Knaheim Bragg has six receptions for 45 yards while senior running back Isiah Rico has five catches for 51 yards. Senior running back Camron Tinajero has caught five passes for 23 yards while graduate student tight end Jalen Jones has caught two passes for eight yards. Sophomore wide receiver Tanner Clancy has one reception for five yards while freshman wide receiver Andrei Matthews has one catch for four yards and sophomore linebacker Malachi McNeil-Harrison has added one reception for 29 yards on a fake punt at Muhlenberg. Graduate student running back Joey Richmond has one reception for four yards while freshman running back Derek Trinidad has added one catch for one yard. 

THE DEFENSIVE FRONT: Senior Nathan Carr leads the defensive lineman with 19 tackles with three and a half stops for loss and a fumble recovery while sophomore Kaelyb Barahona has also added 19 tackles including a half a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery. Senior Jashon Teller has made 13 tackles while sophomore Hunter Johnson has ten tackles, three tackles for loss, one sack, one pass break-up, two quarterback hurries and a blocked field goal at Lycoming College. Senior EJ Harvey has four tackles with one and a half for loss while Sophomore Josh Doane has four stops. Freshman Brayden Lauta has posted three tackles while junior Logan Arteaga and freshman Kenny Dim both have two tackles with Arteaga adding one for loss. Junior EJ Boney has one stop.

THE LINEBACKER CORPS: Senior Ethan O'Neill leads the linebackers with 22 stops while senior Clay Basile has 20 tackles. Senior Chris Cacace has made 19 tackles with one for loss while sophomore Malachi McNeil-Harrison has added 18 tackles including two and a half for loss, a sack and a quarterback hurry. Freshman Jamie Gutridge has registered 14 stops with three tackles for loss and a sack while sophomore linebacker Jack Tosh has made 13 tackles with two and a half tackles for loss and a sack. Graduate student Declan Coors has eight tackles and a pass break-up while freshman Dante Harrison has made four tackles. Sophomore Connor Pennington has contributed three tackles with a half a tackle for loss and a fumble recovery while senior Vincent Hoffman has three tackles. 

THE DEFENSIVE BACKFIELD: Junior Aidan Lane leads the defensive backs and the Greyhounds' defense with 35 tackles including two and a half tackles for loss. Senior Shea Endean has 15 tackles to go with four pass break-ups while sophomore Antonio Rivera has made 13 tackles with two pass break-ups. Senior Isaiah Johnson has contributed 11 stops while freshman Kam White has added nine tackles and an interception. Senior Dorian Gray has made seven tackles while senior defensive back Lorenzo Feliciano has contributed seven stops with a half a tackle for loss and two pass break-ups. Junior Antonio Bowen has registered seven tackles and a forced fumble while freshman Keller Rupp has five stops with a tackle for loss. Freshman Knowledge Young has also contributed five tackles while junior Anderson Louis Jeune, sophomore Sahmad Bailey and senior Julius Walborn have all recorded two stops.

KICKING GAME: Sophomore Jack Corrigan has punted 35 times this fall for an average of 43.6 yards with a long of 75 yards to tie the school record. Corrigan has three touchbacks, six fair caught, and seven inside the 20-yard line, and he has kicked off ten times for an average of 60.7 yards. Corrigan is 4-for-5 on extra points. Graduate student Kyle Weiss has kicked off once for 49 yards as he saw action for his fourth Moravian team in his career having competed for the men's soccer, men's lacrosse and men's indoor track & field teams as an undergraduate.

SPECIAL TEAMS: Freshman running back Dorian Thomas has 16 kickoff returns for 344 yards while sophomore wide receiver Josh Ludlow has six kickoff returns for 164 yards to go with three punt returns for 27 yards. Sophomore defensive back Antonio Bowen has one kickoff return for 16 yards while sophomore wide receiver Ryan Bender has one kickoff return for 11 yards and graduate student linebacker Declan Coors has one return for nine yards. Junior wide receiver Avery Koser has made a pair of special teams tackles while graduate student tight end Jalen Jones has two tackles.

MILESTONE WATCH: The Greyhounds has two student-athlete closing in on milestones for his careers. Graduate student quarterback Jared Jenkins is ranked second in program history with 6,459 passing yards, and he needs 186 yards passing to become the school record holder. Jenkins is first all-time in completions with 573, fourth in program history with 875 pass attempts and first in school history with 67 touchdown passes. Sophomore punter Jack Corrigan has tied the school record with a 75-yard punt in the 2025 season opener, and he has four career punts of more than 71 yards. Corrigan has moved into 12th in program history with 80 career punts, and he is also 12th all-time with 3,430 yards.

BALANCED & EXPERIENCED 'HOUNDS: Of the 99 players on the Moravian roster, 31 are freshmen, 30 are sophomores and 13 are juniors. There are 20 seniors and five graduate students on this season's squad, and the Greyhounds return 55 letterwinners and 13 starters from 2025.

SCOUTING WILKES UNIVERSITY: The Colonels enter the game at 3-2 overall and 1-0 in Landmark Conference action after a 15-13 win over The Catholic University of America last Saturday. Senior quarterback Cooper King leads the Wilkes offense having completed 80-of-141 passes for 776 yards with four touchdowns and four interceptions, and he has rushed for 73 yards and two touchdowns on 31 carries. King's top targets have been senior wide receiver Justin Moore, who has 12 receptions for 205 yards, junior wide receiver Juju Fears, who has 13 catches for 162 yards and two touchdowns, senior wideout Janas Simms, who has 12 receptions for 149 yards and a score, and junior wide receiver Rahmel Terry, who has caught nine passes for 65 yards and a touchdown. Sophomore running back Chibugo Chigozie-Nwosu leads the Colonels' rushing attack with 125 yards on 45 carries while senior running back Ben Contella has added 120 yards and two touchdowns on 43 attempts. Senior kicker Nick Volpone is 6-for-6 on extra-points and 7-for-7 on field goals with a long of 38 yards while junior Brayden Snyder has kicked off 20 times for an average of 57.6 yards with three touchbacks. Sophomore punter Peter Zarafonitis has punted 35 times for an average of 41.43 yards with 12 inside the 20-yard line, nine fair caught and one touchback. Junior linebacker Tyler Wetzel leads the Wilkes' defense with 48 tackles to go with four and a half tackles for loss, two sacks, two quarterback hurries and a forced fumble while senior linebacker Tallen Murray has contributed 45 stops with two and a half for loss, half a sack, two pass break-ups and two quarterback hurries. Sophomore defensive lineman Cohen Creswell has registered 41 tackles with a conference leading 10.5 tackles for loss to go along with two and a half sacks, three quarterback hurries, two pass break-ups ad two forced fumbles while junior defensive back Rob Barbieri has 35 stops wit a half a tackle for loss, an interception, three passes defended and a fumble recovery. Junior defensive back J'Vier Johnson has made a pair of interceptions to go with five passes defended, 19 tackles and one tackle for loss while sophomore defensive back Ryan Opperman has 17 stops with one interception and six passes defended.

THE LAST TIME THEY MET: In Edwardsville last November, the Hounds dropped their 2024 regular season finale to host Wilkes University, 47-28, in Landmark Conference action. The Greyhounds had the opening possession of the contest and picked up one first down before punting. The Colonel also punted on their first drive. The Blue & Grey put together a 15-play drive but turned the ball over on downs after getting inside the Wilkes 30-yard line. The Colonels answered with a 12-play drive and had the first opportunity to score but Wilkes missed a 42-yard field goal on the first play of the second quarter. Moravian punted again after three plays. Wilkes finally opened the scoring at the 10:31 mark of the second period with a two-yard touchdown run. The Colonels went for two and missed to set the score at 6-0. The Hounds countered right back with a seven-play, 69-yard drive capped off with a 13-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Jared Jenkins to wide receiver Jordan Bingham. The TD pass was Jenkins' 27th of the season to break his own single season record set in 2023. Jack Corrigan split the uprights to give the Blue & Grey a 7-6 lead with 7:51 until the intermission. After each squad punted once, Wilkes retook the lead with a ten-yard touchdown run to finish a four-play, 74-yard drive to make it 13-7 with 3:51 on the clock in the first half. The Colonels scored again with a 52-yard interception return for a score with 2:21 until halftime. Moravian punted once more while Wilkes added one more touchdown on a one-yard pass. The extra-point failed but the Colonels took a 26-7 lead into the locker room. Wilkes opened the second half with a six-play drive that was capped off by a 43-yard touchdown run to make the advantage 33-7 just two and a half minutes into the third quarter. The Hounds answered right back in two plays and Jenkins connected with Bingham on a 64-yard touchdown catch. The reception was Bingham's school record 70th catch of the season, surpassing the mark he set the previous year. Corrigan added the extra-point to make it 33-14 with 11:29 on the clock. The Blue & Grey recovered an onside kick but turned the ball over on downs. The Colonels needed six plays to find the end zone on a ten-yard run to make it 40-14 with 6:46 to go in the third quarter. After a punt from the Hounds, Wilkes used ten plays to find the end zone for the final time on a five-yard rush to make it 47-14 with 1:02 remaining in the third period. Moravian scored with 6:37 left in the contest when Jenkins rushed into the end zone for the first time in 2024 with a three-yard touchdown run to finish a six-play, 65-yard drive. Corrigan's PAT cut the deficit to 47-21. The Hounds added one more score with 2:36 remaining as running back Joey Richmond scored on a five-yard run to finish off a 78-yard, seven-play drive. Corrigan added the extra-point to set the final score at 47-28. The Greyhounds offense had 343 yards on 69 plays with 316 yards passing and just 27 yards on the ground while the Colonels rushed for 329 of their 440 yards in the game. Jenkins completed 29-of-39 passes for 269 yards, two touchdowns and an interception and he also had one rushing touchdown. Quarterback Carter Hallgren was 2-for-3 for 43 yards while Declan McCarthy completed his only pass for four yards and added five yards on one rushing attempt. Bingham hauled in eight passes for 145 yards and two touchdowns to become the ninth player to reach 1,600 career yards, and he also moved into second in program history with 19 career touchdown receptions. Wide receiver Diego Del Castillo caught a game-high 11 passes for 96 yards while wide receiver Avery Koser had seven receptions for 35 yards. Wide receiver Josh Ludlow added two catches for 12 yards to go with three punt returns for 23 yards while wide receiver Bryan Monge had two receptions for ten yards. Richmond led the rushing attack with 18 yards and a touchdown on his seven carries while running back Jed Bendekovits added two carries for 12 yards and one reception for 23 yards and running back Isiah Rico had five yards on four attempts to go with one catch. Wide receiver Justin Wistuba returned five kickoffs for 44 yards while Declan Coors had a pair of kickoff returns for ten yards to go with a pair of tackles. Corrigan punted six times for an average of 39.8 yards, and he kicked off four times for an average of 47.0 yards to go with his four extra points. Defensive back Aidan Lane and defensive back Dorian Gray led the Hounds' defense with eight tackles apiece while defensive lineman Hunter Johnson had seven stops with two for loss. Linebacker Clay Basile registered six tackles while defensive lineman EJ Harvey added five tackles with one for loss. Linebacker Malachi McNeil-Harrison, linebacker Chad Newhard, linebacker Chris Cacace and defensive lineman Jeremy McGuigan all had four tackles with McNeil-Harrison adding a pass break-up and McGuigan recording a half a sack along with linebacker Ethan O'Neil. Defensive back Shea Endean and defensive lineman Jashon Teller each had three tackles with Teller contributing a tackle for loss and a quarterback hurry.

2025 CAPTAINS: The Hounds have named has named graduate student quarterback Jared Jenkins, senior defensive lineman Nathan Carr, senior defensive back Isaiah Johnson and junior wide receiver Avery Koser as captains for the 2025 season. Jenkins, who was named to the Landmark All-Conference Second Team last fall after making the All-Conference First Team in 2023, completed 265-of-387 passes last year for 2,892 yards and 33 touchdowns. In 24 career games, Jenkins is 550-of-841 for 6,221 yards with a school record 64 touchdowns and 24 interceptions, and he has run for 366 yards and three touchdowns. Jenkins set school records for completions, attempts, yards and touchdowns in a season in 2024, and he also has the school mark career completions. Carr recorded 33 tackles last season with eight and a half tackles for loss and two and a half sacks. In 25 career games, Carr has posted 61 tackles with 11 tackles for loss, three and a half sacks, one forced fumble, one pass break-up and one blocked kick. Johnson had 31 tackles a year ago with four tackles for loss, a sack, six pass break-ups, two fumble recoveries and a blocked kick. Johnson has played in 29 career contests with the Hounds, and he has 107 tackles, 16 passes defended, one interception, five tackles for loss, one sack, two fumble recoveries and a blocked kick. Koser caught 39 passes in 2024 for 345 yards and four touchdowns, and he has 41 career receptions for 356 yards and five touchdowns in 20 career games.

OVERTIME 'HOUNDS: Moravian has played a total of 12 overtime games since the NCAA instituted the rule for the 1996 season and is 9-3 all-time in the extra-session including a pair of overtimes wins in 2021. Five of those 12 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 2021 season marked the fourth year that Moravian has played at least two overtimes games in one season, the other years were 2008 when the Hounds played two overtime contests, 1999 when the Greyhounds played three overtime games and 1997 when Moravian played two overtime contests.

THE LANDMARK CONFERENCE STATISTICAL RANKINGS: The Greyhounds are seventh in the Landmark Conference in total offense at 171.2 yards per game, and the squad is seventh in rushing yards per game at 54.8 and seventh in passing at 116.4. Defensively, the Hounds are fifth overall at 380.8 yards allowed per game including fifth in rushing defense at 201.2 and third in passing at 179.6. The Blue & Grey lead the conference in sacks against, allowing just four sacks through five games. Junior wide receiver Avery Koser is fifth in receiving yards per contest at 44.2, and Koser is also eighth in touchdown scoring at 4.8 points per game. Sophomore wide receiver Josh Ludlow is third in the conference in kickoff returns with an average of 27.3 yards per return while freshman running back Dorian Thomas is fifth at 21.5 yards per return. Sophomore Jack Corrigan ranks first in the Landmark Conference in punting average at 42.4 yards while junior defensive back Aidan Lane is ninth at 7.2 tackles per game and senior defensive back Shea Endean is tied for sixth in pass break-ups at 0.80 per game.