WHO – Catholic vs. Lycoming
WHEN – Saturday, October 14 | 1 PM
WHERE – Washington, D.C. | Cardinal Stadium
WATCH | LIVE STATS
LAST WEEK –
Catholic 28, Moravian 36 | Lycoming 35, Wilkes 48
After falling behind 36-14, Catholic scored twice in the third quarter to narrow the deficit to eight, but Moravian used a lengthy clock-chewing drive to come away the victor on Saturday afternoon, 36-28. Catholic drops to 2-4 on the season ahead of the Cardinal Weekend matchup with Lycoming.
Zach Williams scored his first career touchdown for Catholic and
John Maynes added a pair of receiving touchdowns in the Catholic effort. Veteran wideout
Preston Jeffrey found the end zone for the sixth time this season as well.
Junior
Will Fish (Stroudsburg, Pa./East Stroudsburg) became the seventh player in Lycoming College football history to throw five touchdown passes in a game and just the second to throw for 31 completions, but a late rally fell short as Wilkes University posted a 48-35 win in Lycoming's debut in the Landmark Conference on Saturday, Oct. 7, at David Person Field at Girardi Stadium.
Catholic Game Recap | Moravian Game Recap
LET'S MAKE IT THREE
Catholic football has used the great turnouts to its advantage during the last two Cardinal Weekend's, defeating Merchant Marine (41-33) in 2022 and Coast Guard (30-7) in 2021. In 2021's win over Coast Guard, Lowe threw for 204 yards and two scores through the air and added a rushing touchdown as well.
Kevin Licciardi ran for 148 yards and a TD while Jeffrey found the end zone for Catholic. Last year against Merchant Marine,
Nico Casares' lit it up to the tune of 349 yards and five scores while
Malachi Hansen pulled in two deep balls for scores and finished with 126 yards.
Anthony Giordano,
John Maynes, and Jeffrey also found the end zone. Defensively,
Michael Hopkins and
Carson Henry combined for 16 tackles, 2.5 TFLs, and two sacks. Catholic will hope to make it three straight victories in front of a Cardinal Weekend crowd of alumni and friends on Saturday.
GETTING IT DONE THROUGH THE AIR
Despite its 2-4 record, Catholic's offense continues to get it done through the air, ranking eighth nationally in team completion percentage while quarterback
Madden Lowe is second in DIII in completions per game with 31 per contest.
With strong quarterback play comes impressive numbers from the Catholic receiver room led by senior
Preston Jeffrey and sophomore
Andrew Tabor. Jeffrey ranks 18th in the country with eight receiving touchdowns and 37th nationally in receiving yards with 503. Tabor is 29th in DIII in receptions per game, making seven snags per contest. Catholic continues to use a plethora of options through the air with five players tallying 16 or more catches and 10 players with seven or more snags. Five different Cardinals have at least 150 receiving yards after
John Maynes crossed the threshold with 50 yards and two TDs on Saturday.
No team has attempted more passes in the Landmark Conference this season as Catholic has aired it out 262 times, completing 187 passes for 1,581 yards and 15 scores. Lycoming has thrown the ball 179 time, completing 76 of them for 903 yards and nine TDs. Lycoming has also allowed the most passing yards in the conference to this point, giving up 1,540 yards through the air and 17 scores.
LINEBACKERS
Catholic is the only team with three players in the top-six in the Landmark in tackles. All three play linebacker for the Cardinals. Sophomore
Michael Hopkins leads the conference with 55 total tackles while
Carson Henry (44) and
Luke Brautigan (43) rank fourth and sixth respectively. Despite being kept out of the backfield a week ago, Henry still remains in the lead with 10 TFLs, 2.5 more than anyone else in the Landmark.
PICKED OFF
Hopkins and freshman safety
Ryan Creston each recorded interceptions this past weekend, joining a crowded group atop the Landmark Conference with two interceptions. There are currently eight players in the Landmark tied with two interceptions. Lycoming's Ryan Pentz joins the two Cardinal defenders atop the list. Catholic picked off three passes a week ago, the first time this season in which they recorded multiple interceptions in the same game. Catholic has now picked off seven passes.
Brandon Beech's defense has already surpassed last year's total of five interceptions in the less pass-happy NEWMAC.
LANDMARK LOVE
Catholic has earned a pair of Landmark honors through four weeks with
Preston Jeffrey earning Landmark Conference Offensive Player of the Week (Week 1 vs. McDaniel) and
Aidan Long earning Landmark Conference Defensive Player of the Week (Week 3 at SUNY Morrisville). Jeffrey caught five passes for 177 yards and two touchdowns in the season-opening victory vs. McDaniel while Long returned an interception for a touchdown to seal the deal at Morrisville in week three. Catholic also has a number of athletes placed in the top-three in statistical categories in the conference.
MILESTONE MADNESS
- #2 Preston Jeffrey – Jeffrey's TD reception on Saturday marked the 25th of his career! Jeffrey notched eight receiving TD's in both 2021 and 2022 and has seven through six games in 2023.
- #8 Madden Lowe - Lowe enters Saturday's game just 75 yards shy of 5,000 for his Catholic career. Lowe has completed 524 passes and thrown 44 TDs in 18 career starts.
- #10 Carson Henry – Henry has hit the marks of 150 career tackles and 20 career TFLs in 2023 with an outstanding five games to open the year.
- #33 Malachi Hansen – Hansen is 88 yards shy of 1,000 for his career and one TD shy of 10 after grabbing three balls for 38 yards on Saturday.
PRESEASON POLL
Catholic University football was picked to finish third in the inaugural seven-team Landmark Conference Football preseason poll it was announced earlier today. The Cardinals posted a 6-5 record under
Mike Gutelius in 2022, earning a bid to the New England Bowl Series, the program's first trip to a bowl game since 2008.
Catholic nabs third-place in the poll with 25 points, finishing behind 22nd-ranked Susquehanna (36 points) and Wilkes (31 points). Lycoming (22 points), Moravian (15 points), Keystone (11 points), and Juniata (7 points) round out the coaches poll.
COORDINATION IS KEY
Mike Gutelius' staff will feature two new coordinators in 2023 with the departures of Max Drisko (OC) and Kevin Hubbard (DC) to the Division I level.
Adam Shaker was announced as the program's offensive coordinator back in March after a three-year run at Mississippi State under the late Mike Leach. In 2022, Shaker served as the Bulldogs' Assistant Wide Receivers Coach, taking over as the Wide Receivers Coach for the 2023 Reliaquest Bowl versus Illinois.
Shaker started as an Offensive Fellow and moved up to Offensive Quality Control Assistant before taking on a major role with the wide receivers. He helped develop standout pass catcher Makai Polk who caught 105 balls in 2021 to lead the SEC.
Prior to his time at Mississippi State, Shaker coached the receivers and acted as the Special Teams Coordinator at Concord University in West Virginia. He served in the same role at Southern Virginia and made stops during his career at Virginia, Brigham Young, Georgetown, and Old Dominion.
Entering his sixth year on the staff,
Brandon Beech was promoted to Defensive Coordinator this summer, returning to the defensive side of the ball after a stint with the offensive line. Beech and Gutelius will work hand-in-hand on the defensive game planning.
Beech served as the program's Defensive Line Coach in 2020 and the Defensive Backs Coach from 2018-2020. Prior to joining Gutelius at Catholic, Beech was the defensive coordinator at Dalton L. McMichael Sr. High School in 2017 and 2018.
MEET THE STAFF
The 2023 Catholic University Football Staff is as follows:
ALL-REGION RETURNER
Junior wide receiver
Malachi Hansen is back after a standout campaign on both offense and special teams. Hansen, a Philadelphia, Pa. native, was named a Third Team All-Region 1 selection in 2022 by D3football.com.
Under Special Teams Coordinator
Jonathan Rutledge's tutelage, Hansen has proved to be a dynamic returner in his first two seasons as a collegiate athlete. Hansen was also an All-NEWMAC First Team selection as a returner after combining for more than 850 return yards, ranking him in the top-five in Division III. Hansen ranked in the top-50 nationally in All-Purpose yards per contest when adding in his 554 receiving yards.
A FRESH START
As noted above, Catholic was picked to finish third in the Landmark Conference's inaugural preseason poll. This will be the first season in which football is a sponsored sport in the conference thanks to the additions of Wilkes and Lycoming as full-time members, and Keystone as an affiliate member for football.
With the addition of football, 23 of Catholic's 25 intercollegiate programs will all compete under the Landmark Conference umbrella. The Cardinals previously spent five seasons in the NEWMAC, setting the program record for All-Conference selections in back-to-back seasons with 10 in 2021 and 12 in 2022.
BOWL ELIGIBLE
After earning an invite to the New England Bowl Series in 2022, marking the first Catholic football bowl appearance since 2008, the Cardinals are looking to return to postseason play once again in 2023. The Landmark Conference and Old Dominion Athletic Conference (ODAC) have joined together in a four-year bowl series partnership. The Chesapeake Bowl Challenge will begin in 2023 with the top seed in the ODAC hosting the second seed from the Landmark while the top seed from the Landmark hosts the second seed from the ODAC. When the announcement was made, Gutelius added "The Chesapeake Bowl Challenge matchup series between the Landmark and ODAC is something we are very excited about. Our football team was a member of the ODAC for a very long time and has a history of great games against many of those schools. This announcement between our two conferences is almost the best of both worlds. We will get to live in the Landmark Conference like all the other sports here at Catholic, but we will occasionally get to see some old foes from the ODAC. I think it will be a really good setup for both conferences."
