WHO – Catholic vs. Moravian
WHEN – Saturday, October 7 | 12 PM
WHERE – Washington, D.C. | Cardinal Stadium
WATCH | LIVE STATS
TALKIN' BALL WITH COACH GUT
LAST WEEK –
Catholic 21, Susquehanna 50 | Moravian 58, Keystone 34
Catholic football opened up Landmark Conference play at 12th-ranked Susquehanna, falling 50-21 to the River Hawks. Catholic drops to 2-3 on the season and 0-1 in the Landmark.
Senior quarterback
Madden Lowe threw for 228 yards and three scores, leading three separate scoring drives of 66 yards or more. Lowe, the nation's leader in completions per game coming into Saturday, completed 20-of-31 throws on the day.
Preston Jeffrey,
Malachi Hansen, and
Nole Henry each found themselves on the receiving end of a touchdown pass in the contest.
The Moravian University football team scored 29 points in the second quarter on the way to posting a 58-34 victory over Keystone College in the first-ever Landmark Conference game at Rocco Calvo Field Saturday.
- The Greyhounds racked up 533 yards of total offense on 78 plays including a season-high 239 yards on the ground to go with 294 through the air. Moravian had 29 first downs in the game and held the ball for 32:50, the fourth time this fall that the Blue & Grey have won the time of possession battle.
Catholic Game Recap | Moravian Game Recap
GETTING IT DONE THROUGH THE AIR
Despite its 2-3 record, Catholic's offense continues to get it done through the air, ranking three different players in the top-21 nationally in a different statistical category. Lowe remains near the top of Division III in completions per game, ranking second with 31 completions per contest. Lowe and the Cardinals rank 11th nationally in team completion percentage, connecting on 70.9% of the team's passes in 2023.
With strong quarterback play comes impressive numbers from the Catholic receiver room led by senior
Preston Jeffrey and sophomore
Andrew Tabor. Jeffrey ranks 21st in the nation in receiving yards with 470 after catching a 54-yard touchdown, his sixth of the season on Saturday at Susquehanna. Tabor is 12th among Division III pass catchers, bringing in 7.8 receptions per game. For the season, Tabor has 39 catches for 259 yards while Jeffrey has 34 grabs for 470 yards. Henry,
Anthony Giordano, and
John Maynes are all over 100 yards receiving for the year.
Saturday's matchup features the top-two teams in the conference in passing. Moravian enters Saturday leading the Landmark with 270.8 passing yards per contest, just edging Catholic with 267.2 air yards. Each team has thrown 12 TD passes this season. No other Landmark team has thrown more than nine. The Greyhounds have thrown for 1,354 yards on 184 attempts while Catholic has thrown for 1,336 yards on 220 attempts.
Defensively, Catholic is second in the conference, allowing just 189.0 passing yards per contest while Moravian is sixth of seven, allowing 247 yards per game through the air. Each defense has intercepted four passes this season.
LIVING IN THE BACKFIELD
Junior linebacker
Carson Henry has made his presence in opposing backfields known in 2023. Henry ranks at the top of the Landmark Conference and in the top-15 nationally in tackles for loss, racking up 10 thus far. Henry has at least 1.5 TFLs in each of the five contests this season while also ranking second on the team with 39 overall tackles. Henry has gotten to the quarterback twice and has broken up two passes as well.
GO FOR IT!
Moravian and Catholic are the top two teams in the Landmark Conference when it comes to going for it on fourth down. Nobody has gone for it more often than Moravian under first-year head coach Jeff Long as the Greyhounds have attempted to convert on fourth down 19 times. Moravian has been successful 11 times on 19 attempts, good for a conversion rate of 57.9 percent. Catholic has gone for it 14 times and converted on eight of the attempts, good for a conversion rate of 57.1 percent.
On the flip side, opponents have attempted a fourth down try 11 times against Catholic this season, converting five of them. Teams are just 2-8 on fourth down against Moravian this season.
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 ninth catch of the day vs. Alfred was the 150th of his Catholic career. Jeffrey has surpassed 2,000 yards for his career as well in 2023 and is one touchdown shy of 25.
- #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.
- #23 Luke Brautigan – Brautigan surpassed the 100-tackle mark for his career on Saturday afternoon, making four stops to put him at 101 for his career. His next TFL will be the 10th of his career.
- #33 Malachi Hansen – Hansen returned to the field on Saturday, adding 43 receiving yards and a touchdown to the cause. Hansen is 126 yards shy of 1,000 for his career and his next TD reception will be his 10th.
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."
