TALKIN' BALL WITH COACH GUT
WHO – Catholic vs. Alfred
WHEN – Saturday, September 23 | 1 PM
WHERE – Washington, D.C. | Cardinal Stadium
LIVE STATS |
WATCH
LONG TIME COMING – Saturday's contest will be the second-ever meeting between Catholic and Alfred, and the first in nearly 30 years. The team's met in 1994 as Alfred pulled out a 35-29 victory over the Cardinals in D.C.
LAST WEEK –
Catholic 31, SUNY Morrisville 20 | Alfred 0, #20 Ithaca 22
Catholic football improved to 2-1 on the season after picking up a 31-20 road victory at SUNY Morrisville on Saturday afternoon. Playing the first-ever game on the highly publicized black turf at Drake Field,
Mike Gutelius' squad scored a pair of touchdowns in the final two minutes to pick off a major non-conference road victory.
A strong defensive effort from the Alfred University football team wasn't enough, as they fell to #20 Ithaca College on Saturday afternoon from Yunevich Stadium. The Saxons (1-2, 0-0 Empire 8) allowed their fewest points to the Bombers (2-1, 0-0 Liberty League) dating back to the 2018 season.
Catholic Game Recap | Alfred Game Recap
TOUCHDOWN CLUB PART 1 - DEFENSIVE TD MAGNET
When Catholic senior cornerback
Aidan Long gets the ball in his hands...he scores. The 5-11 Garden City, N.Y. native has gotten his hands on four turnovers in his career and scored three defensive touchdowns. This past weekend, Long was named Landmark Conference Defensive Player of the Week after returning an interception 79 yards to seal Catholic's victory. The Cardinals led 24-20 after a late TD, but the Mustangs began to move the ball down the field, entering Catholic territory. With just over 30 seconds remaining, Long came away with a pick in front of the Morrisville bench and returned it the entire way up the sideline for the score.
In 2022, Long recorded two interceptions and recovered a fumble, taking two of the three back for touchdowns. First up was a 19-yard fumble recovery for a touchdown vs. Randolph-Macon on Sept. 10. Early in the second quarter,
Dieter Kerat punched the ball out of R-MC running back Nick Hale's hands and Long was there to scoop it up and take it 19 yards to give Catholic a 7-6 lead.
One week later, Long struck again. On the third drive of the game, Kean starter Robbie Nungesser dropped back to pass and was picked off by Long near midfield, Long took it 52 yards for his second score in as many weeks. Long's second pick of the season came in the New England Bowl against Bridgewater State. Long intercepted a pass and returned it 32 yards to the nine, but was stopped just shy of his third touchdown of the year.
TOUCHDOWN CLUB PART 2 - DC TOUCHDOWN CLUB HONOR ROLL
Preston Jeffrey found the end zone on Saturday for Catholic...no surprise there. However, Saturday was special as the Carrollton, Va. product found pay dirt three times, marking the second three-TD effort of his career. Jeffrey was named to the DC Touchdown Club Washington Metro College Football Player of the Week Honor Roll for the second time in three weeks after catching 10 passes for 93 yards and three scores. All-in-all, Jeffrey totaled 99 yards on 11 touches for the contest.
Jeffrey is one of just four players in at least 30 years to catch three or more touchdowns in a single game on multiple occasions. He joins an extremely established list, including Catholic Hall of Famer Jeff Clay, Lucas Morley, and former teammate
Owen Shields. Clay had three four touchdown games in his Cardinal career while Morley had a pair of four TD efforts. Jeffrey and Shields each have a pair of three TD games in their careers.
The veteran wide out has already crossed off a number of milestones in 2023, reaching 125 career catches, 2,000 career yards, and 20 touchdowns. For his Catholic career, Jeffrey has caught 141 passes for 2,032 yards and 23 scores. He has averaged 14.4 yards per catch and 61.6 yards per game as a Cardinal. He joined Ryan Bowman ('05) and Steve Wilkerson ('94) as the third Catholic receiver with a touchdown reception of 90 or more yards with a 93-yarder against McDaniel.
TOP TWO AND HE'S NOT TWO
Catholic senior signal-caller
Madden Lowe ranks in the top 25 of a handful of statistical categories at the Division III level, but the Stafford, Va. product is unmatched in completions per game with 34.33 completions per contest. Lowe matched his program record for completions in a game two weekends ago at Randolph-Macon, completing 41 passes, before completing another 37 on Saturday at SUNY Morrisville. Lowe holds four of top six completion games in Catholic football history.
Lowe's completion percentage of 82.2% on Saturday at Morrisville was also the highest single-game completion percentage in Catholic history in a game with at least 20 pass attempts. Lowe surpassed Derek McGee's mark of 81.0% from a 1999 contest vs. Methodist.
| Completions Per Game |
1st |
34.33 |
| Completion Percentage |
14th |
72.5% |
| Passing Touchdowns |
17th |
9 |
| Passing Yards |
18th |
872 |
| Points Responsible For |
21st |
60 |
SUCCESS OUT WIDE
Statistically, Catholic's wide receivers also factor into the national rankings with Jeffrey and
Andrew Tabor both ranking inside the top 10 in an individual category while Jeffrey finds himself in a similar spot to Lowe, littered throughout the top 25 in Division III. 13 different players have a reception for the Cardinals this season while six players have at least five receptions. Tabor leads the way with 28 receptions while Jeffrey is comfortably the team leader with 327 yards. Tabor (188) and
Anthony Giordano (107) have also surpassed 100 yards receiving for the season.
Nole Henry snagged a career-high six passes on Saturday, but did not find the end zone for the third straight week.
HOLD ON TO THAT BALL
Through three games, Catholic is one of just 44 Division III football teams to not lose a fumble in 2023. Catholic has put the ball on the ground four times, but have had the bounces go their way to this point. In Catholic's three games, six fumbles have been recorded, but not one has been recovered by the opposing team.
PUTTING THE SPECIAL IN SPECIAL TEAMS
Catholic special teams continue to be solid all around under
Jonathan Rutledge's leadership. Senior kicker/punter
Connor Gill has the punt unit ranked 14
th nationally in net punting after two weeks. The Cardinals average 38.80 net yards per punt, ranking first in the Landmark Conference. Catholic has allowed an average of one yard per punt return in 2023. Individually, Gill ranks 35
th in punting in DIII with an average of 39.1 yards per punt.
THAT'S ANOTHER CATHOLIC...FIRST DOWN
Catholic holds the first down edge over its opponents in 2023, winning the battle in both victories while falling short vs. Randolph-Macon. The Cardinals have recorded 65 first downs this season while allowing 61. 37 of the Cardinals first downs have come via the pass, 26 have come via the rush, and two have come via penalty. Catholic picked up 10 first downs on the ground in the first two weeks combined before moving the chains 16 times on the ground 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.
MILESTONE MADNESS
- #2 Preston Jeffrey – Jeffrey surpassed 2,000 yards for his career on Saturday with another 93 yards receiving. He is now two touchdowns shy of 25 for his career.
- #8 Madden Lowe – Lowe surpassed 4,000 career passing yards for his Catholic career in his 15th career game on Saturday. He reached the 40 career TD mark as well with 38 career passing scores and two on the ground.
- #10 Carson Henry – Henry racked up nine tackles, 1.5 TFLs, and a sack on Saturday, bringing him 14 stops short of 150 for his career. Henry is up over 15 career tackles for loss.
- #12 Mason Stillwell – Stillwell went over 100 tackles for his Catholic career over the weekend, being credited with three stops and a TFL.
- #23 Luke Brautigan – The senior linebacker enters the weekend three tackles shy of 100 for his career and two TFLs shy of 10.
- #33 Malachi Hansen – Hansen caught a 10-yard touchdown pass in week one before exiting the game. He is 169 shy of 1,000 receiving yards for his career.
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."
