WASHINGTON, D.C. - After falling to Susquehanna in its Landmark Conference opener, Catholic returns to action on the road at Moravian on Saturday afternoon. The Cardinals and the Greyhounds will kick off at 12 p.m. 

SERIES HISTORY: Moravian leads 1-0

LAST YEAR'S MEETING

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. 

The Greyhounds nearly doubled Catholic's possession time, holding the ball for 39:56 to Catholic's 20:04. Moravian was five-for-six on fourth down in the contest. Hopkins added 12 tackles to go along with his interception, including two TFLs. Mason Stillwell and Aidan Long made nine tackles each as Long and Dumas each added a pass break-up. Conor Jennings had six tackles and two TFLs for Catholic as well. 

GAME RECAP HERE

LAST TIME OUT -- CATHOLIC EDITION

Catholic (2-3) fell to No. 10 Susquehanna (4-1) in its Landmark Conference opener on Saturday afternoon at Cardinal Stadium. The River found the end zone on its first five drives as it came away victorious by a final score of 48-14. 

Coming on in relief on an injured Joey Gulbin, senior quarterback John Whelan threw for 203 yards and a pair of scores to lead the Catholic offense. Whelan tossed a 13-yard strike to Malachi Hansen for a score late in the second quarter before adding a second touchdown pass to Omari Owes in the fourth from six yards away. The TD was the first of Owes career. 

Sam Cornacchione posted a career-high with 101 yards on three catches including a 79-yarder that set Catholic up for the Owes touchdown. Nine other Cardinals caught a pass in the game with Daequan Harvin's four catches for 34 yards ranking second on the team. 

Defensively, Samuel Dumas was in on 11 tackles and added 0.5 TFLs while Tyler Donnelly got in the mix with 10 stops. Catholic had three sacks on the day with Tyler McVicker recording a solo sack of Josh Ehrlich. The Cardinals lone turnover came as Shane Toal dove under a tipped ball to take possession for Catholic.

Full Game Recap - HERE

LAST TIME OUT -- SUSQUEHANNA EDITION

The Greyhounds took the lead for good in the next possession with a 10-play, 64-yard drive. Graduate student running back Joey Richmond found the end zone with a one-yard touchdown run for the score, and senior quarterback Carter Hallgren tossed a two-point conversion pass to graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham to give Moravian a 15-7 lead with 5:30 left in the first period. 

The 55 points for the Greyhounds are more than the team combined to score in the first four games of the season

Moravian had 545 yards of total offense including 169 on the ground and 376 in the air

Jenkins threw for a career-high 375 yards and four touchdowns to become the fourth player to reach 40 career touchdowns while completing 17-of-26 passes, and he also ran for 39 yards on eight carries. Hallgren completed one pass for a yard, and he had one rushing attempt for seven yards and a touchdown

Del Castillo caught four passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns while Koser had four receptions for 31 yards and a score. Bingham pulled in three catches for 60 yards while Ludlow added two receptions for 52 yards and a touchdown to go with a kickoff return for 40 yards

Full Game Recap HERE

SCOUTING THE CARDS

Now moving into the second half of the season, the Cardinals sit at 2-3 and 0-1 in Landmark Conference play after taking on #10 Susquehanna. Catholic enters the contest averaging just under 20 points and just over 300 yards per contest on offense. Defensively, the Cardinals are allowing 29.4 points and 402 yards per game. 

Starting quarterback Joey Gulbin exited Saturday's game with an injury giving way to initial starter John Whelan who came in and threw for 203 yards and two scores. For the season, Gulbin has thrown for 778 yards and six touchdowns while completing 66.7% of his throws. Whelan has tossed for 377 yards and three scores while completing 53.3% of his passes. 

The wide receiver trio of Anthony Giordano, Malachi Hansen, and Andrew Tabor have led the way through the air. Giordano leads the team with 22 receptions for 228 yards and a score while Hansen leads with 279 yards and two scores. Tabor also has two touchdowns on 12 receptions. 

With Williams missing the Susquehanna game, Daequan Harvin took the bulk of the work in the backfield and leads the team with 167 rushing yards. He's also added 102 yards through the air on 11 receptions. 

Defensively, the statistical category leaders are as follows:

• Tackles - Michael Hopkins (36)
• TFL - Carson Henry/Conor Jennings (5.0)
• Sacks - Jennings (2.5)
• INT - Henry, Hopkins, Shane Toal
• PBU - Sean Finan (3)

SCOUTING THE OPPOSITION

Moravian enters the contest at 3-2 coming off of Saturday's 55-14 win over Keystone. The Greyhounds average 21.2 points per contest while allowing 18.6. Moravian is putting up 371 yards per game and allowing 309 yards per contest. 

Offensively, the Greyhounds are led by reigning Landmark Conference Offensive Athlete of the Week Jared Jenkins. Jenkins is completing 65.1% of his throws for 1,328 yards and nine touchdowns while rushing for an extra 44 yards. 

Jordan Bingham and Diego Del Castillo are the top targets for Moravian with Bingham pulling in 35 passes for 318 yards while Del Castillo averages 19.2 yards per catch and leads the team with 404 yards and four touchdowns. On the ground, Joey Richmond and Isiah Rico split the time with each rushing for over 100 yards and a touchdown. 

Malachi McNeil-Harrison leads the team with 33 tackles, seven tackles-for-loss, four sacks, and two turnovers caused. Clay Basile and Chris Cacace have added 30 and 29 tackles respectively. Antonio Bowen leads the team with a pair of interceptions. 

WEEK THREE STANDOUTS

• Whelan | Senior | Quarterback - 13-20, 203 yards, 2 TD
• Sam Cornacchione | Senior | Tight End - 3 receptions, 101 yards
• Samuel Dumas | Junior | Linebacker - 11 tackles, 0.5 TFL
• Tyler McVicker | Freshman | Defensive Tackle - 2 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 sack
• Shane Toal | Sophomore | Safety - 4 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT

SPREADING THE LOVE

So far in 2024, all six of Catholic's seven touchdown passes have been caught by different players. The Cardinals have also had 12 different pass catchers in three games this season with five different players logging five or more receptions to this point. Malachi Hansen, Daequan Harvin, Andrew Tabor, Cade Chrebet, Zach Williams, and Anthony Giordano have each found the end zone through the air. Hansen, Giordano, and Tabor all have 120+ yards this season.

MILESTONES REACHED

Henry joined the 200 tackle club in week one at McDaniel, logging 11 stops to give him 202 for his career. Henry reached double digit tackles for the first time since September 23, 2023 vs. Alfred. Henry now has four games with 10 or more tackles for his career. 

Senior captain Stillwell reached 150 career tackles with four in the opener. The senior safety had a career-high 62 tackles in 2022, following it up with 55 stops last season. He also has six career interceptions. 

Junior linebacker Hopkins went over 150 tackles for his career with eight versus Morrisville on Saturday. He has 21 tackles on the year, raising his career average to 6.4 tackles per game. He recorded a career-high 78 tackles in 2023. 

Hansen's 46-yard touchdown reception vs. Morrisville marked the 10th of his career. He has a receiving touchdown in each season of his career with a career-high six of them coming in 2022. 

MILESTONE WATCH

• #11 Anthony Giordano is 54 yards shy of 1,000 for his career after logging a career-high 379 yards on 40 catches a year ago. He is up to 228 yards through five games in 2024. Giordano is also two receptions shy of 100 for his career. 
• #33 Malachi Hansen is one reception shy of 100 for his career and 118 yards shy of 1,500 receiving yards. 
• #21 Zach Williams has logged 991 yards from scrimmage for his career (761 rush, 230 receiving) leaving him just nine shy of 1,000. 

WHAT'S NEW IN '24

The Catholic football staff will feature some familiar faces in new roles this season. Former Assistant Head Coach & Special Teams Coordinator Jonathan Rutledge earned a promotion to Associate Head Coach and will take over play-calling duties as the program's offensive coordinator in 2024. 

Also moving up the ranks is seventh-year assistant Brandon Beech who will serve as Assistant Head Coach in 2024 after taking over as the Defensive Coordinator in 2023. 

Also joining the staff for the upcoming season is George Coles who will coach the offensive line after leading the running backs at Wilkes University in 2023. Coles helped develop All-Landmark First Team running back Elijah Jules and helped the Colonels to a bowl game in '23. 

Catholic will feature fresh faces at several key positions on offense in 2024 after the departure of Madden Lowe, Preston Jeffrey, Javier Oliver, Grant Wicks, and John Diaz. Defensively, Catholic will look to replace the production of Luke Brautigan in the front seven. Also departed are Aidan Long and Jack Baldridge from the back end. 

THE NEWCOMERS

The Cardinals welcome 34 new faces into the program and welcome back one old face in 2024. The freshman class includes: Julian Fresen (QB), Augustine Howard (WR), Tyler McVicker (DT), Omid Aliaskari (DB), Khamari Wilson (RB), Ja'Khi Boulware (DB), Latevias Cunningham (DB), Carter Virsik (DB), Malachi McIver (WR), Isaiah Green (WR), Roman Landamia (RB), George Mekras (RB), Justin LaMorte (K), Duron Bruce (DB), Caden Lopez (LB), Daniel Moore (LB), Alexander Saunders (LB), Charles Beckwith III (LB), Jake McGowan (DE), Gavin Drescher (DT), Mark Enamorado (DE), Ethan Carmichael (OL), James Varellas (DE), Dalton Orsak (TE), Shan Azamy (WR), Adrian Fresen (WR), Jake Melograna (WR), Tory Scott (DE), and Storm Haney (DT). Other newcomers include: Daequan Harvin (RB), Tabari Muhammad (WR), Joshua Mun (RB), Hugh Connell (DE), and Joe Gulbin (QB). Returning back after a year away from the team is Nicholas Chang (DB).

WE'RE BACK!

While a number of key pieces are gone, Catholic returns a strong core from last year's 5-5 team. Leading rusher Zach Williams returns for a fifth year after a breakout campaign that saw him total over 800 yards from scrimmage and score five touchdowns. 

Despite losing 871 yards from Jeffrey, Catholic returns 2,180 receiving yards, including seven players who logged at least 150. Anthony Giordano is the top returner with 379 yards, Tabor returns the most receptions with 59, and Maynes returns the most touchdowns with five. 

Hopkins (78) and Carson Henry (72) return, giving the Cardinals their top two tacklers back. Henry also led the team with 14.0 TFLs. Conor Jennings is back after a strong freshman campaign that saw him log 32 tackles, 7.5 TFLs, and 4.0 sacks. Eight of Catholic's 10 interceptions a year ago return with Hopkins, Tyler Donnelly, and Ryan Creston each logging two. Stillwell captains the defense along with Henry in 2024. 

Catholic returns plenty of experience on special teams as both Connor Gill and Andrew Petrino are back in 2024. Gill made six field goals a year ago and averaged 39 yards per punt while Petrino made two field goals and was a perfect 9-9 on extra points. A three-time all-conference returner, Hansen is also expected to return kicks and punts in 2024. 

SUCCESS IN THE CLASSROOM

After the 2023 season, Catholic placed a program-record five student-athletes on the College Sports Communicators Academic All-District Team. To be eligible for nomination, a student-athlete must; be at least a sophomore academically and athletically, maintain at least a 3.50 cumulative grade point average, play in at least 90 percent of the team's games OR start at least 66 percent of the team's games. 

Earning the honor for Catholic were Samuel Dumas, Giordano, Hopkins, Connor James, and Wicks. Dumas, Giordano, and Hopkins are all back and will have a chance to be in the mix for the honor again this season. 

.500 OR BETTER

Catholic has finished each of the past three seasons with a winning percentage or .500 or better. After a 2-5 start, the Cardinals rallied to finish 5-5 to keep the streak alive, giving them three such seasons in a row for the first time since Tom Clark did it seven years in a row, finishing in 2001. 

Catholic went 6-4 in 2021, 6-5 in 2022, and 5-5 in 2023. The Cardinals spent the 2021 and 2022 seasons in the NEWMAC before the Landmark launched its inaugural football season this past year. The Cardinals reached the New England Bowl in 2022. Gutelius has four seasons of .500 or better ball under his watch, matching Dave Dunn. 

HALL OF FAME REPRESENTATION

On September 20, former running back Matt Taylor will be inducted into the Catholic Athletics Hall of Fame. An All-American in 1996, Taylor is second in program history with 3,802 yards and 52 touchdowns. He holds the program record with 22 rushing touchdowns in a single season. He joins former teammates Kevin Ricca (Class of '20 inductee) and Jeff Clay (Class of '16 inductee) in the Hall of Fame. 

ALL-CONFERENCE RETURNERS

Catholic returns four players from the seven that earned all-conference honors in the first season of Landmark football. Stillwell, a senior captain, was a first-team all-conference defensive back in 2023 after totaling 55 tackles, an interception, a fumble recovery, and six PBUs. For his career, Stillwell has 147 career tackles, six interceptions and 16 PBUs. 

A second-team linebacker in 2023, Henry is back as well after tallying a career-high 14 TFLs to go with 72 tackles and two sacks. Henry is nine tackles shy of 200 for his career. 

Fellow linebacker, Hopkins, was an All-Landmark Honorable Mention choice at linebacker. As a sophomore, he led the team with 78 tackles, adding seven TFLs, and picked off two passes. Playing in all 21 games of his career, he has totaled 133 tackles and 13.5 TFLs. 

Finally, despite missing time, Hansen was respected as an all-conference return man, marking the third straight year in which a conference honored his return ability. He averaged 32 yards per kick return in the eight games he saw action in.