Football’s 113th campaign opens with subplots galore
Those are just four of the biggest subplots on everyone’s mind as the McDaniel football team embarks on the 2007 season.
To say the last two seasons have been a struggle would be an understatement, especially considering the Green Terror is just four seasons removed from six consecutive Centennial Conference (CC) titles. In 2005, McDaniel limped to a 5-5 finish after starting the season 4-0. In 2006, the Green Terror slogged its way to a 4-6 finish amid a myriad of injuries, specifically various members of the defense, which led to no fewer than 20 different players starting at least one contest.
“There’s no doubt we had some injuries last year,” head coach Tim Keating stated. “Those really hurt us and didn’t allow us to have any consistency. If we can stay healthy this year, I really think we can rebound and be in contention all season.”
This year, after back-to-back 2-4 conference records, the CC only gets more difficult with the addition of Moravian and Juniata, bumping the number of conference games on the slate to eight. Going into its 25th season on the gridiron, the CC expands for the first time in its history and finally replaces Swarthmore, who dropped football after the 2000 season.
In the annual poll, the coaches and sports information directors had mixed fortunes for the newcomers, picking Moravian fourth with 76 points, including a pair of first-place votes, and Juniata ninth with just 17 tallies. Ursinus enters as the preseason favorite with 112 points and seven first-place votes after finishing as runner-up to Dickinson in 2006. Johns Hopkins (105 points, four first-place votes) and Dickinson (94, three first-place votes) round out the top three. The Green Terror, due in large part to its struggles to past two seasons, was chosen eighth.
Two milestones also await McDaniel in 2007. With its first victory, Keating, who is in his 15th year at the helm, will usher the squad into the exclusive 500-win club – a feat only 23 other Division III teams have achieved. Keating is within striking distance of his own milestone, needing just five victories to earn his 100th as mentor of the Green Terror.
However, all of that will need to be accomplished with a retooled coaching staff. Half of McDaniel’s eight assistant coaches will make their debut on the sideline when the Green Terror open its 113th campaign at Bridgewater on Sept. 1, including new defensive coordinator Eric VanHeusen. VanHeusen joins the staff after spending the last five seasons at Princeton.
In addition to new faces on the sidelines, McDaniel will have plenty of new faces on the field. With just 41 players returning from the 2006 squad, it is quite likely that more than a few of the 39 newcomers will see immediate playing time.
“I think now we have some young men out there who are good young men,” Keating explained. “There’s no doubt we have some great talent on the football field in this class, but these young men are also good guys off the field too.”
Quarterbacks
One thing will remain constant in 2007, though. Senior Brad Baer (Westminster, Md./Westminster) will once again line up under center and command the offense – an offense that ranked last in the CC in total offense (227.9 yards per game) despite the fourth-ranked passing attack (162.1 ypg).
Always a dual threat with 3,304 career passing yards and 1,339 career rushing yards, Baer is within striking distance of becoming just the second player in the 25-year history of the CC to amass 4,000 yards passing and 1,000 yards rushing. Former Green Terror standout Ron Sermarini ’00 was the only other player to accomplish the feat (7,197 passing, 1,430 rushing).
In 2006, he ranked second on the squad with 251 net rushing yards – five shy of the team lead. Through the air, he completed 154 of 285 passes for 1,513 yards. He also tossed 11 touchdown passes to five different receivers while only throwing five interceptions all season.
In the squad’s 24-14 win over Randolph-Macon, Baer aired it out for a career-high 235 yards, completing 22 of 36 passes with a pair of touchdowns. He also eclipsed the 200-yard mark in the finale at Johns Hopkins, connecting on 26 passes for 225 yards.
He racked up 80 yards against Muhlenberg on the ground, including a season-long 59-yard sprint. He also amassed no fewer than 50 yards rushing in three other games, including 70 in the season opener against Bridgewater. He ran for his only score of the season at Franklin & Marshall, a four-yard dive late in the fourth quarter.
McDaniel starts the season with a number of options to be Baer’s backup but senior Tom Wenrich (Wernersville, Pa./Conrad Weiser) is the only one with a collegiate pass attempt and will likely hold the No. 2 spot on the depth chart for the opener. Wenrich went just 2-for-3 for 25 yards in 2006 but was part of the platoon that filled in during 2005, when Baer missed the majority of the season with injury.
The Green Terror has five other options on the roster who will all view for time on the field.
Running Backs
Without question the youngest position on the 2006 roster, McDaniel enters the 2007 campaign with much more experience in the backfield than it did a year ago. T.J. Develin (Boyertown, Pa./Boyertown Area) and Eric Zwilsky (Knoxville, Md./Brunswick) each left an impression during his debut season. That tandem, coupled with Baer’s 251 rushing yards, accounted for all but 90 of the Green Terror rushing yards a year ago.
Zwilsky started all 10 games at tailback, leading the squad with 256 rushing yards. Against Gettysburg, he broke off a season-long 24-yard scamper to the end zone, marking his first collegiate touchdown and lone score. He also reeled off a season-best 64 total yards.
After two weeks where he totaled just 24 yards on 17 carries, he broke out in the third week at Catholic, rushing for 63 yards on just 15 carries. He also added a 15-carry, 40-yard performance in the McDaniel’s win over Randolph-Macon.
Develin accounted for 61 yards as Zwilsky’s backup, including a 30-yard output at Franklin & Marshall. He also reached double figures with 15 rushing yards against Dickinson.
Both also put their stamp on the receiving game out of the backfield, combining for 19 catches and 113 yards. Develin made his mark on the passing game early in the season with a 33-yard catch-and-run that set up the winning score in the Green Terror’s first victory of 2006 at Catholic. Zwilsky’s best receiving game wasn’t until later in the season when he caught two balls for 16 yards at Franklin & Marshall.
Sophomore Sean Urbany (Crofton, Md./Arundel) will likely be the lead back entering the season. Urbany registered a three-yard gain in the finale at Johns Hopkins last season.
Freshman Raymond O’Hara (Yardley, Pa./Conwell-Egan Catholic) has impressed the coaching staff early in camp and will push for playing time.
Wide Receivers/Tight Ends
In 2006, four McDaniel players averaged no fewer than 19.4 yards per game receiving. However, only two members of that quartet returns in 2007, sophomore tight end Matt Bergbauer (Westminster, Md./Westminster) and sophomore wide receiver Matt Cahill (Havertown, Pa./Haverford Twp.).
With the loss of more than 60 percent of the yardage amassed by the receiving corps a season ago, the Green Terror will need a contingent of freshmen and sophomores to step into starting roles and give Baer targets down the field.
Cahill nabbed 19 catches for 235 yards as a freshman last season – the most yardage by any returning receiver. Against Randolph-Macon, he established a career best with four grabs for 107 yards, including a 75-yard touchdown reception.
Bergbauer, who appeared in all 10 games as a rookie, looks to move into the starting tight end role and, in tandem with Cahill, will likely be among Baer’s favorite targets in 2007.
In his freshman year, Bergbauer nabbed 16 receptions for 194 yards, including a pair of touchdown grabs. In the 24-14 victory over Randolph-Macon, he clinched the win with a seven-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter – his first collegiate score. Two weeks later in the 22-19 win over Muhlenberg, he exploded for 110 yards on five receptions that included the game-winning touchdown catch. He finished the season grabbing five balls for 49 yards at Johns Hopkins.
Brian Amenta (Baltimore, Md./Perry Hall)is the lone senior in the receiving corps and is likely to be one of the wide guys for the opener. As a junior, he made one start while appearing in all 10 games. Also a big-play threat, last season he caught five passes for 79 yards, an average of nearly 16 yards per catch. Four of those receptions and 65 of the yards came in his start against Seton Hill.
Offensive Line
One of the positions decimated by injuries in 2006, McDaniel will need to find consistency on the line in 2007 to have success. Of the seven different linemen who made a start last season, four return this year.
The only returner to start all 10 games, Ross Adams (Baltimore, Md./Perry Hall) returns to anchor the line at center. Jason Bryan (Earleville, Md./Bohemia Manor) looks to make his return after going down with an injury in the opener against Bridgewater while Joe Bowers (Conawingo, Md./Rising Sun), who missed the final four games of the season with an injury after starting the first six at left tackle, seeks to return to that role this year.
Paul Selfinger (Birdsboro, Pa./Daniel Boone), Bryan’s replacement at right guard for the final nine games in 2006, will likely return to one of the guard positions in 2007.
Pat Floyd (Bethesda, Md./Walt Whitman), Ian Proctor (Silver Spring, Md./Blair) and Austin Herr (Millersville, Pa./Penn Manor), who were all backups as freshmen, will push for starting spots on the line as sophomores.
Linebackers
Despite being the defensive position with the most returning experience, it was also the position bit most by the injury bug in 2006. During the 10-game schedule, the Green Terror used eight different players to start eight different combinations in the linebacking corps. None of the eight started all 10 games and just one saw action in each game.
Derek Zabko (Dade City, Fla./Wesley Chapel), a senior inside linebacker, earned second-team All-CC honors last season after recording 56 tackles, including 7.5 stops for loss, both of which ranked second on the team. Against Seton Hill, he led the team with a career-best 12 tackles a week after notching eight, including two for loss and a nine-yard sack, against Bridgewater. He also had a fumble recovery and broke up two passes. Zabko started all eight of his appearances a season ago.
Senior David Roccio (Baltimore, Md./Perry Hall) and sophomore Mike Weick (Holland, Pa./Penn Chater) both return with starting experience.
Roccio started all six of his appearances on the outside. He racked up 20 tackles, including 13 solo stops, despite missing all of October with an injury. He totaled five tackles, including three solo stops, against both Ursinus and Muhlenberg. He also nabbed his first collegiate sack against the Mules. He recorded his first collegiate interception against Seton Hill in addition to breaking up passes against both Seton Hill and Bridgewater.
Weick started three of his six appearances on the inside. In his first collegiate start against Randolph-Macon, he made six tackles that included a 17-yard sack to earn a spot on the CC Weekly Honor Roll. He followed up that performance, establishing a new career high with 11 tackles at Franklin & Marshall. In that same game, he added a forced fumble and fumble recovery. For the season, he amassed 25 stops, including 2.5 for loss.
Bryan Letourneau (Damascus, Md./Damascus) made one start at outside linebacker among his seven appearances, recording 12 tackles along the way. In his lone start at Franklin & Marshall, he made half of those tackles and was in on a sack.
Albert Leech (Frederick, Md./Gov. Thomas Johnson), who saw action in five games as a rookie, was part of two tackles at Franklin & Marshall.
Junior Nick Giusti (Frederick, Md./Linganore) added three starts among his seven appearances, mostly as a down lineman. He made 10 tackles in his debut campaign, including three against Gettysburg.
Defensive Line
One of the more consistent areas in 2006 despite its relative inexperience entering the season, McDaniel will once again have voids to fill, losing two down linemen who had starting experience entering 2007.
Seniors Wes Battle (Denton, Md./North Caroline) and Ryan Mellinger (Ocala, Fla./Forest) return to the trenches, having each made seven starts last year.
Battle had 25 tackles while Mellinger made 22 stops. Battle had a season-high six tackles against Seton Hill and added five against Gettysburg. He also blocked the Green Terror’s lone kick of the season, an extra-point attempt at Ursinus. Mellinger had a season-best five stops against the Bears and added his first collegiate sack a week later against the Bullets.
Sam Cox (Towson, Md./Towson) has impressed early on and could see time on the field as a freshman.
Defensive Backs
The position with the biggest void to fill, McDaniel will need to replace the 125 tackles of second-team All-American Drew Abbamonte at strong safety. In addition to the loss of Abbamonte, McDaniel also lost two-thirds of the trio that spent most of the season flanking him in the secondary.
Sophomore Travis Wenrich (Wernersville, Pa./Conrad Weiser), who started the final six games of the season at cornerback, returns with his 33 tackles, one sack and team-best five pass breakups.
Sophomore Aaron Slaughter (Baltimore, Md./Loyola), who started the first three games of the season at cornerback before missing the duration with injury, will look to return to that role in 2007. In his three games, he made 14 tackles, including a 16-yard tackle for loss against Seton Hill.
Special Teams
Arguably the most consistent aspect of the Green Terror game in 2006, both kickers return in 2007. Junior placekicker Jay Leonard (Westminster, Md./Westminster) and senior punter Tom Wenrich will both reprise their roles.
Leonard was one of two CC kickers to connect on each of his extra-point attempts, converting all 14. He was also 3-for-7 in field-goal attempts, including drilling a career-long 46-yard game-winner with 2.7 seconds left to defeat Gettysburg. That kick, coupled with a pair of PATs, earned him CC Special Teams Player of the Week honors.
He also averaged 52.7 yards per kickoff.
Wenrich ranked second in the conference a year ago with his 37.9 yard-per-punt average, earning him second-team All-CC honors. The left-footed punter booted six punts of no fewer than 50 yards and uncorked three 60-yard kicks in three consecutive games. At Ursinus, he unloaded a career-long 63-yarder, sandwiching a 62-yarder at Catholic and a 61-yarder against Gettysburg.
Fourteen of his 64 punts dropped inside the opponents’ 20-yard line, including five of his six boots in the win over the Bullets – a game in which he averaged a season-high 44.2 yards per kick.
McDaniel will look for new faces in the return game after losing all six players who were credited with kick returns in 2006. Chris Martin and Eric See led that contingent with a combined 25 kickoff returns and 10 punt returns, totaling nearly two-thirds of the Green Terror’s return yardage a season ago.
After the opener at Bridgewater, McDaniel starts its conference slate at Moravian on Sept. 8 before opening the home schedule with its only other non-conference game against Catholic on Sept. 15. On Sept. 22, the Green Terror travel to defending CC champion Dickinson before returning home to play Juniata on Sept. 29, completing half of its schedule before the bye week. All games begin at 1 p.m.
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