Saturday's Game: Allegheny Gators (5-1, 2-1 NCAC) vs. Kenyon (3-4, 3-1 NCAC)
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Opening Kickoff:
Allegheny travels to Gambier, Ohio this weekend to take on Kenyon for the 27th time since the series began back in 1911. The Gators have won three straight against the Lords, including a 27-22 victory last year. The last Kenyon win was a 34-27 victory in 2005. Allegheny is ranked fifth in the NCAC with a 2-1 conference record, while the Lords are tied for third with Wabash at 3-1. Both squads enter today's game on a two-game winning streak. Allegheny defeated Carnegie Mellon by a three-point margin and Denison, 35-13. Kenyon posted a 33-28 win over Ohio Wesleyan and recently defeated Oberlin, 21-9.
First meeting: 1911 (Allegheny 24, Kenyon 0)
Last meeting: 2008 (Allegheny 27, Kenyon 22)
Most points by one team: 1995 (Allegheny 69, Kenyon 13)
Largest margin of victory: 1998 (Allegheny 56, Kenyon 0)
Smallest margin of victory: 1985 (Kenyon 15, Allegheny 14) | 1989 (Kenyon 19, Allegheny 18)
Shut outs in a series: 7 total, Allegheny's last (2007 – Allegheny 24, Kenyon 0) | Kenyon's last (1942 – Kenyon 20, Allegheny 0)
Last Week:
The Allegheny football team chalked up 448 yards of offense, getting a career-high 364 passing yards and three touchdowns from T.J. Salopek to defeat Denison 35-13 on Saturday at Frank B. Fuhrer Field. Salopek had an 80 completion percentage, going 15-for-19 with three big passes that all led to touchdowns for the Gators. The defense held the Big Red off the scoreboard for almost 30 minutes, not allowing Denison to score until the 2:34 mark of the second quarter. As a team, Allegheny had five sacks for a loss of 37 yards to increase the season total to 20 sacks in six games.
Fun Facts:
Saturday's win marks the first time Allegheny is 5-1 since the 1997 season and is the fourth-straight winning season for head coach Mark Matlak.
Fun Facts PAT 2:
The Gators have scored five touchdowns in the each of the last two games and Ryan Zipf went 5-for-5 on the point-after attempt each time. Zipf is 15-for-17 on the season in PAT's.
Salopek Story:
T.J. Salopek was close to breaking the record for most passing yards in a single season against Denison. He was 36 yards shy of tying the record of 400 passing yards held by Jimmy Savage vs. Wabash on Oct. 7, 2006. Salopek was one yard away from tying for second (Bubba Smith vs. Kenyon, Oct. 13, 2001). He increased his career passing yards total to 4,738 to rank fifth overall and needs 230 to move into fourth. He is also third in career completions with 421 and needs 41 to take over the No. 2 spot held by Jimmy Savage (2003-06) with 461.
Career Day:
Terry Hartford caught five passes for a career-best 185 yards on Saturday. He caught a 94-yard touchdown pass from Salopek on the Gators first play of the game, marking the second longest touchdown pass in program history and coming one yard shy of the record (1990 – Jeff Filkovski to Julie Locayo for 95 yards against Earlham).
Receiving It Well:
Wide receiver Mark Sutton made three catches for 102 yards, including his longest catch for 79 yards vs. the Big Red last Saturday. He is 38 yards away from hitting 500 receiving yards for his career. Jake Vite reached 1,000 career receiving yards with his 86-yard effort against Carnegie Mellon on Oct. 10. He entered the game with 991 yards and added five more vs. Denison to sit at 1,082 yards. He is now fifth in program history with 97 career receptions and only needs six more to move into fourth place.
He's Special Alright:
Freshman cornerback Craig Stamm blocked not one, but two kicks against Denison. He blocked a field-goal in the first quarter to keep the Big Red off the scoreboard and then an extra point on Denison's final touchdown of the fourth quarter, earning Allegheny's special teams player of the game. Stamm also recorded two tackles.
Tack It On:
Andy Schleihauf registered a career-high 17 tackles, including seven solo and 10 assisted on Saturday to bring his season total to 70 blocks. He has led the team and posted double-digit tackles in five out of the six games. Schleihauf is ranked 15th in NCAA Division III statistics in tackles per game (11.67).
Weekly Game Awards:
After every game, the coaching staff will select certain members of the football team who are deserving of the following awards. Listed below are those chosen for week six - a 35-38 win at Carnegie Mellon.
Offense MVP: Terry Hartford
Defense MVP: Doug Macik, Jermaine Mitchell
Hustle Player: John Douglas, Sean Sally, Joe Lasko
Allegheny Advantage: Joel Trembulak- Defense
Mark Sutton- Offense
Special Teams: Craig Stamm
Big Hit: Travis Wilkins
The Last Meeting:
The Allegheny College football team forced five turnovers and the offense added timely big plays as the Gators powered to a 27-22 victory over Kenyon. Three of Allegheny's four touchdowns were set up by the Lords' turnovers while its only offensive touchdown came via a 60-yard strike from David Strawser to Mark Sutton. Andy Schleihauf tallied his first collegiate touchdown off a fumble return for 27 yards.
Kenyon Last Week:
Quarterback Mike Hermanson and receiver Harry von Kann hooked up for two scoring plays that led to Kenyon's 21-9 victory North Coast Athletic Conference win over the Oberlin on Saturday. Running back Kyle Toot scored on a two-yard run for his eighth score of the season and finished with exactly 100 rushing yards. Hermanson capped off a productive day completing half of his 24 passes for 211 yards.
