From the Booth: Week Eight Edition

First of all, I hope everyone had a very happy and safe Homecoming at Millersville University this year. It is always an honor to be a part of the festivities every season. I am always proud to be a Marauder, and the day becomes more special the farther away from my college graduation I get.

Anyway, to business.

Millersville dropped a PSAC East contest to the Lock Haven Bald Eagles on Saturday 26-14 on Homecoming Saturday. A ten point swing in just six seconds of game time proved to be an almost insurmountable hill for the Marauders to overcome. After this loss, Millersville is 1-4 in the PSAC East.

Starting with positives: once again, a sparkling Millersville defense held its opposition to under 300 yards once more. This number standing for three weeks will have been for the first time since 2006. Defense against running plays has improved greatly. After IUP gashed this defense for 303 rushing yards, Millersville held Bloomsburg to 208 yards, Cheyney to 109 yards, and Lock Haven to 77 yards.

Linebackers and defensive tackles have played leagues better in recent weeks due to better direction and increased instinctual play. Marvin Gaskill, after being moved to defensive line, has proved to be a stalwart wall, difficult to break through. Additionally, Reggie Slaton, Jordan Rigby and especially Rasheed Johnson, have played well lately.

Now, the negatives.

A six second stretch decided this game pretty handily. After Connor Casey's injury at the end of the first half, third string backup Jared Pierce took over. Pierce completed a quick shovel pass to David Coates (who played his best game by far this season), but then threw into double coverage for an interception. 

Two plays later, with six seconds remaining, local product QB Caleb Walton (Manheim Central) completed an 18 yard bullet to David Cook to score.

One play later for Millersville, Pierce bobbled a snap which would have resulted in a knee ending the half. Lock Haven recovered that ill-fated football, and on one final play, Alex Boumerhi rocketed a 40 yard field goal to complete a ten point swing in six seconds. It turned what would have been a 3-0 halftime score to 13-0 in mere moments.

That series of mistakes led to an opportunity for true freshman QB Corey Unger. Unger finished Saturday throwing 8 of 20 with a pick, and a TD strike to TE Trenton Petrovich in beautiful fashion. Unger showed quick legs if on the run, but it appears he will have to work on his accuracy. It wasn't a Casey-caliber first game, but Unger played well in relief on Saturday.

What do we take from this game?

This offense continues to improve. Once again, after only gaining 180 yards against IUP, Millersville has accomplished gains of 232, 265 and 307 yards. This latest effort was the first 300+ yard game of the season, and the first under head coach Greg Breitbach.

Many critical offensive players this season, including Brent Collins, Ian Sadon and Kevin Porter, especially, did not play a gigantic role in past seasons. Offensive duties hinged on Dominic Sanders, Mike Jones, Matt Egenrieder, among others. Growing pains are understandable. Steady improvement is a great sign.

Millersville has a chance to put this steady improvement to the test against Kutztown, who comes to town with just one win this year as well. KU has played some good teams close, including losing a last-minute lead against nationally-ranked West Chester 22-21, and posting 30 points against Shippensburg, who used their offense to outslug the Golden Bears 55-30.

As an additional incentive, newly-inducted Millersville Hall of Fame QB Drew Folmar, Kutztown's head coach, will make his return to the Ville for the first time as a head coach. Not to mention, Millersville/Kutztown has always been a tremendous rivalry across all sports.

Let's take a look around the PSAC.

The biggest game of the week, West Chester vs. Shippensburg, did not disappoint. A last second West Chester field goal decided not only the game, but likely the playoff picture barring a miracle. What a game. It wasn't the offensive insanity that was predicted, but 32-29 is a pretty good score too.

Bloomsburg scored 35 first half points, including 4 Franklin Quiteh rushing TDs, to win 35-7 over Cheyney on Saturday. They hold serve going into week nine by remaining undefeated.

Bloomsburg vs. Shippensburg will be telecast on the CBS Sports Network and PCN this Thursday at 8 p.m. I know I will be watching this high-octane game for certain. Should be fun.

Millersville vs. Kutztown will be at Chryst Field at Biemesderfer Stadium for the second to last home game this season. Broadcast will start at 11:30 a.m., and the game starts at noon. Broadcast can be heard here: www.millersvilleathletics.com/msbn

From the Booth: Week Seven Edition

The first one may have taken a while, but the deed is done. Millersville defeated Cheyney 30-12 on Saturday for win number one on the year, win number one in conference, and win number one for head coach Greg Breitbach and much of his new staff.

This win truly was six weeks in the making, including an intense month of elite-caliber opponents. Defensively, the Marauders stopped the run (109 total yards against), held an opponent to under 300 yards for the second consecutive week (263 total yards), and scored a season-high 30 points.

In fact, this offensive explosion almost doubled the amount of touchdowns this team had previously scored. Five touchdowns became nine, as Ian Sadon stole the show early with two goal line vaults, Mike Reichenbach hauled in his second career TD catch, and David Coates pulled off a spin cycle off of a defender to go in for the score.

Connor Casey looked much more comfortable in this game than in previous contests. He completed eleven passes for 84 total yards. Nothing truly spectacular, but as this offense has shown, it needs to be methodical. Casey's longest pass of 20 yards was to Reichenbach. 

Also, this defense forced more turnovers. Doug Henninger and Rasheed Johnson picked off passes, and Millersville also forced two official fumbles. However, Reggie Slaton perfectly created and picked up another fumble that did not happen due to a penalty after the fact.

Those interceptions now mark three straight weeks forcing at least one pick.

Problem was, Millersville also fumbled the ball three times in this game as well, and gave two away to Cheyney. That will be costly against more talented teams in the future. The new coaching staff is preaching a new way to carry the ball, and perfecting said technique will take time. This ball security effort has gotten strides better after some shaky control in the first two weeks.

Coming into this game, Cheyney's passing attack had suffered for far too long. Adler Thony (14-27-2) threw two great passes to Khalif Dandy and Marquis Garcia-Palmer for scores. Those were the first two passing touchdowns for the Wolves all season. They both came in the fourth quarter when the game was pretty much out of reach.

Cheyney failed to accomplish anything after said touchdowns. Dean May, after a blocked kick, returned the ball 98 yards for a two point conversion. Admittedly, I did not know this rule, and I called it a touchdown. Forgive me! Always happy to have my listeners correct me, and especially tactfully. That helps.

Cheyney's head coach Ken Lockard decided to go for two with the game way out of reach on the second touchdown, and Thony's pass failed to keep Cheyney at 12 points. Lockard also called for two consecutive fourth down offensive plays, and both succeeded.

His first fourth down came towards the conclusion of the first half. On the two yard line, Millersville's defense stuffed a run by RB Marcus Jones, and turned it back over. That play signified how far this defense has come from week one until today. Playing nationally ranked opponents forces teams to play a great brand of football, according to Breitbach, so that's exactly what is continuing to happen on the gridiron.

All in all, great step forward for the Ville. First win done, and a chance to get it done against Lock Haven (2-5, 1-3 PSAC) on Homecoming. Lock Haven's offense sputtered early, but it came to life against Shippensburg, putting a scare into those Red Raiders. Lock Haven will ride a four-game losing streak into this upcoming game.

My only, honest request...get loud and stay loud!

Let's take a look around.

#6 Bloomsburg, #15 West Chester and Shippensburg all held serve atop the East standings after Saturday's games. All of them hold undefeated records. One of them will not be come Saturday, as Ship plays West Chester on Saturday.

Bloomsburg should pick up a win this weekend against Cheyney, but they will have a significant test on Halloween against Shippensburg. That game will be televised on CBS Sports Network. Pretty awesome.

In the West, it's a three-horse race for the playoff spots, unless IUP gets something going soon. After defeating Millersville, the Crimson Hawks have dropped two straight. Edinboro handed them their latest defeat.

Slippery Rock, Gannon and Cal all hold 3-1 conference records. That Western division proves to be extremely tough year in and year out. Should be a fun finish.

Four more games remain on the docket, including three home games. Come on out and see the Millersville Marauders continue the journey back to the top. If you can't make it to Homecoming, you'll feel right at home on MSBN. Broadcast starts at 12:30 on Saturday. www.millersvilleathletics.com/msbn

Additionally, congratulations to the entire men's golf team, including head coach Scott Vandegrift and individual champion Connor Gilbert for capturing the 2013 PSAC Championship! The first of many to come at Millersville. Should be a fun year.

From the Booth - Week Six Edition

The gamut of nationally ranked opponents is over. #9 Bloomsburg (6-0, 3-0 PSAC) used quick strikes and opportunistic offense to defeat Millersville (0-6, 0-3 PSAC) by a score of 45-7.

The good news is this, and this humongous progress in one statement: Millersville's defense kept a furious Bloomsburg offense to just 292 total yards. It kept the second-ranked rushing attack to 208 yards. Up until that point, Bloomsburg rushers averaged almost 368 yards per game in that respect. They also only passed for 84 yards and had a success of about 50%.

Credit to defensive coordinator Ron Rankin and his strategy against a high-powered offense. This is a huge step in the right direction. The coaching staff wanted more size up front, inserted more size into the lineup, and it paid instant dividends. I would be surprised to see that personnel change for next week's game.

Now where it gets fuzzy: offense was extremely hard to come by in this game. Redshirt Freshman QB Curtis Frye started his first game, and to his credit, was very accurate with his passes (16-24-1, 98 yds), but he could not break past what has been a dead zone at midfield while driving down the field.

Frye was knocked out with what looked like a knee injury. His status is still unknown to this point. In his stead, veteran Connor Casey (5-10-0, 56 yds, 1 TD) admirably stepped in and showed a ton of rejuvenated moxie in his return. During a 4th quarter drive, Casey unloaded a 56 yard bomb to Kevin Porter which set Millersville up perfectly for a score.

It was then, on a 4th and Goal, head coach Greg Breitbach pulled the trigger on a bold decision. Go for it. Why not?

Why not, indeed. Casey unloaded a bullet to Porter for the score. It was monumental for the offense's confidence. They perfectly executed a drive down the field with a big play. It was the longest play of the season. Casey's TD pass was also his first since week one against LIU Post.

It solved a lot of things. Credit Breitbach for a gutsy decision.

This result was the perfect time to not only give offensive players confidence, but defensive players too. The schedule gets incredibly easier against a winless Cheyney team, a 2-4 Lock Haven team, an East Stroudsburg team without its star quarterback Matt Soltes (at least for now) and a Kutztown team with just one victory against Cheyney.

This back half of the schedule looks more than perfect for the Millersville Marauders to take advantage of. They could sweep the rest of their eastern schedule and end 4-3 in the East, which is a remarkable improvement over past years' one victory. This is a huge opportunity to seize. It likely won't be enough for playoffs, as West Chester, Bloomsburg and Shippensburg lead the way with a 3-0 mark in the East.

Let's take a look around the PSAC.

In perhaps the most stunning upset ever, unranked (and quite dangerous) Slippery Rock crushed rival #7 IUP 42-16. That will likely set IUP's national ranking back quite a bit. The Rock should get instant consideration to get into that conversation.

West Chester, down 20-10 at the half, scored 24 second half points and shut out the Warriors in that half as well to win 34-20. ESU lost Matt Soltes to an undisclosed injury. If Soltes is out a long time, that's good news for the rest of the conference. He's dangerous.

Two teams certainly made it close this weekend. Shippensburg barely held off Lock Haven's furious push, winning 30-24, and Kutztown defeated winless Cheyney 35-19. That Kutztown victory is the first under their new head coach and Millersville Hall of Fame QB Drew Folmar. Well-deserved congratulations go his way.

Up next for the Ville, it's Cheyney, during its homecoming. Sound familiar? Millersville will have to deal with one more away homecoming before hosting their own the week after against Lock Haven. Four homecomings in a row. Too many people, not enough parking spaces...

Historically, Millersville has dominated Cheyney 56-5-1 since 1951. If memory serves, Millersville's last loss to Cheyney was in 2010, and it was the first loss against Cheyney since the mid-1980s. This is a chance to reassert that dominance and pick up the first win of the year, and the first for coach Breitbach.

Game starts at 1. Pregame show at 12:30. Tune in here. www.millersvilleathletics.com/msbn

From the Booth: Week Five Edition

#7 Indiana University of Pennsylvania (5-0) was the best opponent Millersville (0-5) would see all season. They showed it. A humbling 62-3 loss at the hands of the Crimson Hawks sends the Ville back to the drawing board. What will be the next move as #9 Bloomsburg looms next Saturday?

Before we get into that, time to dissect this last game.

As many points as the offense put up on the board, IUP's offense did not blow anyone away coming into this week. They accomplished very little in the creative sense. They played two creative reverse bootleg runs that caught the Marauder secondary off guard. Otherwise, RB De'Antwan Williams did not blow anyone away with just 98 yards on the day and a touchdown run.

In fact, backup Israel Green arguably played better by recording 103 yards on 16 carries. He showed more explosiveness than Williams, but both played pretty well, but not extremely well.

Millersville forced its first interception of the year, as Rasheed Johnson hauled down a Mike Box throw intended for the end zone, returning it 17 yards. In terms of breaking up passes and applying tackles directly after pass receptions, the Marauders were on point. In that sense, it's getting better.

After some down weeks, RB Ian Sadon burst back onto the scene with another sensational day. He did his best work in the first half, racking up a total of 124 yards on 20 carries. His longest run of 40 yards towards the beginning of the game charged up the sideline. Sadon stomped on IUP's parade Saturday, and he will look to continue that success.

As rushing was a success, passing was not. Connor Casey and Curtis Frye combined for 6 of 18 and 65 yards, along with two interceptions. That seriously hampered Millersville's offense and only allowed for Evan Stahl to boot his second career field goal. Coach Greg Breitbach spoke about needing improved quarterback play in the weeks to come during the pregame show on Saturday.

It looks like it will be a competition for that number one spot from here on out.

Saturday marked IUP's homecoming. They renamed their field after former coach Frank Cignetti, who was also inducted into the College Hall of Fame. Congratulations to him and his family, including incumbent coach, and Cignetti's son, Curt.

Up next for Millersville is Bloomsburg (5-0), who will also be celebrating its homecoming.

Bloomsburg employs the PSAC's best running back, by far. Millersville has seen Mercyhurst's Brandon Brown-Dukes and West Chester's Rondell White, but Franklin Quiteh will by far be the Marauder defense's most challenging adversary. Quiteh has already rushed for 1,055 yards on 110 carries along with 13 TDs. Simple division shows that Quiteh rushes for about a first down every single run.

He is currently the reigning PSAC Athlete of the Week. It will be an extreme challenge for Millersville to stop him.

It was the week of the blowout in the PSAC, it appeared. Shippensburg obliterated Seton Hill 73-27, Mercyhurst crushed Cheyney 63-14, Slippery Rock trashed Kutztown 58-10, ESU dispatched Clarion 48-28, Bloomsburg dealt with Gannon 35-14, and Edinboro took care of Lock Haven 31-6.

Next week, it's back to East vs. West. Millersville vs. Bloomsburg will take to the air at 3:00 p.m. on MSBN. www.millersvilleathletics.com/msbn