GETTYSBURG, Pa.  – The Gettysburg College football team has set its goal to get back to the brand of football that led to a perfect start to the year, but to do that the Bullets will need to step up and take down one of the hottest teams in the Centennial Conference in Moravian College.
 
Gettysburg (5-2, 4-2 CC) is coming off back-to-back losses to Muhlenberg College and No. 8 Johns Hopkins University. Inconsistency plagued the Bullets with eight turnovers and only 616 yards of total offense combined in the two losses. During its 5-0 start, the Orange and Blue averaged 512.4 yards of offense and committed just eight turnovers total.
 
"I'd say consistency and execution for us were really frustrating," noted Head Coach Barry Streeter. "Our kids fought their tails off. We just didn't execute well enough."
 
Streeter and the Bullets will aim to regroup and get back to business against a formidable club from Bethlehem. Moravian's (6-1, 5-1 CC) only setback occurred more than a month ago at the hands of the nationally-ranked Blue Jays and the Greyhounds have reeled off four consecutive victories since then. Last weekend, the club put up a school-record 590 yards of total offense in a 34-19 win over Franklin & Marshall College.
 
"There's no gimmes in this conference," said senior tight end Fred Pulzello (Glen Rock, N.J./Glen Rock. "We know that. We've had a lot of close games this year. So we're just going to prepare like we've been preparing this entire season. Take one practice at a time, one rep at a time, and hopefully that will benefit us on game day."
 
Pulzello is part of a strong core of veteran players for the Bullets that includes 21 seniors. That group has been in this situation before. In 2012, Gettysburg started 5-0, lost back-to-back outings to Muhlenberg and Johns Hopkins, and bounced back with a 42-20 victory over Moravian.
 
With the end of their careers drawing near, the seniors are striving to get their teammates ready this week and lead the way to Rocco Calvo Field on Saturday.
 
"We know what we want to do and we're not going to let anything hinder us getting to those goals," said Pulzello. "We know that we're a special team and we've got talent on both sides of the ball. We know there's no point in harking on a loss; you just need to move on and get ready for the next game."
 
OPENING KICKOFF
Gettysburg looks to get its season back on track following a pair of losses, while Moravian shoots for its fifth consecutive Centennial Conference victory.
 
GAME COVERAGE
Saturday's game will feature live stats and live video courtesy of Moravian. You can watch the game at http://portal.stretchinternet.com/moravian/ or follow live stats at http://moraviansports.com/sports/fball/2015-16/boxscores/20151031_u2jq.xml.


 

THE COACHES
Barry Streeter enters his 37th season at the helm of Gettysburg's football program. Streeter is the longest-tenured active coach in Division III and his 188 wins place him seventh among active coaches. Streeter has led Gettysburg to three Centennial Conference championships (1983-85) and he has twice been named CC Coach of the Year. In 1985, he led the Bullets to the only undefeated regular season in school history (9-0-1) and an appearance in the national semifinals.
 
Jeff Pukszyn is in his fifth season as leader of the Greyhounds football unit. Pukszyn has already topped is previous season high for wins this fall and his career record stands at 17-30. Moravian's current four-game winning streak is its longest since winning five straight in 2010. Prior to becoming head coach, Pukszyn served 10 years as assistant head coach at Moravian.
 
THE SERIES
Gettysburg leads the all-time series with Moravian 10-3. The Bullets had won 10 consecutive meetings from 1979-2012 until the Greyhounds ended the streak with back-to-back wins in the last two campaigns. Each of the last three contests have been decided by at least 20 points.
 
LAST MEETING
Moravian put up three touchdowns in the second quarter and did not allow Gettysburg to score a point in the first half in a 34-14 decision last season. After a scoreless opening period, Mike Hayes tossed three scoring passes, including two to Chris Negron to put the Greyhounds in front 21-0 at the break. The Bullets closed the gap to 28-14 in the fourth before Negron put the game away with a rushing TD. Moravian posted 240 rushing yards and 445 yards of total offense in the win. Kyle Wigley '16 (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) led Gettysburg with 86 yards on 16 carries, while quarterback Zach Miller '15 posted 224 total yards and both a passing and rushing score. Jordan Kelso '17 (Cookstown, N.J./Bordentown Regional) hauled in three passes for 71 yards and a touchdown. Gordon Prince '15 led the Gettysburg defense with 15 tackles. Eli Redmond and Negron combined for 209 yards and two touchdowns for Moravian. Hayes finished 20-of-30 for 205 yards and three scores. Anthony Orlando recorded 13 tackles and an interception for the Greyhounds.


 

LAST TIME OUT
Eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins forced five turnovers in beating Gettysburg 36-7 last Saturday. The Blue Jays scored the game's first 22 points and forced a fumble as the Bullets attempted to score from the one-yard line just before the break. Gettysburg broke into the scoring column on a one-yard run by senior Sam McDermott (Newtown, Pa./Notre Dame (N.J.)) early in the third quarter. Johns Hopkins scored two more touchdowns to set the final score. Gettysburg finished with three fumbles and two interceptions in the contest. McDermott finished 13-of-17 for 115 yards and added 43 yards on the ground. Senior tailback Kyle Wigley racked up 134 yards on 25 carries. Junior Chris Miller (Manasquan, N.J./Manasquan) picked up 14 tackles, while senior Kodie McNamara (Manasquan, N.J./Manasquan) tallied 12 stops. Jonathan Germano threw for 180 yards and a touchdown, while adding 44 yards and a touchdown on the ground. Brandon Cherry picked up 119 yards on 15 carries and scored twice. Bradley Munday grabbed a TD among his eight receptions and totaled 85 yards.
 
SCOUTING MORAVIAN
Moravian is in the midst of one of its best seasons since joining the Centennial Conference eight years ago. The only blemish on the schedule is a loss to nationally-ranked Johns Hopkins over a month ago. In the team's recent venture, Moravian piled up 590 yards of total offense in a 34-19 Homecoming win over Franklin & Marshall last week. After the Diplomats scored the opening points on a field goal, the Greyhounds busted out three consecutive first-quarter scores to take a 17-3 lead. Only a safety by the Diplomats made its way onto the scoreboard in the second and third quarters as the lead grew to 31-12 heading into the fourth frame. The Blue and Grey finished with 291 yards rushing and 299 yards passing. Junior Mike Hayes accounted for all the passing yardage while going 19-of-30 with two touchdowns. Junior Chris Negron rushed 21 times for 159 yards and a score, while sophomore Eli Redmond added 103 yards on 16 carries with a touchdown. Owen Perih led the defense with 10 tackles. Moravian has climbed to third in the conference in scoring offense (32.1 ppg) and second (tied) in scoring defense (20.6 ppg). Moravian leads the Centennial in third-down conversion defense at 28.2 percent. Negron paces the conference in rushing at 134.9 yards per game and he leads the way with a dozen touchdowns. He is second all-time at Moravian with 2,854 career rushing yards.
 
GETTYSBURG OFFENSE
Gettysburg paces the Centennial in rushing at 254.9 yards per game. The team ranks third in total offense (454 ypg) and fourth in scoring offense (30.7 ppg). Senior quarterback Sam McDermott was held without a passing touchdown for the first time this season against Johns Hopkins. His 16 passing touchdowns leave him just three shy of Gettysburg single-season record. McDermott leads all quarterbacks with 439 rushing yards and he ranks third overall in total offense at 261.3 yards per game. Senior tailback Kyle Wigley has rushed for at least 120 yards in three of his last four games. He is averaging a career-best 110.6 yards per game, which ranks second in the conference. His 5.5 yards per carry leads all conference rushers with at least 100 carries this season. Junior wide receiver Jordan Kelso has caught more than twice as many passes as anyone else on the team. He has turned those 29 receptions into 465 yards and six scores.


 

GETTYSBURG DEFENSE
Senior Kodie McNamara and junior Chris Miller rank among the Centennial leaders in tackles per game. McNamara has climbed to the top of the pile with 76 stops, while Miller sits third with 68. McNamara has posted at least a dozen tackles four times this season and he swatted away an extra-point attempt by Johns Hopkins last week. The senior ranks second among all active Division III players with 365 career tackles. Miller has posted at least nine stops in each of his last four outings and he paces the team with 6.5 tackles for a loss. Senior Brian Calatozzo (Sewell, N.J./St. Augustine Prep) leads the conference with five interceptions, the most by a Bullet in 12 years.
 
GETTYSBURG SPECIAL TEAMS
Senior Robby Fay (New Providence, N.J./New Providence) has placed 15 of his 30 punts inside the opponent's 20-yard line and he ranks fourth in the conference in punting at 37.9 yards per kick. Fay has converted 3-of-5 field goals and 20-of-23 extra points. Teams have learned to stay away from dynamic freshman returner Matt McFadden (Morristown, N.J./Morristown Beard) who ranks third in the country in combined kick return yards with 695. McFadden is averaging 22.8 yards on kick returns and 13.1 yards on punt returns this season.  
 
RUSHING RANKS
Senior tailback Kyle Wigley continues to climb the rushing lists at Gettysburg. With 2,369 career rushing yards, Wigley ranks eighth in program history. He recently crossed 400 career attempts and sits 10th with 415. His 5.71 yards per carry trails only Paul Smith '00 (5.91) and Frank Capitani '58 (5.76). Wigley's 110.6 rushing yards per game this fall is the best by a Bullet since Tom Sturges '08 averaged 142.7 in 2007.  
 
MANASQUAN MAULERS
Senior Kodie McNamara and junior Chris Miller have combined for 560 tackles in their careers. McNamara ranks third in school history with 365 tackles and needs just 10 more stops to move into sole possession of second place. Miller is just five tackles shy of reaching 200 for his career. The Manasquan High School products have been in the starting lineup together for the last 21 games.
 
PASSING TD RECORD
Senior Sam McDermott is only three touchdown strikes shy of Gettysburg's single-season record. The current record was first achieved by Chris Adams '95 during the 1994 campaign and equaled by Matt Flynn '10 in 2009. Prior to this season, the senior signal caller had started only one game – last season's finale against Franklin & Marshall.
 
PLAYERS OF THE WEEK
The Bullets have been a common feature in weekly award releases this fall. Seniors Robby Fay (Sept. 13), Sam McDermott (Sept. 13), and Kyle Wigley (Oct. 4) and freshman Matt McFadden (Sept. 27) have all been honored as Centennial Conference Players of the Week. Additionally, McFadden was named to the D3Football.com Team of the Week as a special teams selection on Sept. 29.
 
HAPPY 50TH!
Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium is celebrating its 50th year of competition this season. With former President Dwight D. Eisenhower in attendance, the stadium was dedicated prior to the game against Bucknell on Sept. 25, 1965. The venue has witnessed the transition to NCAA Division III, the rise of the Centennial Conference, and dozens of conference titles. In addition to football, the field is the home venue for field hockey, men's lacrosse, and men's and women's track and field. In 2003, the field received a makeover and was named in honor of Dick Shirk '67, captain of the 1966 team that won the Lambert Memorial Cup as the best small college team in the East.