Gettysburg College Athletics

OPENING KICKOFF: Today’s non-conference game marks the second meeting between Gettysburg (2-4) and College of New Jersey (4-2) in a series that dates back to 2023. The Lions won the initial meeting last season in Ewing, 30-13.

WHEN LAST WE MET: The College of New Jersey held Gettysburg off the scoreboard for more than 40 minutes while building a three-score lead en route to a 30-13 victory last Saturday. Justin Rhyne (Haddonfield, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial) led the Bullets with a career-high 11 tackles. He was one of four members of the defensive front seven with seven or more tackles. Ryan McAndrew led the offense with seven catches for 140 yards and a touchdown. Trevor Bopp completed 24 of 39 passes for 290 yards and two touchdowns for the Lions. (Full Recap) (Box Score)

COACHES’ CORNER: Moe Banks is in his fifth year in charge of the Gettysburg program and fourth season with games. Banks enters today’s game with a 6-30 record on the sidelines. He came to Gettysburg after six seasons at Georgetown (2014-18) and Penn (2019). At Georgetown, he coached defensive backs and oversaw special teams, including mentoring a secondary that ranked third in the FCS in team passing efficiency defense (97.2 percent) and fourth in interceptions (20) in 2018. At Penn, Banks assisted with the development and implementation of defensive and special teams schemes. He coached a pair of All-Ivy League selections at linebacker and was also the play-caller for the kickoff unit, which finished third in the Ivy League in net kickoff average… Eric Jendryaszek is in his first season as interim head coach for the Lions. Jendryaszek is the longest tenured assistant on the TCNJ staff, arriving prior to the 2017 season. He came to Ewing as the Lions’ offensive coordinator but has since shifted to offensive line and lead recruiting duties. Jendryaszek’s work with the offensive linemen led to a pair of players earning All-NJAC honors in 2023. Prior to his arrival at TCNJ, Jendryaszek was the offensive coordinator and offensive line coach at King’s College from 2010-16. He also served for a period as the tight ends coach and spent time assisting as the strength and conditioning coach, recruiting and general football operations. Jendryaszek began his collegiate coaching career at his alma mater, SUNY Cortland. He was the offensive line and assistant strength coach from 2008-10.

LAST TIME OUT: Muhlenberg scored on three straight possessions after Gettysburg closed to within 37-36 late in the third quarter to record a 58-42 win last Saturday. Rocco Abdinoor (Edgewater, Md./St. Mary’s Annapolis) led the Bullets with 504 yards of total offense. He completed 25 of 38 passes for a career-high 352 yards passing. He also ran 13 times for a season-high 152 yards. Joe Repetti completed 22 of 27 passes for 284 to pace the Mules. He threw three touchdowns. (Full Recap) (Box Score)

LEADING THE WAY: Rocco Abdinoor and Vic Hofman (Pasadena, Calif./Maranatha) captain the squad in 2024. Both are first-time captains. It is the first time since 2019 that the Bullets have had just two captains for a season.

HEAD OF THE CLASS: Rocco Abdinoor was named the CC Offensive Player of the Week for the second time in his career after accounting for 504 yards of total offense at Muhlenberg on Saturday. It is the fourth time this season that a Gettysburg player has earned the conference’s weekly honor. Michael Zrelak (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) was tabbed Offensive Player of the Week after Week 1 while Nate DeLorenzo (Virginia Beach, Va./Norfolk Academy) has nabbed Defensive Player of the Week accolades twice this season.

500-LEVEL CLASS: Rocco Abdinoor had arguably his best offensive day in a Bullet uniform at Muhlenberg on Saturday. The junior signal caller turned in 504 yards of total offense, becoming just the second Gettysburg player to record more than 500 yards of total offense in a single game. The only other player was Matt Flynn, who had 522 at Ursinus on Oct. 3, 2009. For Flynn, however, 519 of the 522 yards came through the air in a game in which the two teams combined for a 1,319 yards – a total that still stands as the most combined yards in a CC game. Abdinoor ran for a season-high 152 yards on Saturday in addition to throwing for a career-high 352 yards. The passing yards were the most since Kyle Whitmoyer threw for 374 against Ursinus a year after Flynn carved up the Bears.

ONE IF BY LAND, THREE IF BY AIR: Rocco Abdinoor accounted for four touchdowns in a game this season for the third time on Saturday. He threw for two and ran for another two in the opener at Juniata before throwing for three and running for two against Christopher Newport in the home opener. He has three three-touchdown games this season, also tossing three scores at Montclair on Sept. 14. In addition to his second career 300-yard passing game at Muhlenberg, he had his third 200-yard passing game of the season.

GETTING OFFENSIVE: Gettysburg and Muhlenberg combined for 100 points and 1,082 yards of offense on Saturday. It was the most combined points in the 88-game history of the series between the two longtime rivals. Gettysburg put up more than 600 yards of total offense for the second time this season with 608 yards. The Bullet offense enters this week in the top three in the conference in scoring (32.2 ppg, third), total offense (410.5 ypg, third) and rushing offense (204.3 ypg, second). The Gettysburg offense is averaging 499.0 yards per game and 38.0 points per game in its four Saturday games.

GOING LONG: The Bullet offense racked up 11 plays on Saturday that went for 20 or more yards, including a season-high seven pass plays. Eight different players accounted for those plays. Rocco Abdinoor, in addition to being on the front end of the seven pass plays, broke off runs of 42 yards and 75 yards in the first half. Luke Denison (Madison, N.J./Madison) was the only receiver to catch two passes of 20 or more yards, hauling in grabs of 50 and 27 yards among his career-high 84 receiving yards. Michael Zrelak rounded out the trio with multiple big plays with a 32-yard run and 21-yard catch.

RUNNING DOWN A DREAM: Gettysburg enters the week averaging 204.3 rushing yards per game, which ranks second in the conference and 28th in all of Division III. Michael Zrelak is ranked second in the league in rushing yards at 80.8 yards per game while Rocco Abdinoor ranks third at 75.8 ypg. Peter Schelling (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) ranks seventh at 43.2 ypg. Muhlenberg is the only other team with even two players in the top 10 on the conference’s rushing chart. Zrelak’s 6.59 yards per carry is second in the conference while Abdinoor’s 6.47 yards per carry is third. The duo is also part of a tie for third in the CC in rushing touchdowns with six each.

BULLET POINTS: The Gettysburg defense has scored four touchdowns this season, which leads all of Division III… Anad Charles (Philadelphia, Pa./Riverview) had his first collegiate double-digit tackle game with 11 stops – all solo – on Saturday at Muhlenberg… This is one of just five games this season in the traditional 1:00 Saturday timeslot. All four of the remaining games have a 1:00 kickoff. Gettysburg had two noon kickoffs, one 3:00 Saturday kickoff along with two Friday night games. 

The Lions enter today’s game off a lopsided Homecoming victory over Kean last Saturday, 48-7. Ryan Gill caught three touchdown passes and Justin Kurc picked off three Kean passes, including one of two pick-sixes. After trading touchdowns in the first quarter, TCNJ scored the game’s final 41 points that included a 31-point second quarter. The run started with a Justin Kurc 48-yard interception return for a touchdown with 13:32 on the second-quarter clock. Trevor Bopp threw for 347 yards and four touchdowns for the Lions, which got 10 catches for 188 yards and a score from Malin Jasinski. Gill finished with five catches for 107 yards. He was the first Lion to catch three touchdowns in a game since 2002. Kurc’s three-interception game was the most for a TCNJ player since 2008… The Lions outgained the Cougars 460-166 on Saturday. It was the fourth time this season the offense had 400 or more yards of offense and a season-low yardage allowed by the defense… The defense doubled its interception total last week with five. The offense has thrown 11 picks this season… Bopp has already thrown for 2,000 yards this season, entering the seventh game of the year with 2,002 yards, completing 58.6 percent (126 of 215) of his passes with 19 touchdowns and the 11 interceptions. Bopp has thrown for 200 or more yards in all six games, including 553 yards with five touchdowns in the 55-52 loss to Muhlenberg. He is second in program history with 5,532 career passing yards… Jayson Schmidt has rushed for 545 yards and four touchdowns… Jasinski has 812 receiving yards and five touchdowns. He has four games with 139 or more yards, hauling in double-digit grabs in each of those contests. He had 250 yards on 10 grabs against the Mules… Kurc has five interceptions and nine pass breakups while Jack Young has 10 pass breakups along with one interception… Entering last Saturday, three of College of New Jersey’s first five games were decided by one score. None of the first five games were decided by more than 22 points and the 41-point margin of victory was nearly as large as the total difference in all five games (50)… After starting the season 2-0, the Lions have alternated wins and losses. This is the rubber game against the Centennial for TCNJ, entering today 1-1. The Lions defeated Franklin & Marshall at home 17-13 on Sept. 14 before falling 55-52 at Muhlenberg the next Saturday.