Gettysburg College Athletics

OPENING KICKOFF: Today’s non-conference game marks the second meeting between Gettysburg (1-0) and Montclair State (0-0) in a series that dates back to 2023. The Red Hawks won the inaugural meeting last year 32-21 in Gettysburg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: Montclair State outscored Gettysburg 18-3 over a 17-minute stretch of the second half before enduring a 90-minute weather delay to notch a 32-21 victory in its first game of the season last season. Mike Del Grande led the Bullets defensively with six tackles, a forced fumble and a pass breakup. Rocco Abdinoor (Edgewater, Md./St. Mary's Annapolis) threw for 197 yards on 17 of 32 passing and ran for another 54 yards on 10 carries. He threw one touchdown. Andrew Sanborn threw for 180 yards, completing 19 of 29 passes in his first start. (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 5-26 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… Mike Palazzo took the reins of the Montclair program at the end of the 2022 season after spending the last nine years on staff, including the 2022 season as Associate Head Coach, Defensive Coordinator, and Recruiting Coordinator. He enters this season after a 5-5 campaign in 2023. This is his third stint as a member of the coaching staff for the former Red Hawk player, who was a student assistant in 2007 when Montclair claimed the ECAC South Atlantic Championship and tight ends/video coordinator from 2012-13 following his playing career. He spent the 2014 season as the defensive quality control coach at Towson before returning to Montclair in 2015. He also served as wide receivers coach during his time as an assistant.

LAST TIME OUT: Gettysburg outscored Juniata 27-6 in the second quarter to take a 34-37 lead into the locker room before completing its most offensive day in more than a decade with a 61-41 victory in the season opener last Saturday. Michael Zrelak (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) turned in a career day to lead the Bullets' offensive onslaught, racking up 214 yards rushing and four touchdowns on just 10 carries to average 21.4 yards per touch. It was the first in his career that he had rushed for even 100 yards. Hunter Wolfley rushed for 223 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Eagles. He did his on 18 carries, averaging 12.4 yards per run. (Full Recap) (Box Score)

LEADING THE WAY: Rocco Abdinoor and Vic Hofman (Pasadena, Calif./Maranatha) will 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.

HEADS OF THE CLASS: Nate DeLorenzo (Virginia Beach, Va./Norfolk Academy) and Michael Zrelak were named CC Players of the Week this past week. DeLorenzo earned the defensive honor after leading the Bullets with a career-high 12 tackles to go with two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries – one of which he returned 18 yards for a score. Five of his tackles were of the solo variety and he also notched 2.5 tackles for a loss. Zrelak claimed the offensive nod after turning in a career day to lead the offensive onslaught in a 61-41 win at Juniata. He racked up 214 yards rushing and four touchdowns on just 10 carries to average 21.4 yards per touch, which set a new CC record for single-game yards per attempt. It was his first career 100-yard rushing game.

HAVE A DAY, Z: Michael Zrelak not only had a career day in the win over Juniata on Saturday but he had arguably the best day for a Gettysburg running back in more than a decade. In addition to setting a new CC mark for average yards per rush (21.4), he became the first Bullet player to run for more than 200 since Ted Delia ran for 244 against Susquehanna on Sept. 24, 2011. Zrelak had three runs of 50 yards or longer, including a 67-yard touchdown scamper for the team’s longest rush since 2016. His four rushing touchdowns were also the most since Delia did it on Sept. 8, 2012 at Ursinus.

DELO, DE-GONE: Nate DeLorenzo opened up his year with a bang on the defensive side. He was the only player in the conference in Week 1 to record more than 10 tackles but also added two forced fumbles and two fumble recoveries, which tied a program record. He picked up his second fumble and returned it 18 yards for a touchdown. 

RUNNING DOWN A DREAM: As a team, Gettysburg rushed for 390 yards in Saturday’s season-opening win. It was the second most yards by any Division III team in the first game of the 2024 season. Only Hope, which ran for 391 yards in a 49-0 home win over Loras, had more rushing yards last weekend. No other team in Division III ran for more than 362 yards and only six ran for 300 or more. Individually, Michael Zrelak and Rocco Abdinoor became the first Bullet teammates to run for 100 or more yards in the same game since Sam McDermott (183) and Kyle Wigley (173) did it against Bridgewater on Sept. 4, 2015. The 390 rushing yards by the team were the most since that game. The Gettysburg-Juniata game featured two of the top three individual rushing performances for Week 1. 

GETTING OFFENSIVE: Gettysburg put up 61 points in Saturday’s win – 54 of which came in the final three quarters – for its highest scoring game since defeating Misericordia 62-40 in the 2013 season opener. That game also took place on the road on Sept. 7. The offense racked up 656 yards of total offense – the most in a game since going for 678 at Bridgewater in the 2015 opener. That game featured 574 rushing yards by the Bullets.

LIKE A ROCCO: Rocco Abdinoor notched his fifth career 200-yard passing game on Saturday, completing 20 of 34 passes for 266 yards. He threw a pair of touchdown passes and did not have an interception. Additionally, the junior quarterback ran for 123 yards on 12 carries with two more touchdowns on the ground. Of those 123 yards, 48 came on a second-quarter scoring run. He had passing touchdowns of 53 and 41 in the game as well. 

BULLET POINTS: Isaac Parks-Gill (Lewistown, Pa./Mifflin County) saw his first kicking action in the freshman’s first collegiate game. He went 5-for-6 in PAT attempts… Jason Roskam (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) recorded his first collegiate 100-yard receiving game with 141 yards on eight catches. He also had the Bullets’ first two-touchdown receiving game since Ty Abdul-Karim had three against Moravian on Oct. 29, 2016… The Bullets play just five games this season in the traditional 1:00 Saturday timeslot. Gettysburg has two noon kickoffs, including the opener, and one 3:00 Saturday kickoff along with two Friday night games. The two games on Oct. 4 and 11 will be the first-ever night games played at Musselman Stadium… It was announced earlier this week that Carnegie Mellon will be joining the Centennial Conference as an associate member, bringing the conference back to an eight-team league in 2025.

The Red Hawks open the 2024 season off a 5-5 year in Mike Palazzo’s debut campaign as the head man… Henry Lewis ran for 724 yards as a sophomore last season. He scampered for four touchdowns with a pair of 100-yard rushing games. He exploded for 176 yards on 19 carries against Kean on Oct. 7 before closing the year with 127 on 19 touches against Muhlenberg on Nov. 10. He will return to anchor the backfield after the loss of Abellany Mendez and his 510 yards and seven touchdowns on the ground… Andrew Sanborn and Aidan McLaughlin split time at quarterback last season. Sanborn saw action in six of the first seven games, throwing for 873 yards and eight touchdowns but also threw eight interceptions. He completed 83 of 153 passes. McLaughlin saw most of his action under center over the final five games, throwing for 805 yards with three touchdowns and three interceptions. He went 80-for-143, McLaughlin is projected to be the starter with Mason Murdock as his backup… The Montclair offense will need to replace the 503 yards and five touchdowns of Clarence Wilkins in the passing game. Anthony Roige will be the go-to man to start the year after his team-high 50 grabs in 2023, hauling in 469 yards and four scores… Nicholas Burgess racked up 101 tackles to lead the defense last year. He had 3.5 tackles for loss, including 2.0 sacks, to go with an interception and pass breakup. No other Red Hawk defender had more than 58 stops… Jake Colon had 58 tackles but 10.5 of them were for a loss, including 4.0 sacks. He also had three forced fumbles and two pass breakups… Burgess was the NJAC Defensive Player of the Year in 2023, joining as a returning first-team all-league selection. Roige was a second-team nod… Montclair does not play a game that kicks off at 1:00 until Oct. 19 when it travels to Salisbury.