Gettysburg College Athletics

OPENING KICKOFF: Today’s non-conference game marks the second meeting between Gettysburg (1-1) and Christopher Newport (1-1) in a series that dates back to 2023. The Captains won the inaugural meeting last year 49-17 in Newport News.

WHEN LAST WE MET: Last season, a 21-point second quarter gave host Christopher Newport a 28-3 lead en route to a 49-17 victory over Gettysburg. Peter Schelling (Chatham, N.J./Chatham) led the Bullets with 46 yards rushing but scored both touchdowns. Anad Charles (Riverview, Fla./Riverview) paced the defense with seven tackles. Connor Barry went 14-for-20 for the Captains for 287 yards and two touchdowns. Trey Hayes caught six passes for 136 yards and a score.(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 5-27 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… Paul Crowley is in his third season as head coach at Christopher Newport and enters today with an overall record of 15-8. His squad recorded a 7-3 overall record in his first season, and a 5-1 mark in the NJAC, finishing second in the standings and winning six consecutive games. Year two brought a 7-4 record that also included a 5-1 NJAC record and conference title. The Captains fell to Randolph-Macon 28-20 in the first round of the NCAA tournament. The former standout Captains offensive lineman is in his 15th season of college coaching in 2023, and his 13th at CNU. He also serves as quarterbacks coach. During his two tentures on staff (2009-16 and 2019-21), Crowley rose to recruiting coordinator while also working with multiple position groups, including running backs, wide receivers, tight ends and offensive linemen. He was the Captains’ primary playcaller during the 2015 and 2016 campaigns, leading CNU to two of the top four passing seasons in program history. Between stints in Newport News, he spent two seasons coaching the running backs at William and Mary in 2017 and 2018. A First Team All-USA South Center with the Captains, Crowley played for CNU from 2005-08.

LAST TIME OUT: Montclair outscored Gettysburg 9-6 in the fourth quarter, including converting a 19-yard field goal attempt as time expired to snatch a victory, 27-26. Walle Harwigsson Lundblad (Malmo, Sweden/Rabun Gap Nacoochee School) led the Bullets with seven catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns. Rocco Abdinoor (Edgewater, Md./St. Mary’s Annapolis) racked up 229 yards of total offense, completing 18 of 36 passes for 190 yards and three touchdowns while also running 10 times for 39 yards. Henry Lewis led the Red Hawks with 88 yards rushing on 13 carries with two 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.

WELCOME, ALUMS!: It’s Homecoming Weekend at Gettysburg. The Bullets enter the 2024 season with an all-time record of 54-34-3 in from of the alumni. Gettysburg dropped a 41-13 game to 21st-ranked Muhlenberg last season and have dropped five of the last six on Homecoming. This is Christopher Newport’s first visit to Shirk Field. It is the first first-time Homecoming foe for the Bullets since a 42-28 win over Susquehanna on Sept. 28, 2013. This is the earliest Homecoming at Gettysburg since hosting Dickinson on Sept. 16, 2017 – a 24-21 Red Devil win.

DE-GONE AGAIN: Nate DeLorenzo has returned turnovers for touchdowns in each of the first two games in 2024. In the opener at Juniata, it was a scoop-and-score when he took a fumble back 18 yards for a touchdown. Last Saturday at Montclair, the junior linebacker had a pick-6, returning an interception 66 yards to the house.

CLOSE ONLY COUNTS IN HORSESHOES: The Bullets were on the wrong end of a heartbreaking loss at Montclair last Saturday. Gettysburg had built a 13-0 lead before a Red Hawk touchdown with 4:02 remaining gave the hosts a 24-20 lead. The Orange and Blue had the answer, however, taking the ensuing drive 83 yards in eight plays and scoring the go-ahead touchdown when Rocco Abdinoor hit Walle Harwigsson in the back corner of the end zone on a 32-yard pass play. Leading by two, the Bullets opted to go for two and force Montclair to score a touchdown to win. After missing the conversion, the Red Hawks connected on a 46-yard pass play to move to the Gettysburg 19 and then eventually got the ball to the one-yard line and kicked the game-winning 19-yard field goal as time expired for the 27-26 win. It was the first time the Bullets had be in a one-point game since falling 33-32 to Bridgewater on Sept. 6, 2014 and the first time it had happened on the road since Nov. 17, 2017 ECAC Bowl game at Carnegie Mellon (21-20).

THRICE AS NICE: Rocco Abdinoor threw a career-high three touchdown passes on Saturday at Montclair. He was the first Gettysburg signal caller to connect on three scoring tosses since Justin Davidov threw three at Ursinus on Sept. 10, 2016. That game featured five aerial touchdowns with Danny Thompson completing 10 of 15 passes for 200 yards and two scores and Davidson hitting 5 of 10 passes for 160 yards and scoring throws of 64, 33, and 29 in the 42-17 win. Abdinoor just missed his second straight 200-yard passing games, throwing for 190 on 18 of 36 through the air.

DOUBLE YOUR PLEASURE: Walle Harwigsson made it back-to-back Bullet receivers with two-touchdown outings in 2024. A week after Jason Roskam (Randolph, N.J./Randolph) caught two scoring passes from Rocco Abdinoor at Juniata, Harwigsson found the end zone twice for the first time in his career with grabs from one yard out in the first quarter and 32 yards out in the fourth quarter.

AIN’T THAT SPECIAL: Saturday’s game at Montclair featured plenty of big plays in special teams. Gettysburg converted a fake field goal attempt that kept a 20-play drive going and set up its first touchdown. That came on the same drive in which a running into the punter call converted a fourth down for the Bullets. On the fake field goal, Anthony Comeau (Olney, Md./Sherwood) connected with Zach Chostaka (Ridgewood, N.J./Northern Highlands Regional) for an eight-yard gain. Tyson Eveque (Fort Myers, Fla./Cypress Lake) also blocked a PAT attempt in the second quarter. In the third quarter, Montclair blocked a Gettysburg field goal attempt and returned it for a touchdown.

BULLET POINTS: The Bullets have won the turnover battle in each of the first two games this season. For the season, Gettysburg is plus-4 in turnover margin and plus-15 in points off turnovers… The Bullets play just five games this season in the traditional 1:00 Saturday timeslot. This week is the first of those kickoffs with the next one not coming until Oct. 26. 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.

The Captains enter this week’s game off a 14-3 home loss to No. 7 Johns Hopkins last Saturday. The defensive game featured just 324 yards of total offense combined. Christopher Newport limited a traditionally high-flying Blue Jay offense to just 180 total yards, including just 60 on the ground. Of the 120 passing yards from Johns Hopkins, 48 came on its two touchdown passes… The Captains ran just 52 plays last Saturday and managed just the 144 yards of total offense. In the second half, they ran 25 plays for just 62 yards. Three CNU quarterbacks combined to go 9-of-22 for 70 yards with one interception… Gunner White led the Christopher Newport offense with 55 yards rushing on 10 carries. He also caught four passes for 28 yards… Masi Bruning and Noah Martin both had double-digit tackles with 11 and 10, respectively. Bruning added 2.5 tackles for loss, including 2.0 sacks. As a defense, the Captains got the Johns Hopkins’ Bay Harvey for six sacks… White has rushed for 126 yards with two touchdowns on 22 carries in the first two games of the year. He has the team’s lone rushing scores this year… Matt Dzierski completed 13 of 15 passes in the opener at Trine, racking up 278 passing yards and three TDs before going just 5-for-12 for 43 yards against Hopkins… He also ran the ball six times for 26 yards in the opener… Trey Hayes has six catches for 135 yards and touchdown this year… Colin Hart has found the end zone on half of his four grabs, recording 69 yards receiving through the first two contests… Seven different Captain defenders have been involved in a sack this season. Jordan Cokley leads the group with 3.0 sacks while Bruning has the two from last Saturday… The three points was the fewest scored in the Paul Crowley era at Christopher Newport. It was just the second time the Captains had been held to single digits. The only other time was in Crowley’s debut – a 9-3 win at Washington and Lee on Sept. 3, 2022.