Gettysburg College Athletics

OPENING KICKOFF: Today’s Centennial Conference (CC) game marks the 89th meeting between Gettysburg (2-5, 1-2 CC) and Dickinson (4-3, 1-2 CC) in a series that dates back to 1892. The Bullets lead the all-time series 44-42-2 but the Red Devils have won the last seven meetings, including a 28-25 win in Gettysburg last season. The last Gettysburg victory was by a 20-17 margin in 2015 at Gettysburg.

WHEN LAST WE MET: Two Dickinson touchdowns in the final 3:25 of the first half proved the difference in a 28-25 victory over Gettysburg last Saturday. Ryan McAndrew made nine catches for 131 yards and a touchdown to lead the Bullets. Aidan Feulner caught four passes for 24 yards but also threw a 39-yard touchdown pass and caught a two-point conversion. Matt Mikulka paced the defense with 10 tackles and two pass breakups. Diante Ball led the Red Devils with 9 carries for 197 yards. (Full Recap) (Box Score)

BATTLE FOR THE BUCKET: The Little Brown Bucket or Old Oaken Bucket has been a staple of the Gettysburg-Dickinson rivalry since 1938. The trophy was created by S. Walter Stauffer and George Hummel, members of the Dickinson and Gettysburg Board of Trustees, respectively. The first game with the Bucket on the line was played on Thanksgiving and the Bullets emerged victorious 14-0, kicking off a string of nine consecutive wins. Since the introduction of the Bucket, Dickinson has led the rivalry 31-22-1. Both teams have nine-game winning streaks over the history of the series. The Bullets’ series against the Red Devils is one of their oldest, dating back to 1892 – the third season of Gettysburg football. Gettysburg won that game 18-6 and has never trailed in a series that was tied at 1-all and 7-all. It is the second-most contested rivalry in Bullets’ history only to the Gettysburg-Franklin & Marshall series.

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 6-31 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… Brad Fordyce is in his eighth season at the helm of the Red Devils, entering today with a record of 29-38. He spent the previous two seasons as the linebackers coach and recruiting coordinator at Bucknell. No stranger to the Centennial Conference, Fordyce served seven seasons as the defensive coordinator at Susquehanna and was also on the McDaniel staff for nine seasons, including the final four years as defensive coordinator.

LAST TIME OUT: College of New Jersey scored 27 straight points, overcoming an early 13-0 deficit and defeating Gettysburg 41-31 last Saturday. Rocco Abdinoor (Edgewater, Md./St. Mary’s Annapolis) led the Bullets once again with 237 yards passing, completing 24 of 40 passes with two touchdowns. He also ran the ball six times for 114 yards with a touchdown and caught a 10-yard pass. Jayson Schmidt ran the ball 35 times to lead the Lions, racking up 247 of the team's 253 yards on the ground with four touchdowns.

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.

30 IS THE NEW 20: With 31 points in last Saturday’s game against College of New Jersey, Gettysburg scored 30 or more points in back-to-back games for the first time since the 2016 season. In that season, the Bullets reached the 30-pont mark six times in the 10 games – the latest of which was a 52-21 win over Moravian on Oct. 29 and 37-34 double-overtime loss at Dickinson on Nov. 5. There was a run of four straight games earlier that season with 30 or more points.

TRIPLE-THREAT: Rocco Abdinoor has been a dual-threat quarterback for his entire Gettysburg career. However, on Saturday he caught his first collegiate pass to become a triple threat. Abdinoor caught a 10-yard pass from Matt O’Connor (Stamford, Conn./St. Luke’s School) early in the second quarter. Abdinoor also ran the ball six times for 114 yards, reaching the 100-yard mark in rushing for the fourth time this season. He also had his fourth 200-yard passing game with 237 yards through the air, completing 24 passes on a career-high 40 attempts. He is currently second in the league in total offense, averaging 289.7 yards per game – 208.4 passing and 81.3 rushing.

TWO HEADS ARE BETTER THAN ONE: Matt O’Connor completed his second pass of the season on Saturday, connecting with fellow quarterback Rocco Abdinoor. The Bullets lined up O’Connor and Abdinoor on offense numerous times against the Lions. O’Connor lined up in the quarterback position and kept it on three rushes for 10 yards, including scoring an eight-yard touchdown run to the pylon and a one-yard run off left end. He joins Abdinoor and Michael Zrelak (Monroe, N.Y./Monroe-Woodbury) with multiple rushing touchdowns this season.

THREE OF A KIND: The Gettysburg defense intercepted another three passes on Saturday and enters this week second in the conference with eight picks on the year. Tyler Wells (Rincon, Ga./Effingham County) nabbed his first career interception to end a College of New Jersey drive as the first half ended to keep it a one-point game at the intermission. One play after a third-quarter Bullet turnover, Nate DeLorenzo (Virginia Beach, Va./Norfolk Academy) picked off a tipped pass for his team-leading third interception of the season. Alex Estes (Ashburn, Va./Broad Run) started the fourth quarter with his first career interception to complete the hat trick.

RUNNING DOWN A DREAM: Gettysburg enters this week as the top rushing team in the conference, averaging 208.9 yards per game. The Bullets are averaging 6.3 yards per carry and have found the end zone 16 times on the ground. Michael Zrelak and Rocco Abdinoor both have more than 500 yards on the year. Zrelak leads the team with 576 yards on 99 carries with six touchdowns. His 82.3 yards per game is second in the conference. Abdinoor is third in the CC at 81.3 yards per game. He has 569 yards on 75 attempts. After averaging 19.0 yards per rush last week, the signal caller is now averaging 7.59 yards per carry, which is seventh among all Division III rushers and second among quarterbacks. Only Olivet’s Thomas Foust has a better average at 9.46 (76-719) among QBs.

BULLET POINTS: The Bullets used their fifth different kicker on Saturday. Jax Lechner (Destin, Fla./Fort Walton Beach) was the fourth different player to kick off, booting six kickoffs for a 40.2-yard average… Gettysburg has held a lead in five of its seven games this season… The Bullets have scored 224 points this season. With one more touchdown, it will be Gettysburg’s highest scoring season since 2016… This is one of just five games this season in the traditional 1:00 Saturday timeslot. The final four games of the season have a 1:00 kickoff. Gettysburg had two noon kickoffs, one 3:00 Saturday kickoff along with two Friday night games. 

The Red Devils enter today’s game off a 49-20 loss at Muhlenberg last Saturday. After Dickinson closed to within 14-7 midway through the second quarter, the Mules scored 28 points in a stretch of 9 minutes, 11 seconds of game time between the 1:55 remaining in the second quarter and the 7:44 mark of the third quarter, stretching their advantage to 42-7. Presley Egbers led the Red Devils with 282 yards passing, completing 25 of 41 passes with two touchdowns but also three interceptions – one of which was returned 75 yards for a touchdown. Egbers also ran the ball seven times for 25 yards. Bobby Markey caught five passes for 90 yards and both scores while Rocco DiRico hauled in seven passes for 75 yards. John Prochniak made 12 tackles, including a sack… Diante Ball leads the Dickinson rushing corps with 98 carries for 364 yards and two touchdowns. He has just one 100-yard rushing game this season, carrying the ball 17 times for 127 yards in the 24-0 win over McDaniel two weeks ago. However, in his career Ball has three 100-yard rushing games against Gettysburg. He has carried the ball 70 times for 587 yards and three touchdowns. As a freshman, he had 15 carries for 113 yards before running the ball 29 times for 197 yards as a sophomore and 26 times for 277 yards with three scores last season… Egbers is completing 67 percent (128 of 191) of his passes this season with 13 touchdowns. He has 1,475 yards this season. His 245.8 yards per game is third in the conference, throwing for 200 or more yards in five of the six games in which he has played. He has multiple touchdown throws in all but one game as well… Markey and DiRico have combined for nearly 1,000 of the Red Devils’ 1,748 receiving yards. Markey has 536 yards on 45 grabs with five scores while DiRico has 452 yards on 26 receptions with four touchdowns. The duo has combined for three 100-yard receiving games… Keon Eddy has eight pass breakups and one of Dickinson’s four interceptions… Saturday was just the second time in seven games that the Red Devils did not score 21 points in a game. The only other time was a 23-14 loss at Franklin & Marshall on Oct. 5… Two of Dickinson’s four wins have been a shutout, blanking William Paterson 24-0 on Sept. 14 and McDaniel by the same score on Oct. 19.