HUNTINGDON, Pa. - The Juniata football program closes out its home season against Moravian College Saturday, Nov. 3 at 12 p.m. The Eagles will take time to honor their departing seniors before the Centennial Conference match-up. Moravian's recent history eerily matches that of the Eagles. They have a head coach in his second season, who is an alum of the college, with a passing game that relies on the on arm of sophomore quarterback. They posted less than three wins last season and have just two on the books in 2012. Where the programs begin to differ are the numbers put up by the young QB's and the stands of their defenses.
Juniata's young gun Ward Udinski has a 60.8 completion rate with 1,961 passing yards in 172 completions. The Greyhound's Jimmy Lahue has just 102 completions for 1,157 yards with a 50.2 completion rate. Udinski has also outrushed the Greyhound's top running back. He leads the Eagles with 456 total yards, while Moravian's leading rusher Joe Tegan, who is averaging 50 yards per game, has nearly 100 less total yards at 377 on the season. Defensively, Moravian has given up 76 points in its last two games to the Eagles 41. Juniata arguably has the stronger defensive fronts with the conference sack leader in Brandon Felus and two linebackers, Noah Walstrom and Kevin Gorman, who are 10th and 11th, respectively, on the leading tacklers list. Moravian's Rocco Del Priore is the highest ranked Greyhound tackler at 12th.
SERIES HISTORY
This is the 57th meeting between the two programs and Moravian leads the all-time series 28-26-2. The programs have been meeting since 1932, but this is only the second meeting of head coaches Tim Launtz and Jeff Pukszyn. Juniata is looking for its first home win against Moravian since 2001. The last time the Eagles defeated Moravian was in 2009. The Greyhounds have owned the recent series 4-1.
LAST MEETING • Saturday, November 5, 2011
Juniata College freshman cornerback Nicholas Stubbs completed a season triple crown on touchdown returns, but the Eagles committed five turnovers leading to 21 Moravian College points and dropped a 28-7 Centennial Conference football loss to the Greyhounds, Saturday afternoon at Rocco Calvo Field. Juniata finished with 83 yards of total offense and four first downs. Ward Udinski finished the game 13-of-26 passing for 59 yards. Wide receiver Julian Valdiserri hauled in three passes for 19 yards, while Quadir Christian had a pair of catches for 12 yards. Zach McCaulley led the ground game with eight carries for 33 yards. Defensively, linebacker Kevin Gorman paced Juniata with 11 total tackles, including five solo stops, with one sack for a yard. Rookie linebacker Ethan Wilt logged eight tackles while linebacker Noah Walstrom had seven tackles.
EAGLES AGAINST THE NATION
Juniata has five players ranked nationally in NCAA Division III. As a team, they are ranked top 100 in sacks (42nd), passing offense (56th), tackles for loss (68th) and rushing defense (85th).
JUNIOR JUMPSTARTS DOMINATING DEFENSE
Led by junior Brandon Felus, the Juniata defense held league rival McDaniel College scoreless for over three quarters and gave up just a single touchdown in their 24-7 win (Oct. 27). Tied at 21st in sacks, Felus is the only Eagle nationally ranked top 25 individually and leads the league with eight. He was named Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week (Oct. 28) for his season-high 10 tackles and three sacks in the McDaniel win.
PAT's COME EASY
Juniata is one of four teams in the league to be 100-pct. in extra points this year. Senior Scott Andrews is a perfect 16-for-16. The place kicker also happens to be tied for 27th nationally in field goals.
