ERIE, Pa. - The Gannon football team concludes a two-game homestand Saturday, September 21 against Slippery Rock at Gannon University Field. The Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference (PSAC) Western Division opener is scheduled for 12 noon.
Tickets cost $5 for adults and $3 for non-Gannon students and senior citizens.
All Gannon students, staff and faculty are admitted free of charge by showing their school ID at the gate. The contest can be heard live locally on Jet Radio 1400 and online at
www.wergfm.com. A live video broadcast will also be available through America One by
clicking here.
Fans coming to Gannon University Field Saturday afternoon should be prepared for an exciting day. Gannon and Slippery Rock have both begun the season with a couple of shootouts. Their four games have featured an average of 87.3 combined points. The lowest scoring output by any team involved in those contests is 33 points while the 50-point plateau has been reached three times.
Slippery Rock ranks fifth among NCAA Division II teams in scoring offense (54.5) and total offense (594.0). Meanwhile, Gannon is eighth nationally in passing offense (384.5) and 11th in total offense (554.0).
Gannon generated 469 yards of total offense, 41 points and six touchdowns last Saturday during a 56-41 loss to No. 23 West Chester in the home opener. The two teams combined to produce 1,081 yards of total offense, including 694 through the air. The 97 combined points fell just two shy of the school record set during a 51-48 Gannon victory against Slippery Rock on October 17, 2009.
Redshirt sophomore
Liam Nadler broke a school record with five passing touchdowns to go along with his 34-of-55 chart. Nadler's 34 completions were one shy of the school record he set at Slippery Rock last season. His 371 passing yards represented the fourth-highest single-game total in school history.
Junior
Justin Caliste averaged 42.4 yards on five kickoff returns, breaking a school record with 212 yards. The performance surpassed the old mark of 203 set by Kevin Scott against Findlay on October 22, 2005. Caliste's 248 all-purpose yards equaled the sixth-highest total in school history.
Other notable performances included sophomore
Quad Law and redshirt junior
Luke Rankie. Law posted career-highs in receptions (10), receiving yards (132) and receiving touchdowns (2). Rankie had a career-high 11 tackles.
Junior
Abraham Ocasio enters Saturday's game with 1,255 career receiving yards, needing nine to move past Pat Cain (2000-03) and into Gannon's all-time top five. Caliste has 3,130 career all-purpose yards and needs 236 to move past Darmel Whitfield (2001-04) for fourth place all-time. Lastly, Nadler can tie Whitfield's school record for career 300-yard passing games (7) by reaching that plateau against the Rock. With 3,679 career passing yards, Nadler needs 252 yards to move past Zach Boedicker (2007-10) and into third place all-time.
Slippery Rock was listed among others receiving votes in this week's American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top 25 Poll. The Rock has scored a school-record 109 points during the first two weeks of the season. The previous best was set last season with 107 points.
Senior quarterback Nigel Barksdale has thrown for a school-record and conference-best 769 yards during the first two weeks. Barksdale has also thrown for a PSAC-leading 10 touchdowns thus far.
Senior wide receiver John Schademan had his second consecutive triple-digit receiving yard performance last Saturday with 109 yards on five catches. Schademan caught six passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns during the season opener, becoming the first Rock player to have 100 receiving yards or more in back-to-back games since Devin Goda had three straight triple-digit games (Weeks 3-5) in SRU's 2011 PSAC Western Division championship season. The Rock is unbeaten after two games for the fourth time during the last five seasons.
Gannon saw its three-game win streak in the all-time series against Slippery Rock snapped last season with a 38-18 defeat on the Rock's home field. The Golden Knights are 3-2 against Slippery Rock since joining the league in 2008, including a perfect 2-0 mark at Gannon University Field. Gannon produced victories during the last two meetings at home in 2009 (51-48) and 2011 (33-27). Last year's contest was only the second in eight all-time meetings that was decided by more than one score.
