GANNON GOLDEN KNIGHTS (4-6, 3-4 PSAC West) at EAST STROUDSBURG WARRIORS (5-5, 3-4 PSAC East)
DATE:  Saturday, November 13, 2021
KICKOFF: 1:05 p.m.
STADIUM:  Gregory-Douds Field at Eiler-Martin Stadium l East Stroudsburg, Pa.

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ERIE, Pa. - Gannon wraps up the 2021 season as it began – with a long road trip. The Golden Knights began the year with a trip to Midland, Mich. to play Northwood. Now they travel across the state to face East Stroudsburg in a PSAC crossover contest. It marks the first meeting between the two since 2015. Head coach Erik Raeburn's squad is looking for a fifth win, which would match the most since the 2017 Gannon edition finished at 5-6.
 
SERIES RECORD
East Stroudsburg leads 3-1
This is just the fifth meeting between the Golden Knights and the Warriors, with ESU winning three of the first four. Gannon's lone win was a 66-41 triumph at McConnell Family Stadium in 2014. The last two meetings have been high-scoring affairs – 66-41 in 2014 and 49-37 in 2015 in favor of ESU.

LAST MEETING
2015 – at East Stroudsburg 49, Gannon 37 l RECAP
Liam Nadler threw for 357 yards and 4 TDs, but Matt Soltes bettered the GU quarterback with 435 yards and 5 TD passes. Branden Mansell hauled in three of Nadler's touchdown tosses, with the second a 15-yarder that pulled Gannon to within 35-31 early in the third quarter. ESU would score back-to-back touchdowns, however, one in the third quarter and another in the fourth for a 49-31 lead. Mansell and Nadler would hook up one last time late in the game. Mansell caught 7 passes for 105 yards, while Jesstin Hamm also caught 7 passes for 122 yards and a touchdown. Brock Jones led all rushers with 95 yards on 12 carries. Gannon would finish with 483 yards while the Warriors totaled 561 yards.  

LAST WEEK
at Mercyhurst 24, Gannon 13 l RECAP
Gannon jumped out to a 6-0 lead midway through the first quarter on Eric Scarpino (Waterford, Pa./Fort LeBoeuf) field goals of 35 and 21 yards. The second was set up by a Cam Jenkins' interception. The Golden Knights would struggle after that as they were hampered by penalties and turnovers. Mercyhurst would go up 14-6 at the half, but Gannon put together a 10-pllay, 39-yard drive on the first possession of the third quarter to close to 14-13. Kory Curtis (Cape Coral, Fla.) connected with Damerisse Freeman Jr. (Euclid, Ohio/St.. Edward) for a seven-yard touchdown pass. Unfortunately, GU would not reach the end zone again as Mercyhurst kicked a 30-yard field goal in the final minute of the third quarter, and added two-yard touchdown run midway through the fourth. Melvin Blanks (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) ran for 50 yards on 16 carries to boost his season total to 1,015 yards. Curtis completed 17-of-31 passes for 195 yards but was intercepted three times. Freeman caught 5 passes for 69 yards. Gannon finished with 261 total yards, while the defense limited Mercyhurst to 286 yards.

at No. 11 Shepherd 55, East Stroudsburg 7
ESU had the unenviable task of playing at a Shepherd team that was ranked 11^th nationally and needed a win to reach the PSAC Championship game. ESU trailed just 24-0 at the half, but the Rams tacked on 24 points in the third quarter. The Warriors closed to 27-27 on a Jake Cirillo-to-David Akinwande four-yard pass, but Shepherd scored the final 28 points. Shepherd finished with 640 yards to 125 for the Warriors, throwing for 447 yards, and ran off 84 plays compared to 45 for ESU. Cirillo completed 14-of-25 passes for 87 yards. The Warriors were held to 38 yards on the ground.

HEAD COACHES
Erik Raeburn (Mount Union '94) is in his second season as Gannon's head coach after serving as the offensive coordinator in 2019. He took over a Gannon squad which had posted a 2-9 record in 2019. The Golden Knights were 1-3 during the spring. Raeburn has a 148-71 career record and is in his 21^st season as a head coach. He joined the Gannon staff as offensive coordinator in 2019 after serving as the head coach at Savannah State for three seasons from 2016 to 2018. From 2008-15, Raeburn enjoyed great success at Wabash. He led the Little Giants to a 78-13 record in eight seasons, with five NCAA Division II Playoffs appearances and three North Coast Athletic Conference titles. Prior to that he served as the head coach at Coe College from 2000-07, where he was 57-26 in eight seasons. That included three conference championships and two trips to the NCAA Division III playoffs. He began his coaching career at his alma mater, Mount Union, in 1994.  
 
Jimmy Terwilliger (East Stroudsburg '07) is in his third season as head coach at his alma mater, showing a 12-11 record. Terwilliger is a legend at ESU after enjoying a stellar career as a quarterback for the Warriors.  A record-setting signalcaller, he was the 2005 Harlon Hill Award winner as the most outstanding player in Division II. He tied the NCAA all-division record for touchdown passes (148) and set DII career records for total offense (16,064 yards), passing yards (14,350), pass efficiency (170.7), touchdowns responsible for (161) and points responsible for (966). He graduated with 18 NCAA Division II records and two NCAA all-division records as part of his All-America career at ESU (2003-06). He was inducted into the ESU Athletic Hall of Fame in 2017. Terwilliger joined the ESU staff in 2015 as the defensive backs coach. He served as associate head coach during the 2018 season and led the program in an interim capacity for the final two games after legendary head coach Denny Douds stepped aside. He guided ESU to a 6-5 record in his first full season in 2019, the team's first winning record since 2015.

PSAC RANKINGS 

	Gannon	ESU
Scoring	24.6 (8)	23.4 (9)
Scoring Defense	31.0 (13)	22.7 (8)
Total Offense	363.4 (8)	359.4 (9)
Total Defense	410.0 (14)	341.0 (9)
Rushing Offense	155.1 (5)	161.2 (4)
Rushing Defense	159.3 (12)	133.0 (9)
Passing Offense	208.3 (7)	198.2 (8)
Passing Defense	250.7 (13)	208.0 (9)

() PSAC rank

PSAC PRESEASON POLL
Gannon was picked to finish seventh in the PSAC Western Division in the coaches' preseason poll. The Golden Knights finished with a 2-9 record in 2019, and was 1-3 this past spring. East Stroudsburg was picked to finish sixth in the Eastern Division preseason poll after going 6-5 in 2019.
     
BLANKS FIRST TO RUSH FOR 1,000 YARDS SINCE 2018
Melvin Blanks (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) became Gannon's first rusher to top 1,000 yards on the ground since Marcus Jones in 2018 as he ran for 50 yards at Mercyhurst. That boosted the junior's total to 1,015 yards on 158 carries. The 1,015 yards is tied for eighth in a season at Gannon. Blanks ranks second in the PSAC in rushing yards per game (21st nationally) and yards rushing (17th in Division II). He is also 15th in DII and leads the PSAC in rushing yards per carry (6.4). He has four 100-yard games this season, including back-to-back 200-yard games with 239 yards vs. Edinboro, the 10th-highest single-game performance. The week before he totaled 200 yards on 25 carries at Seton Hill. 

GU, ESU HAVE FOUR COMMON OPPONENTS
Gannon and East Stroudsburg have played four common opponents, with the Golden Knights 0-4 and ESU 2-2 in those games. Both lost to Shepherd and Shippensburg, but ESU came away with wins vs. Mercyhurst (17-7) and Bloomsburg (35-14). Gannon lost to both teams.

CURTIS CLIMBING THE SEASON PASSING CHARTS
Quarterback Kory Curtis (Cape Coral, Fla.) has enjoyed a strong first season as Gannon's quarterback. Curtis played three semesters at Ohio State before moving on to Bryant in 2019. He threw for 1,700 yards in 2019 with 7 TDs and 6 INTs. As a Golden Knight, Curtis has completed 145-of-287 passes for 2,061 yards with 18 TDs and 7 INTs. He is now seventh in yards passing in a season at Gannon, and his 18 TD passes ranks sixth in a season. Curtis accounted for five touchdowns in the 56-21 win over Clarion. He would throw four touchdown passes, covering 7, 4, 19, and 35 yards, along with scoring on a one-yard run. He saw his streak of passes without an interception come to an end against Cal. The streak had grown to 139 passes before he was intercepted in the first quarter. It was his first pickoff since late in the first half in the season opener at Northwood.  

KNIGHTS BLOCK PUNT FIRST FOR TD SINCE 2014
Gannon closed to 35-21 against Slippery Rock early in the third quarter thanks to a blocked punt return for a touchdown. It represented the first score off a blocked punt since the 2014 season against East Stroudsburg. Damerisse Freeman Jr. (Euclid, Ohio/St.. Edward) blocked the punt, with former Cathedral Prep standout Luke Sittinger (Erie, Pa./Cathedral Prep) picking up the ball and going 15 yards for his first collegiate touchdown.

FOUR OF FIVE GU LOSSES TO RANKED OPPONENTS
Gannon's loss to Slippery Rock was the fourth time the Golden Knights have lost to a nationally-ranked team. SRU came in ranked 15th in the AFCA Top 25.  GU previously to a Shepherd team that was ranked 13th, along with setbacks to IUP (25th) and Cal U (15th).   

JOHNNY FREEMAN HAS CAREER DAY VS. SRU
Johnny Freeman (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) is one of three Gannon receivers to reach 100 yards receiving in a game this season. For Freeman, he has enjoyed a pair of career days in 2021. Earlier in the year the redshirt sophomore caught 5 passes for 111 yards at Bloomsburg. He bettered those totals vs. Slippery Rock with 6 receptions for 112 yards. Sam East (Jackson Township, N.J./Saint John Vianney) began the year with 7 catches for 100 yards in the season opener at Northwood. Damerisse Freeman Jr. (Euclid, Ohio/St.. Edward) burned IUP for 101 yards on 3 catches.

98 IS TWICE AS NICE AS GU BOASTS FIVE 90-YARD DRIVES
Gannon put together not one but two 98-yard scoring drives in the recent 21-18 win over Edinboro. The first was a season-high 98 yards on 11 plays (5 minutes, 27 seconds) midway through the second quarter, with Melvin Blanks (Pittsburgh, Pa./North Hills) scoring on a two-yard run. The Golden Knights found themselves pinned back at the two once again in the fourth quarter. This time they used up 5 minutes, 13 seconds and 10 plays for a second 98-yard TD drive. Johnny Freeman (Philadelphia, Pa./St. Joseph's Prep) accounted for the touchdown, catching a 17-yard pass from Kory Curtis (Cape Coral, Fla.). The two 98-yard drives give Gannon five scoring drives of 90-or-more yards this year. The previous longest drive was 97 yards at Seton Hill. They drove 93 yards at Bloomsburg and 91 at IUP. 

WHITTAKER MAKES THE MOST OF HIS CATCHES
Redshirt junior tight end Alex Whittaker (Medina, Ohio/Medina) has caught 13 passes this season after previously hauling in three passes in 10 career games. Even more impressive, five of his receptions have gone for touchdowns. Touchdown number five came at Seton Hill, as he took a short pass, broke a tackle, eluded another tackler, and sprinted into the end zone to complete a 26-yard scoring pass from Kory Curtis (Cape Coral, Fla.). Whittaker hauled in two touchdown tosses against Shepherd, covering 11 and 23 yards. 

GANNON FIRST TO SCORE IN OPENING HALF AGAINST CAL
Cal came into its game with Gannon with some incredible defensive numbers, including shutting out three of its first five opponents. The Vulcans had allowed just 26 points total. Gannon's offense enjoyed considerably more success, scoring 17 points against the top-ranked defense in Division II, along with totaling 296 yards, the most allowed by Cal in 2021. 

GOLDEN KNIGHTS REALLY CELEBRATE HOMECOMING
A large Homecoming crowd barely had a chance to settle in their seats as Gannon jumped to a big lead against Clarion. The Golden Knights scored on their first four possessions, starting with a 10-play, 75-yard drive to open the game. Not even five minutes had elapsed and Gannon held a 7-0 lead on the first of four Kory Curtis (Cape Coral, Fla.)  touchdown passes. The lead grew to 21-0 after one quarter, and when Keith Thompson (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge) returned a fumble 99 yards for a score on the first play of the second quarter, it was 28-0. Gannon led 42-14 at the half.
 
GANNON LIGHTS UP SCOREBOARD VS. CLARION
Gannon's 56-21 win over Clarion represented the most points by the Golden Knights since a 77-31 win over Seton Hill in 2017.
 
THOMPSON NAMED PSAC WEST DEFENSIVE ATHLETE OF THE WEEK AFTER RECORD FUMBLE RETURN
Junior linebacker Keith Thompson (Woodbridge, Va./Woodbridge) was selected the PSAC West Defensive Athlete of the Week after pacing a strong defensive effort vs. Clarion. He would even get in on the scoring. With Clarion knocking on the door at the GU 1, Thompson picked up a fumble caused by Malachi Woody (Lynchburg, Va./Liberty Christian Academy) and raced 99 yards down the sideline in front of the Gannon bench for his first career touchdown. He would end the day with 4 tackles while pacing a Gannon defense that held Clarion to 335 total yards and five turnovers. Thompson was also named to the DC Touchdown Club Washington Metro College Football Player of the Week honor roll. He hails from Woodbridge, Va.
 
SCARPINO GOES DEEP
Redshirt sophomore Eric Scarpino (Waterford, Pa./Fort LeBoeuf) kicked a career-best 45-yard field goal against Shepherd. His previous long was a 41-yarder vs. Clarion in 2019. He would add a 25-yarder later in the game. Scarpino has made six of his eight field goal attempts this season and is 11-for-14 in his career.  
 
GOLDEN KNIGHTS MAKE FIRST TRIP TO MICHIGAN SINCE 2004 A MEMORABLE ONE
Gannon's trip to Midland, Michigan and subsequent 28-21 overtime win over Northwood marked the first time the Golden Knights had won in Michigan since 2004. At that time Gannon was a member of the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference and played numerous contests in Michigan.  The Golden Knights joined the PSAC in 2007. On September 25, 2004, Gannon won at Northern Michigan, 45-40.

SCOUTING EAST STROUDSBURG
East Stroudsburg looks to snap a two-game losing streak, dropping to 5-5 on the season. Like Gannon, the Warriors have faced a tough schedule, with losses to three nationally-ranked teams. The five losses have come to teams with a combined record of 41-9. Gunner Anglovich leads the Wrriors in rushing with 841 yards on 182 carries with 8 TDs. The redshirt senior ranks fourth in the PSAC in rushing. He also has 25 receptions for 191 yards. Tyriq Lewis adds 360 yards on 72 totes. Jake Cirillo, a 6'4", 234 lb. redshirt senior, has completed 108-of-210 passes for 1,446 yards with 10 TDs and 6 INTs. Rece Bender is not only the team's top receiver, but a dangerous return man. The senior has 38 receptions for 777 yards, a 20.4 yard average, with 5 TDs. In addition, he averages 24.4 yards on 18 kickoff returns, including a 99-yarder for a touchdown, and 10.4 yards per punt return. Defensively, ESU limits opponents to 133.0 yards per game rushing and has 32 sacks. The latter figure ranks second in the PSAC. Deshawn McCarthy, a 6'4", 265 lb. defensive end, leads the conference and ranks second in Division II with 12 sacks, and ranks third in TFL with 15.5. Andre Eldridge, a 6'2", 300 lb. defensive tackle, adds 6.5 sacks. 

UP NEXT
Gannon will next take to the gridiron to start the 2022 campaign.