Game Info: Saturday, November 16, 2019 - 12:00 p.m.
Location: Lipinski Field at Work Memorial Stadium - Doylestown, Pa.
Social Media: @WidenerSports | @Widener_FB
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The Lead
The Widener University football team closes its regular season with the annual Keystone Cup contest against the #9/11 Delaware Valley Aggies on Saturday, November 16. Kickoff from Lipinski Field at James Work Memorial Stadium is scheduled for 12:00 p.m.

The Blue and Gold is coming off a 41-21 win against King's at home on Senior Day. Owen Kramer was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Week and Trevor Mavromihalis was named the MAC Special Teams Player of the Week for their performances in the game. 

DelVal had its bye last week. Prior to that, they beat Alvernia 44-0.

The Pride and Aggies have faced each other 43 previous times with Widener holding a 28-15 series advantage.

A Win On Saturday Would:

• Be the 711th victory in Widener football history
• Win number six for first year head coach Mike Barainyak
• Ensure Widener a winning season
• Be the first win for the Pride against the Aggies since 2014

Gameday Forecast
Saturday is projected to be sunny, but cold throughout the afternoon. A kickoff temperature of 35 degrees should rise to 37 by the final whistle. A consistent NE breeze of 5-8 mph should be present during the game.

All-Time Series
Widener and DelVal have met for the Keystone Cup since 1977. The Blue and Gold holds a 28-15 series advantage and dominated the early portion of the matchup, but the Aggies have held the edge lately, winning four straight and 12 of the last 16.

Last Time They Met
he Widener University football team closed its season on Saturday, falling to the #13 Delaware Valley Aggies 33-0 in the battle for the Keystone Cup in front of more than 4,000 fans at Elizabeth J. Hirschmann Field at Leslie C. Quick, Jr. Stadium. The Blue and Gold was led defensively by Brian Armstrong and Shane Mulhern who had nine tackles each. Jordan Powell made seven stops and posted 2.0 TFL. A full recap of the game can be found on page six of these notes. 
 
Scouting The Widener Pride
Widener enters play 5-4 for the season and is 4-3 in the Middle Atlantic Conference on the season following a 41-21 victory against King's on Saturday, November 9. 

Widener is led on offense by the senior duo of quarterback Sean McGaughey and wide receiver James Gillespie. McGaughey leads NCAA Division III with 3,046 passing yards and is tied for 12th nationally with 28 touchdown passes. Gillespie tops NCAAD3 with 1,247 receiving yards, is tied for 11th in catches with 69, tied for sixth with 15 TD receptions, and is 16th in all-purpose yards at  1,434. 

As teams have started to key and scheme towards defending Gillespie, a trio of underclassmen have stepped up as Zack Vanscovich, Ty Holbert, and Ryan Gallagher each have at least 20 catches, 300 yards, and a score this season. Vanscovich was the ECAC Division III South Rookie of the Month for October and in his last five games has 16 catches for 183 yards. Of his 16 receptions, 11 have gone for either first downs or touchdowns. Gallagher had a career day against King's with six grabs for 114 yards and a TD.

It is a three-pronged running attack for the Pride. Chris Randle has handled the majority of the workload with 98 carries for 452 yards and ranks second in the Middle Atlantic Conference with 11 touchdowns. Tahir Cruse has provided a strong boost running 85 times and leads the Pride with 460 yards, going for more than 70 in four of his last six contests. John Bauer averages 5.1 yards per carry for the Blue and Gold, rushing 32 times for 163 yards. 

Matt Russo tops Widener in tackles with 81, followed by Kevin Davis with 62 and Brendan Kearns at 57. Mario Scotese is getting to the quarterback with 6.0 sacks. Anthony Liberatoscioli leads the secondary with three interceptions while Naraye Wells-Dotson has 11 pass breakups.

Scouting The DelVal Aggies
Delaware Valley comes into the game ranked #_ in the AFCA poll and is #11 in the D3football.com poll. The Aggies are coming off their bye, but have already clinched the MAC Championship and will earn the league's automatic qualifying bid to the NCAA Tournament. 

Defense rules the day for DVU, as the team rankes fourthin the nation at 9.1 points allowed per game. The most the Aggies have given up in a single contest this year is 21, against #22 Wesley in a four overtime thriller. 

Stopping the run is key for DelVal as they are second in the nation, surrendering just 41.9 yards per game on the ground. While it is a team effort, Michael Nobile stands out, leading NCAAD3 with 24.0 tackles for loss on the season. He also wreaks havoc in the passing game, topping the conference and sitting in the top-20 nationally with 9.0 sacks. The pressure on opposing quarterbacks allows the secondary to run free as three players have three or more picks, led by Blaine Netterman with four. As a team, DelVal is fifth in NCAA Division III with 17 INT. 

On the offensive side of the ball, Anthony Fontana leads the way with 1,850 passing yards and 20 TD against just three interceptions. Aaron Nelson, Juwan Manigo, and Dan Allen are his primary targets, each with at least 19 receptions, 300 yards, and four scores. 

On the ground, Donte Simmons, Mario Nigro, and Fontana share the load. All three have at least 68 carries wihth Simmons accumulating 400 yards and four TD.

Duke Greco is in his sixth season with the Aggies, posting a record of 56-10.

On The Field And In The Classroom
Sean McGaughey was named a Google Cloud CoSIDA Academic All-District performer on Thursday by the College Sports Information Directors of America. In addition to his on field work, Sean has posted a 3.37 cumulative GPA as a mechanical engineering major and been named to the MAC Academic Honor Roll. 

It is the sixth year in a row Widener has had a played selected as Academic All-District. 

To be eligible for Academic All-America® consideration, a student-athlete must be a varsity starter or key reserve, maintain a cumulative G.P.A. of 3.30 on a scale of 4.00, have reached sophomore athletic and academic standings at his/her current institution and be nominated by his/her sports information director. Since the program's inception in 1952, CoSIDA has bestowed Academic All-America honors on more than 20,000 student-athletes in Divisions I, II, III and NAIA, covering all NCAA championship sports.

Nice Game, Guys!
Owen Kramer and Trevor Mavromihalis were honored by the Middle Atlantic Conference as the Defensive and Special Teams Players of the Week respectively.

Kramer had a big day with two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, 2.0 sacks, and 3.0 tackles for loss, making five total tackles on the day. Both of his forced fumbles got the Pride the ball in King's territory. The first allowed the Pride to take over in a 27-21 game, leading to a TD. The second came on a strip sack, giving Widener the ball deep in King's territory with less than three minutes left.

Mavromihalis was perfect on seven kicks against King's on Saturday with two field goals (30,38) and five extra points. He opened the scoring in both halves for the Pride, kicking the 30-yarder less than four minutes into the game and then padded the Widener lead in the second half as, after the Monarchs scored on their opening possession, Mavromihalis connected on a career-long 38-yarder to push the Blue and Gold up 27-14.

Climbing The Charts
A handful of players reached career or single season marks that few have ever accomplished at Widener during the game against King's. Most notably, Chris Randle moved into a tie for thid place on the all-time rushing touchdown list as his trio of scores on Saturdy gave him 27 for his career, matching the mark set by Hal Johnson from 1977-80.

Also on Saturday, Sean McGaughey became just the fifth player in school history to pass for more than three thousand yards in a season. He currently stands at 3,046, which is the third most all-time in a year at Widener and leads NCAAD3.

James Gillespie only had one catch in the game, but it went for 23 yards, giving him 1,247 on the year, matching Anthony Davis' effort in 2014 for the third most in a year at WU.

Senior Spotlight
Several Widener seniors rose to the occasion on their day against the Monarchs with their best performances of the year. Chris Randle rushed for three touchdowns, going for 58 yards on the ground and also caught two balls for 25 yards. Brendan Kearns tied for the team lead with seven tackles on the day, addingf a tackle for loss, and a pass breakup. Ben Sibilla added two tackles for the Pride. 

But Youth Shall Be Served
Four freshman started on the defensive side of the ball for the Pride against King's as Kevin Davis, Colin Murt, Matt Okuniewski, and Demitrius Hansen each opened the game on the field. It was the first career start each for Murt, Okuniewski, and Hansen. The quartet combined for 17 tackles, four pass breakups, and 0.5 sacks. 

So You're Saying There's A Chance
With it's 5-4 mark overall and 4-3 record in the MAC, Widener still is in play for a postseason berth. A win against DelVal and a Misericordia loss against Alvernia puts the Pride as at least the third seed in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series. The Blue and Gold has also declared for an ECAC Bowl Game, participants of which will be announced on November 18. 

Take 'Em Down
In its last three games against the Monarchs, Widener has sacked King's QBs 21 times. 

Standing Up
One reason Widener's passing game has done so well this year is that the offensive line has kept McGaughey standing for the most part. The Pride has allowed 13 sacks in nine games, its lowest per game average (1.44) since six QB takedowns in 12 games from the 2012 team.

Connection
Throughout their careers for the Pride, James Gillespie and Sean McGaughey have been on the field a lot together. Gillespie has caught 106 passes in his career from McGaughey, going for 2,013 yards and 22 touchdowns.

In The Zone
Widener has cashed in on its red zone opportunities this season, going 35-for-38 in scoring when moving the ball inside its opponents' 20-yard line with 30 touchdowns. The 92.1 percent success rate in the red zone ranks the Pride 12th in NCAA Division III and tops the MAC. Last year, WU was 28-of-38 with 24 TD. The Blue and Gold was 5-for-5 with three touchdowns against Lebanon Valley in the red zone.

Centennial-MAC Bowl Series
For the fifth consecutive year, the top teams in the Centennial Conference and the MAC will compete in a postseason bowl series, featuring the top teams in the respective leagues that do not qualify for the NCAA Championship. 

The format of the series has changed from previous seasons. The No. 1 seeds in each conference will host the No. 2 seeds. The No. 3 seeds will play each other with the MAC hosting its Centennial counterpart in 2019. The games will take place this season on Saturday, November 23.

Widener competed in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series one time, falling 21-7 at Franklin & Marshall in 2017. 

Up Next
Widener must await the results of Saturday's games to find out if it will compete in postseason play.