William Penn Football Game Notes: Week Eleven: St. Francis (Ill.)
William Penn University Athletics
Oskaloosa–Conference title hopes and playoff aspirations will live or die Saturday as Penn and St. Francis (Ill.) square off in Midwest League play.
The #13 nationally-ranked Statesmen (9-1, 5-1 MWL) host the #21 nationally-ranked Fighting Saints (7-3, 5-1 MWL) in Oskaloosa Community Stadium at 1 p.m. The game is also Fill the Stadium Day.
STATESMEN ON THE RADIO/TV: Every WPU football game can be heard live on KBOE 740 AM and also accessed on the World Wide Web at http://client.stretchinternet.com/client/wpu.portal#
Mahaska Communication Group (MCG) will also provide television coverage for all home games on its cable network.
SERIES HISTORY: Penn is 8-0 all-time in its series with St. Francis (Ill.), including winning last year’s meeting 27-6.
The Statesmen led from start to finish to secure its second-straight seven-win year.
Penn outgained the Fighting Saints 315-177, including 171 rushing yards by Ryan Van Dalen. The quarterback hit paydirt three times and threw for the other score, a 20-yard completion to Skyler Crouch.
2002 Penn 27-24
2003 Penn 17-3
2004 Penn 44-13
2005 Penn 42-28
2006 Penn 52-20
2007 Penn 24-17
2008 Penn 33-27
2009 Penn 27-6
PENN PROFILE: Todd Hafner is in his seventh year as head football coach at Penn, entering the campaign with a 33-34 career record.
Hafner led his 2009 squad to a 7-5 record, including a 5-2 Midwest League mark. The team has now had back-to-back winning seasons for the first time since 1975 and 1976.
The 2008 Midwest League Coach of the Year also guided Penn to the program’s first winning season in 29 years in 2005 when the team was 6-5. Over his six years, Hafner has produced 74 all-conference players and nine All-Americans.
Prior to his career at Penn, Hafner had coaching stops at Carl Junction HS, Southwest Baptist University, Emporia State University, and Pittsburg State University (student coach).
Hafner graduated from Pittsburg State in 1994 with a degree in mathematics.
Penn is in the midst of one of the best campaigns in program history. Picked to finish fourth out of eight teams in the MWL, Penn has been one of the biggest surprises in the NAIA this fall.
With a win Saturday, the team will earn at least a share of the Midwest League crown. It would be the fourth title in school history and the first since 1976.
A victory will also give Penn ten wins for the fall, matching the 1975 squad for the most ever.
The Statesmen have broken numerous school records, but with a strong rushing performance Saturday, the program could snap national marks.
The team has already rushed for 4,164 yards and needs 184 more to tie the NAIA mark for single-season rushing yards of 4,348, set by Olivet Nazarene (Ill.) in 1990.
The Statesmen are also on track to set a new record for average per rush. At 7.1 yards per carry on 590 attempts, it is just ahead of the current clip of 7.0 (for a minimum of 500 rushes) and way ahead of the 6.13 mark for a minimum of 600 rushes.
Last week, Penn dominated Waldorf 58-10 in MWL action.
Taylor Parsons (Fr., The Woodlands, Texas, College Park HS) rushed for 115 yards, while Shawn Davis (Fr., Hamersville, Ohio, Western Brown HS) added 84 yards and two scores. Jonques Wells (So., Columbus, Miss., New Hope HS) contributed 72 yards and a pair of TDs.
Damon Harrison (Jr., Lake Charles, La., Lake Charles Boston HS) notched the first points of the day, recovering a fumble in the endzone.
For the year, Parsons leads the Penn offense with 941 rushing yards and 19 touchdowns (171 carries), while Davis has 130 runs for 899 ground yards and 12 scores.
Seven other players are also over the century mark in rushing.
With such a potent running attack, the passing game has taken a back seat with Parsons completing 45-of-86 passes for 837 yards and six TDs.
Bernard Luster (Sr., Corinth, Miss., Northeast Mississippi CC) has quietly had a nice season with team highs in receptions (25), receiving yards (473), and touchdowns (3).
Defensively, Rushawn Stewart (Jr., Houston, Texas, Eisenhower HS) heads Penn with 47 tackles. Jacob Batterson (Fr., Eddyville, Eddyville-Blakesburg HS) has a squad-best three interceptions, while Reggie Franco (Sr., Salt Lake City, Utah, Skyline HS) has 4.5 sacks. Harrison leads all players with ten tackles for loss.
Marcus Kerrigan (Fr., Cary, Ill., Cary-Grove HS) headlines the kicking effort as he is 45-for-50 in extra points and 6-for-8 in field goals. Penn is utilizing two punters, Kerrigan and Jason Johnson (Fr., Geneseo, Ill., Geneseo HS). Johnson has punted 17 times for a 40.0 yard average, while Kerrigan has kicked 12 times for a clip of 33.5 yards.
Andrew Harris (Sr., Horn Lake, Miss., Northwest Mississippi CC) tops the kickoff return group with a 21.1 yard average on 12 attempts, while DeMarco Sanders (Jr., Horn Lake, Miss., Horn Lake HS) owns a 12.6 yard mark on five punt returns. Sanders actually has the best kick return average (23.0), but on just seven attempts.
ST. FRANCIS (ILL.) PROFILE: Mike Uremovich is in his sixth year as head coach at St. Francis (Ill.), entering the campaign with a 16-38 mark.
Uremovich came to the University from Waynesburg where he served as offensive coordinator for two years. He has also coached at Benedictine and Northern Illinois (graduate assistant) as well as at the prep level at McCutcheon and Providence Catholic, where he graduated from high school.
Uremovich graduated from Purdue with a bachelor’s in secondary education in american history and has a master’s in continuing adult education from Northern Illinois.
The Fighting Saints, who are riding a seven-game winning streak, are also battling for their postseason lives Saturday. St. Francis (Ill.) is just as great a story as Penn as the team was selected to finish sixth in the conference’s preseason poll.
A St. Francis (Ill.) win would propel the program into the NAIA playoffs due to its tiebreaking wins over both Penn and McKendree. It would be just the second postseason appearance for the team, joining the 1987 squad.
The Fighting Saints are coming off a 35-3 win over Quincy in MWL play. E.J. White had a big day passing, completing 17-of-23 attempts for 227 yards and three scores. All three touchdowns went to Sean Hughes, who caught six passes for 151 yards.
Garen Demery rushed for 78 yards, while Connor Krisch added 54 yards with a TD.
For the year, St. Francis (Ill.) is very balanced offensively with less than 100 yards separating their passing (2,021) and rushing (1,950) yardages.
White has been strong both in the air and on the ground. He has completed 162-of-259 passes for 1,890 and 19 scores and has rushed for 736 yards and five scores. Krisch is right behind him with 727 yards and a team-best 11 TDs.
Hughes tops the receiving crew with 49 receptions for 660 yards and ten touchdowns. Five others are also over ten receptions or 100 yards receiving. Elliot Allen leads the crew with 26 catches for 344 yards and five scores.
Brenton Valentine heads the defensive side of the ball with 82 tackles, while James Bowman has eight tackles for loss. Wayne Johnson has intercepted seven passes this fall.
Alex Gallaher has done well in the kicking game, going a perfect 44-for-44 in extra points and four-for-nine in field goals. Michael Rogers is the lone punter, kicking the ball 33 times for an average of 35.1 yards.
Allen is the team’s best returner, taking 17 kickoffs back for an average of 28.5 yards, while his punt return clip is 11.5 yards over 14 attempts.
PENN RANKED IN NAIA & VSN POLLS: Courtesy of a loss by Missouri Valley, the Statesmen are one step closer to an at-large berth to the playoffs, moving up to #13.
The Statesmen also jumped one position to #17 in Victory Sports Network’s unofficial poll.
DOING WHAT THEY DO WELL: Penn is ranked high statistically in the NAIA with a potent running attack.
Penn tops the NAIA in total rushing yards (4,164) and rushing yards per game (416.4).
The Statesmen’s 462 total points (third) and 46.2 average (sixth) are strong amongst the division, while their tally of 500.1 total yards per game is fifth.
Miscellaneously, the Statesmen are tops in the NAIA with just two sacks allowed (0.2 per game).
Individually, Parsons and his 114 points (19 rushing TDs) put him second on the NAIA’s list. His 11.4 point average is third.
Parsons is also tenth in total rushing yards (941).
Kerrigan is scoring a lot with his foot as well, ranking eighth in the division in scoring (kicking) with 7.9 points per game.
COACH HAFNER SAYS:
On Waldorf Game: “We went up there and played well. We did not play with a great deal of emotion but we played well enough to win the game. We must play better this week to win the game.”
On St. Francis (Ill.): “This was a very big week for our seniors. They have put in a tremendous amount of time and effort to get us to where we are today. They are great leaders and we are looking forward to sending them out on a high note. St. Francis has a very good team. They play great team defense and their offense is very potent. We cannot turn the ball over and we must be able to stop the run. I hope the community will come support this team because they can be proud of the product we are putting on the field.”
Wade Steinlage
