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By DAVID PENCEK; Times Leader Sports Writer
Friday, October 09, 1998 Page:
The last time a team other than Bloomsburg or Millersville won the PSAC
Eastern Division, George Bush was still president and Monica Lewinsky was not
a household name.
If form holds true, the winner of Saturday night’s game at Millersville’s
Biemesderfer Stadium likely will take the East. That’s happened five times
this decade.
Even when the teams tie on the field like they did in 1995, they finished
tied for first in the standings.
“I’m not downplaying the other teams we play, but this is obviously the
major test,” Bloomsburg coach Danny Hale said.
Hale and the Huskies have had the upper hand of late. They’ve won the last
two meetings and are on a 23-game unbeaten streak (22-0-1) against
Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference East opponents. The one tie came
against Millersville in 1995.
The Marauders, who were the preseason favorite to unseat the
four-time-champion Huskies, are the last Eastern team to defeat Bloomsburg
with a 20-15 victory in 1994.
Both teams come into the game fresh off convincing victories in last week’s
division openers. While Millersville was defeating Mansfield, 37-13,
Bloomsburg had its way with Kutztown, 37-9.
The Huskies might have finally found the running game they’ve looked for
all season with the emergence of freshman Marques Glaze. With injuries to his
top three running backs, Hale put Glaze in against Kutztown and he responded
with 124 yards and one touchdown.
Since an opening loss to Clarion, Millersville has reeled off three
consecutive victories, including a 19-18 victory over a New Haven team that
defeated Bloomsburg the opening week. Marauder quarterback Drew Folmar has
showed no signs of a sophomore slump after his tremendous freshman season last
year.
Folmar leads the PSAC in total offense and is second in pass efficiency. He
has the benefit of throwing to the conference’s top receiving duo in Sean
Scott and Mike McFetridge.
Millersville has been just as impressive on defense, limiting opponents to
a conference-low 49 first downs.
“They frustrate you,” Hale said. “They have a swagger about them.”
No matter what happens, both teams still have the other top contender, West
Chester, remaining on their schedules. But the winner would have that swagger
about them knowing they had cleared one major obstacle.
Wilkes at Wesley
It might have taken four games, but Wilkes finally saw the running game
that it’s used to seeing. Junior tailback Mike Hankins hit the century mark
for the first time this season with 174 yards against Lebanon Valley.
Hankins needs just 45 yards to break the team’s career rushing record of
2,956 yards set by Jason Smith (1990-93). That may not be easy since Wesley
has allowed just 77 yards rushing per game.
The Wolverines can’t just concentrate on stopping Hankins given what
Colonel quarterback Neil Rine has done through the first four games. Rine has
completed 59 percent of his passes for 1,112 yards with nine touchdowns.
“We’re very close to getting the total balance we’re looking for from our
offense,” said Wilkes coach Frank Sheptock, whose team will be going for its
third consecutive victory. “Defenses have to think about defending both
things. We’ve developed the consistency on offense to be where I want it to
be.”
Wesley’s offense has been anything but consistent. The Wolverines use two
quarterbacks and after averaging 28.7 points in the first half, they score
just 7.3 points per game in the second half.
Sheptock said he expects to see Steve Azzanesi more than Dave Bakowski at
quarterback given Azzanesi’s ability to run.
King’s at Albright
Like Wilkes, King’s also has a running back trying to reach a milestone.
Like Bloomsburg, the Monarchs have a freshman back who stepped into the
spotlight last week.
Unlike those teams, King’s is still looking for its first victory.
The Monarchs have made just enough mistakes and have had just enough
breakdowns to prevent them from pulling out a victory.
Saturday they try to end their four-game skid against defending
Commonwealth League champion Albright.
King’s may be without leading rusher Jim DeMaise, who has an ankle injury,
but they do have freshman Chris Shivery. The Bellefonte native filled in for
DeMaise last week against Hartwick and rushed for 189 yards and three
touchdowns.
“He’s a horse. He’s definitely a big kid,” King’s coach Rich Mannello said
of his 5-foot-10, 200-pound running back. “He doesn’t have the speed and he’s
not going to run away from anybody. Shivery just runs people over.”
While Shivery is just getting started on his career, senior fullback Mike
Conaghan needs 108 yards rushing to reach 2,000 for his career.
King’s appears to match up well