FULL GAME NOTES (PDF)
Albright (0-5, 0-3) vs. Wilkes (2-3, 1-1)
• When: Saturday, Oct. 6, 2018
• Where: Wilkes-Barre, Pa.
• Stadium: Schmidt Stadium (2,500)
• Kickoff: 1 p.m.
• Live Video:
VIDEO
• Live Stats:
STATS
SERIES BREAKDOWN
• All-Time Series: Albright leads 26-16
• First Meeting: 1964 – Albright won 48-14
• Last Meeting: Oct. 28th, 2017 @ Albright – Albright won 26-23
• Streak: Albright +7
The Albright Lions will travel to face Wilkes in MAC play on Saturday afternoon just a week before they will have their bye week.
The Lions are coming off a tough 48-34 loss to FDU-Florham last Saturday after losing a 13-point lead at halftime. Meanwhile, Wilkes took down Alvernia at First Energy Stadium, 34-14, after outscoring the Golden Wolves 20-0 in the second half.
LAST SEASON'S MATCHUP
Albright has won seven straight meetings against the Colonels which was capped by a dramatic 26-23 comeback win last season at Shirk Stadium. The Lions found themselves down 23-16 in the fourth quarter before scoring the final 10 points in the last five minutes. Former Lions quarterback
Alec Vignola found his classmate
Khari Jefferson in the back of the end zone with 15 seconds left to give Albright the lead for good. Vignola finished with 361 yards passing and two touchdowns, and the Lions were able to force six Colonel turnovers with five of them being interceptions.
AIR RAID
Junior quarterback
Jimmy Lahay had a career afternoon in the Lions contest against FDU-Florham on Saturday. Lahay went 28-of-50 for a career-high 387 yards and four touchdown passes. 279 of the yards and all four touchdown passes came in the first half. He previously did not go over 200+ passing yards in any previous game in his career. The four touchdown passes were the most in a game by a Lions quarterback since
Alec Vignola threw four against Misericordia in November 2016.
CAREER GAME
Senior wide receiver
Kyle Dickerson has put together big games in his career, but he rewrote his own records on Saturday against FDU-Florham. Dickerson recorded a career-high 199 yards on 14 catches and totaled 215 offensive yards.
He also recorded four touchdowns (three receiving and one rushing) to come up one touchdown short of tying a single-game program record of five total touchdowns set by Dick Rifle in 1936 against Muhlenberg.
BIG PLAY NATURE
Last Saturday's game against FDU-Florham saw three long touchdown plays to kick off the teams combining for 82 points. The Lions started the game with a 56-yard touchdown pass on the first offensive play of the day from Lahay to freshman wide receiver
Kevin Zehner.
The Devils then followed with a 91-yard touchdown pass on the following drive on 3rd and long to respond. Lahay would then hit Dickerson for an 84-yard touchdown pass on the ensuing drive which now sits as the third longest pass play in Lions program history.
BREAKOUT DAY
The 56-yard touchdown reception for Zehner on the first offensive play of the game for the Lions set in motion a career day for the freshman in just his fifth collegiate game. Zehner finished the day with 139 receiving yards on 10 catches and the one touchdown.
The 139 yards was the most receiving yards by a Lions freshman since Nate Romig registered 175 yards on seven catches against Lebanon Valley in 2006. Zehner currently sits second on the team with 266 receving yards and 22 catches while starting in every game so far this season for the Lions.
TOUGH STRETCH
Senior defensive lineman
David Sanchez and
Zack Marini have been key cogs on the Lions defense this season. The duo created many problems in the Devils backfield last Saturday as Sanchez posted a team-high six tackles, a career-high 3.5 TFL, one sack, two hurries, and one forced fumble. Marini recovered the forced fumble by Sanchez in the fourth quarter while posting two hurries, and 1.5 TFL as well. Marini leads the Lions and is tied for seventh in the conference with 5.5 tackles for loss. Sanchez is tied for the conference lead with three forced fumbles and is second with two fumble recoveries.
TOP FROSH
Freshman running back
Tony Thorpe set a new season-high on Saturday with 53 yards rushing on 12 carries. Thorpe also posted his longest run of the season with a 20-yard scamper in the second quarter. Thorpe leads the team with 146 rushing yards on the season and is averaging 3.7 yards per carry. Thorpe currently ranks third in the conference among freshman running backs in total rushing yards.
ABOUT WILKES
Wilkes posted its first MAC conference win since 2016 last week, and has two victories over MAC schools this season with Lebanon Valley being considered a non-league game. The Colonels rank sixth in the conference in both scoring offense and defense. Wilkes sits fourth in the MAC in total offense at 391.4 and second in passing offense at 278.4 yards per game.
Junior quarterback Jose Tabora has been a big part of the Colonels success this season as he leads the conference in total offense at 321.6 points per game behind his dual threat skill set. He currently ranks third in NCAA D3 at 1,606 total offensive yards. Tabora's main threat in the air is senior wide receiver Jeff Steeber, who currently ranks third in the conference in receiving yards. Steeber has tallied 446 yards on 33 catches and three touchdowns which also puts him in the top 10 in the conference.
