Albright (0-3) vs. Widener (0-3)
• When: Saturday, Sept. 22, 2018
• Where: Chester, Pa.
• Stadium: Elizabeth J. Hirschmann Field at Leslie C. Quick Jr. Stadium (4,000)
• Kickoff: 1 p.m.
• Live Video: VIDEO
• Live Stats: STATS
 
SERIES BREAKDOWN
• All-Time Series: Widener leads 43-21
• First Meeting: 1916 – Widener won 24-7
• Last Meeting: Sept. 23rd, 2017 @ Albright – Albright won 9-7
• Streak: Albright +3
 
The Albright Lions football team will play its first road MAC Conference game of the season following a two-game homestand when they travel to face Widener this Saturday at 1 p.m. Both teams will be looking for their first win of the season.
 
Last week, the Lions were outscored 28-0 in the second half as they dropped a 50-21 contest to Stevenson in the 68^th annual Rajah Shrine Pretzel Bowl. Albright scored first in the game to take a 7-0 lead on a touchdown reception by senior Kyle Dickerson, and led 14-7 after the first quarter. The Lions then jumped out to a 21-13 lead late in the second quarter before Stevenson scored nine points in the final 1:08 of the first half to take a 22-21 lead into halftime.
 
Albright won a thrilling 9-7 game over Widener last season at Shirk Stadium on a last-second field goal. After the Lions scored a touchdown early in the 1^st quarter to go up 6-0, the defenses took over in a very physical contest. Widener was unable to get much going for the majority of the game until they got a 12-play 80 yard touchdown drive to go up 7-6 with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter. Former Lions quarterback Alec Vignola was able to engineer a two-minute drive to set up Albright for the game-winning field goal with three seconds left.
 
UNSUNG HERO
Senior Kyle Ryan became the first Lions offensive lineman to take home Pretzel Bowl MVP honors. Ryan has been a consistent force on the Albright offensive line in his four years on the team, and was named a team captain in the summer. Ryan has appeared in 25 games so far in his Albright career at both right guard and right tackle before moving to left tackle in the 2018 season.
 
GIVE ME THAT
Junior defensive back Kamaal Stewart recorded his first collegiate interception on Stevenson's opening drive of the game on Saturday. Stewart also recorded two pass break-ups as well during the game. His six solo tackles on Saturday placed him now fourth on the team in tackles, and his interception was the first one for the Lions this season.
 
Stewart has seen time at both wide receiver and defensive back in his three seasons as a member of the Lions.
 
HOLDING THE MIDDLE
The four starting linebackers that started for the Lions on Saturday against Stevenson made their presence known with consistent play on the field. Three of the four linebackers were freshman, and two of which set new career-highs in tackles. Ryan Rogers led the group with six tackles (four solo) and 0.5 TFL, while Sam Viera added five tackles (three solo). Jason Smith recorded a sack and the veteran of the group, Junior Ya'Meer Lowery, record one tackle for loss and was credited with a quarterback hurry.
 
CENTENNIAL-MAC BOWL SERIES


The Centennial Conference and the Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) will continue with its postseason bowl series in 2018 for a fourth-straight year.
 
This year, however, the format has changed with the bowl series adding one more game into the mix. The top seeds, second seeds and third seeds that did not make the NCAA DIII Tournament will face each other unless the teams have already played that season. In that case, the commissioners from each conference will determine new pairings. The Centennial Conference will host the top-seed and third-seed games and the MAC will host the second-seed game in even years, and vice versa in odd years.
 
This season, the bowl games are scheduled for Saturday, November 17. The Centennial Conference (teams) will host the No. 1 seed and No. 3 seed games, while the MAC (team) will host the No. 2 seed game this year.
 
The MAC has won four of the six bowl series games to date. The Centennial Conference won both games in 2017. Delaware Valley has picked up two of the victories over Moravian (2015) and Muhlenberg (2016), while Stevenson defeated Muhlenberg in 2015 and Albright defeated Franklin & Marshall in 2016.
 
ABOUT WIDENER
Widener was stunned at Misericordia last Saturday afternoon by a score of 36-35. The Cougars scored a touchdown with four seconds remaining, and would convert a two-point conversion to take the lead for good. The Pride had scored 21 points in a row during the fourth quarter to take the lead before the Cougars last second heroics. Widener saw a pair of running backs have a big day against Misericordia as Chris Randle and Donte' Harrell posted 275 yards on 22 carries in addition to scoring three touchdowns. 180 of the yards came from Randle, who currently leads the MAC with 100.7 rushing yards per game and 302 total rushing yards.