Bucknell, Colgate Renew Grid Rivalry Saturday in Hamilton
Nov. 10, 2005
Complete Release in PDF Format It's been a frustrating season for the Bison football squad, but this week they have a chance to impact the Patriot League title race when they visit a Colgate team that enters play this weekend in a three-way tie for first place. Bucknell has dropped five straight after falling 28-21 at Fordham last week. Colgate won a critical road game last week, 18-15 at Lafayette. That placed the Raiders in a tie with Lafayette and Lehigh at 3-1 in PL play. This is the 54th meeting between Bucknell and Colgate. The Bison snapped a four-game series losing streak with a 42-7 victory at home last season. TOURING THE HERD • THE OFFENSE: Injuries in the backfield have severely hindered Bucknell's spread option attack. The Bison have started four different quarterbacks and have used five players at the position this season, while standout FB Blamah Sarnor was injured late in the second quarter of the season opener against Georgetown and will is sidelined for the season. As Dante Ross has adjusted to the QB position, Bucknell's offense has improved steadily in recent weeks. • UNDER CENTER: The Bison have been jarred by injuries to two of their promising young quarterbacks this season. Sophomore Terrance Wilson started the opener against Georgetown and played well, but he suffered a broken jaw in that game and is likely out for the rest of the season. In week two at Stony Brook, Mahdi Woodard became the first freshman to start at QB for Bucknell since 1992, but he too was sidelined after taking a blow to the head late in the first half. Sophomore Ryan Ahern played the second half at Stony Brook, then became the third Bison starting QB in as many weeks at Cornell. Ahern also started against Marist, but he alternated with senior Dante Ross, who turned in a storybook performance in the win over the Red Foxes. Ross, normally a cornerback and kick returner, ran for 268 yards and three TDs, setting Bucknell and PL records for ground yards by a QB. Ross has started the last five weeks and is expected to remain at the position for the rest of the season. • BACKS & RECEIVERS: Bucknell also had a significant injury in the backfield on opening night, as senior FB Blamah Sarnor missed the second half with a foot injury and remains out. Sophomore Josh DeStefano moved from slotback to fullback, with juniors Kenny Davis and Peter Kaufman starting at the slots. Davis has been limited to only a few series the last two weeks due to an injury, and Kadero Watson has filled in nicely. Watson had 56 rushing yards and 81 receiving yards, including a TD, against Lafayette two weeks ago and was named the Patriot League Rookie of the Week. Freshman WR Daniel Zvara had his best game as a Bison against Lehigh, with four receptions for 107 yards, and he leads the team with 13 catches on the season. • THE O-LINE: Bucknell's offensive line underwent a slight shift three weeks ago. Sophomore Jonathan Grainger, just a week after moving from defensive line to offensive line, made his first start at right guard. Junior Michael Boccella moved from that position to right tackle, but Boccella missed last week's game with an ankle injury. Senior Eric Becker started in his place. Senior center Stephen Watts and junior left guard Stefan Niemczyk have started every game this season. • THE DEFENSE: Bucknell is sixth in the Patriot League in total defense at 381.3 yards per game. After allowing only 17.8 points per game in their first four games, the Bison have allowed 38.8 ppg in their last five. The Bison have 22 takeaways in eight games, including 16 interceptions by 10 different players. • DEFENSIVE FRONT: Bucknell has a deep, veteran defensive line, led by All-America DE Sean Conover. Conover had his best game of the season against Villanova, recording four tackles for loss, 2.5 sacks, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery. Fellow senior DE Brandon Bailey replaced injured classmate Andrew Decker in the starting lineup and has four sacks to lead the team. ILBs Dorian Petersen and Ryan Slater have been all over the field in the first nine games. The duo ranks 1-2 on the team in tackles with 71 and 70, respectively. • DEFENSIVE SECONDARY: Ross had been the cornerstone of the secondary, but he has not played at all on defense in the last four games after making the permanent switch to quarterback. Instead, freshman CB Devon Lutz has taken over the starting role. Sophomore FS Stephen Collage had a career-high 15 tackles at Cornell and ranks third on the squad with 60 on the year. Junior CB David Frisbey is also having a solid season. • SPECIAL TEAMS: Ross has become one of the Patriot League's premier return men and is the reigning PL Special Teams Player of the Year. He is averaging 11.1 yards per punt return and 24.1 yards per kickoff return this season, despite the fact that opponents have been reluctant to kick to him. Freshman P Phil Azarik returned last week after missing six games with mono. Freshman K Will Carney has taken over the kicking duties and is 4-for-6 on field goals, including a 42-yarder against Villanova and a 43-yarder against Lehigh. BISON FOOTBALL NOTES & NOTABLES: • TRIO NAMED TO ACADEMIC ALL-DISTRICT TEAM: Three Bucknell student-athletes -- OL Mike Boccella, K Ryan Bower and DB David Frisbey -- were named to the ESPN the Magazine Academic All-District team this week. Boccella, a junior, is an American history major with an edication minor and has a 3.66 cumulative grade-point average. Bower, a senior, is an electrical engineering major with a physics minor and has a stellar 3.88 GPA. Frisbey, a junior, carries a 3.54 GPA and is majoring in management (finance) with a minor in Spanish. • LAST WEEK: Bucknell dropped a tough 28-21 decision at Fordham last Saturday. Tied 7-7 at the half, Fordham scored twice in the thrid quarter to take a 21-7 lead. Bucknell cut it to 21-14 on a Dante Ross TD run on the first play of the fourth quarter. The Bison appeared poised to force a punt on Fordham's next possession, but on third-and-3 James Prydatko galloped 74 yards for a back-breaking score. Kevin Mullen scored on a 24-yard run with 2:18 to play, but the Bison could not recover an onside kick. Bucknell gave up a season-high 344 rushing yards, 201 by Prydatko. • MORE FROM FORDHAM: QB Dante Ross posted his third 100-yard rushing game of the season with 111 yards on 30 carries ... Ross also completed 9 of 19 passes for 85 yards ... RB Peter Kaufman had a team-high four receptions ... WR Daniel Zvara completed a pass to DL Brandon Bailey on a fake field goal play in the second quarter, setting up Bucknell's first TD ... the Bison were 5-for-5 on fourth down in the game ... DB Stephen Collage led the team with eight tackles ... LB Dorian Petersen blocked a field goal ... LB Matt Palermo and DB Devon Lutz both intercepted passes ... Palermo took over the team lead in interceptions with three, despite missing four games with an injury. • FULLBACKS HIT PAYDIRT: Bucknell had not received a touchdown from a fullback since Blamah Sarnor scored the team's first points of the year on opening night against Georgetown. But last week at Fordham, fullbacks Josh DeStefano and Kevin Mullen both scored their first career touchdowns. DeStefano gave Bucknell a 7-0 lead with a 4-yard run in the second quarter, and Mullen, replacing an injured DeStefano, scored on a 24-yard run with 2:18 remaining. It was the first career scores for both players. • SWITCHING SIDES: Due to injuries on the offensive side of the ball, the Bucknell coaching staff has been forced to juggle a number of defensive players on offense this season. In fact, four players who opened the season at a defensive position have scored offensive touchdowns in 2005. Dante Ross has received the most press for his switch from cornerback to quarterback, and he has rushed for seven touchdowns and thrown for three this season. Sean Conover, the reigning Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year, has played some at tight end in recent weeks and caught a touchdown pass against Lafayette. Freshman Kevin Mullen moved from linebacker to fullback after Blamah Sarnor was injured early in the season, and Mullen scored his first collegiate TD on a 24-yard run last week against Fordham. Sophomore DL Ryan Walsh ran for a touchdown against Stony Brook in week two. Walsh is still a starter on defense, but he occasionally comes in on the team's goal line package on offense. • ZVARA TRYING TO CATCH HISTORY: Only one Bucknell freshman has ever led the team in receptions in a season, but rookie WR Daniel Zvara has a chance to become the second. With two games to play, Zvara leads the team with 13 catches, one more than RB Josh DeStefano and five more than RB Peter Kaufman. The only other Bison freshman to post the most catches was Mike Guerrini (44) in 1987. • PICKS GALORE: Bucknell has 16 interceptions in nine games this season. The Bison rank T-5th in Division I-AA in that category, and they are tied for first nationally with 10 different players recording interceptions. Youngstown State, Lehigh, Samford and Western Kentucky also have 10 different defenders with pickoffs. Bucknell this season has more interceptions than passing touchdowns allowed (13). • AMONG THE NCAA LEADERS: Dante Ross ranks fifth among all active Division I-AA players in career kickoff return average (26.8). He also ranks seventh in punt return yards (724) and 10th in punt return average (10.8). Also, Ross' 268-yard performance against Marist is the third-best rushing total in the nation this season, behind only the 356-yard effort by Portland State's Joe Rubin against Northern Colorado and the 272 yards posted by Pierre Rembert of Illinois State against Missouri State. • AMONG THE PATRIOT LEAGUE LEADERS: QB Dante Ross ranks fifth in the Patriot League in rushing at 74.1 yards per game, despite not playing offense until the third week of the season. Ross also ranks fourth in the PL in total yards (143.2), third in all-purpose yards (129.9) and seventh in scoring (4.7). LB Dorian Petersen is eighth in the PL in tackles (71), while LB Ryan Slater is ninth (70). DL Brandon Bailey is tied for fifth in sacks (4) and tied for ninth in tackles for loss (7). DB David Frisbey is tied for third in passes defended (9). • ONE MORE POSITION FOR THE RESUME: Just in case he hadn't played enough positions this season, Dante Ross has also made a handful of appearances as a punter in recent weeks, marking the first time since high school that he had done that in a game. So in 2005 Ross has now run the ball, thrown a pass, caught a pass, intercepted a pass, returned a punt, returned a kickoff, made a tackle, blocked a field goal, forced a fumble and punted. • YOUTH IS SERVED: Bucknell's two-deep features 23 first or second-year players this week. Of the 34 freshmen on the Bison roster, 20 have seen varsity action this season. • A WINNING ERA: After posting a solid 7-4 campaign in 2004, Bucknell has finished at .500 or better in nine of the last 10 seasons. Over that decade span from 1995-2004, the Bison won 63 games, the most in any 10-year period in school history. • DANTE'S INFERNO: In a throwback performance that had many folks in the pressbox reminiscing about Gordie Lockbaum, Bucknell senior Dante Ross had one of the most memorable games in Bucknell history in the Oct. 1 win over Marist. Ross, who is the team's smallest player at 5'8", 164 pounds, played offense, defense and special teams, and he tore apart the record book along the way. He started the game at cornerback, contributed five tackles (four solo) and made an important leaping interception in the end zone to stop a Marist drive. On offense, he entered the game at quarterback on the second series of the day, and two plays later he put the Bison ahead with a 39-yard TD run. And he never stopped running. He finished with 268 rushing yards and three touchdowns, and he also tossed a 37-yard TD pass to WR Daniel Zvara, a huge play at the time with Bucknell still clinging to that 7-0 lead in the third quarter. On special teams, Ross totaled 36 yards on three punt returns and had a 21-yard kickoff return. More on Ross' career day: • ROSS ECLIPSES EIBEN'S RECORD: Lost in all of Dante Ross' heroics in the Marist game was the fact that he became Bucknell's career leader in punt return yardage. He now has 724 career yards, which is better than the 626 posted by current Toronto Argonauts star Kevin Eiben from 1997-2000. Ross also moved into second place on the Patriot League career chart. • WEEKLY TRIFECTA: Dante Ross was named the Patriot League Offensive Player of the Week after the Marist win. In his career Ross has now earned offensive, defensive and special teams player of the week awards, becoming the first player in league history to accomplish that trifecta. He was also named the ECAC Player of the Week and the Lewisburg Hotel Bison Athlete of the Week. • HONORS GALORE FOR CONOVER: Senior DL Sean Conover has received a barrelful of honors since the end of last season. Following a monster junior year in which he led the Patriot League in sacks (10.5) and forced fumbles (5), Conover was named the Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year and earned Second Team All-America citations from both the Associated Press and The Sports Network. Conover was named to the Preseason All-America team and was on the initial Buck Buchanan Award Watch List by The Sports Network, in addition to Preseason Patriot League Defensive Player of the Year honors. • ROSS ALSO HONORED: Senior QB/CB Dante Ross was named the Patriot League Preseason Special Teams Player of the Year last month after claiming the similar honor following a terrific 2004 season. Ross led the league in both kickoff (29.1) and punt (9.5) return average and became the first player in school and league history to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in the same game when he did so against Georgetown last season. • IN THE CLASSROOM: The Bison boasted a league-record 26 members of the Patriot League Academic Honor Roll last season, and the team fashioned a solid 3.12 combined grade-point average last spring. • UP NEXT: Bucknell puts a lid on the 2005 season with a home game against Holy Cross next Saturday at 1 p.m. at Christy Mathewson-Memorial Stadium. Bucknell has won two straight over the Crusaders, including a 42-27 win last season in Worcester, Mass. |
MULTIMEDIA 
Photo Galleries 
Facilities Gallery 
Coach's Bio 
Video Player Bud Ranck-Tom Gadd Kickoff Classic (July 27-28)Community Photo GalleriesHistoryFacilitiesProspective Student-Athletes |
