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OPENING KICKOFF: Tonight's non-conference marks the 21st meeting between McDaniel (0-0) and Catholic (0-0) in a series that dates back to 1912. The Green Terror leads the all-time series 13-7 and snapped a three-game skid in the series last year. The Cardinals had won the last three meetings, including twice in Westminster during that span.
WHEN LAST WE MET: McDaniel scored the game's final 20 points to record a 34-31 non-conference victory at Catholic last season on Friday night. On offense, it was Tayahd Campbell (Silver Spring, Md./Blake) leading the comeback for the Green Terror, finishing with 111 yards on 11 carries, including his first collegiate touchdown. On defense, it was another freshman. Drew Scott (Brick, N.J./Brick Twp.) nabbed his first two interceptions to set up the final two McDaniel touchdowns. TJ Tutone paced the Cardinals with 339 yards passing as part of a 530-yard offensive explosion. The Green Terror finished with 403 yards – 329 of which came after the intermission. Seth McFall (Dover, Del./Ceasar Rodney) accounted for 259 of those yards through the air but it was his feet that gave McDaniel the go-ahead score.
LAST TIME OUT: Johns Hopkins, ranked seventh by d3football.com at the time, jumped out to a 21-0 lead en route to a 48-17 victory over McDaniel to close the 2014 regular season. Matty Callahan (Germantown, Md./Northwest) led the Green Terror, establishing a career best with 99 yards rushing to go with his 111 yards passing. Braden Anderson threw for 165 yards and two touchdowns to pace the Blue Jays, who wrapped up their fourth straight outright conference title.
WITH HONORS: The Green Terror had a one player named all-conference last season. Brett Haas (Laurel, Md./Atholton), a punter, earned his second all-conference nod as an honorable mention selection in 2014. He was also tabbed honorable mention as a freshman.
LEADING THE WAY: Riley Johnson (Round Hill, Va./Woodgrove), Brandon Jones (Middle River, Md./Eastern Tech), Mike Oliveto (Robesonia, Pa./Conrad Weiser) and Matt Quattrone (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle Area) will captain the squad in 2015. This is the third straight year Oliveto has served as a captain while Jones is a two-time captain.
OPENING STATEMENTS: The Green Terror begins its 121st season of football this evening, entering play with a 63-51-6 record on opening day. This is the fifth straight season McDaniel has opened the season with Catholic, following a single game with Juniata, a home-and-home series with St. Vincent and 12-year series with Bridgewater.
NEW YEAR, SAME DAY: Tonight's marks the first time in 52 years that the Green Terror has played a game on the same calendar day two years in a row. Then-Western Maryland hosted Bridgewater on Friday, Sept. 21, 1962 before traveling to Bridgewater on Saturday, Sept. 21, 1963. This is just 12th time in program history for the rare occurrence.
NIGHT LIFE: Tonight marks the fourth straight season that the Green Terror and Cardinals will kick off under the lights. Catholic came out on top of the first two night games in the series, winning 45-28 in the nation's capital and 48-16 last time in Westminster. McDaniel rallied last season to notch its improve to 3-5 all-time in night games with a 34-31 win. This is the fifth straight year with a single night game on the slate.
YOUTH IS SERVED: This year's senior class – a group that totals 17 members – is the first to play for Mike Hoyt for all four seasons. Eight of those players are listed on the opening weekend two-deep depth chart, including six penciled in as starters.
BACKING IT UP: The linebacking corps was arguably the brightest spot of the McDaniel defense last season. All three starters were in the top six in tackles in 2014, including Drew Scott (Brick, N.J./Brick Twp.). Then-rookie Scott led the team with 64 tackles last year, including a team-best 45 solo stops. He also had four interceptions and recovered a fumble. Matt Quattrone was second with 55 tackles. Brandon Jones rounded out the trio with 50 stops.
LUKE IS YOUR FATHER: Senior Luke Fernandez (Manchester, Md./Manchester Valley) returns for his third season quarterbacking the defense at the free safety position. Fernandez led all defensive backs last year with 51 tackles, nabbed one interception and broke up two more passes. He also recovered a fumble. Fernandez was equally effective against both the run and the pass, making 23 tackles on run plays and 27 on pass plays.
NEW FACES: Head coach Mike Hoyt added four new coaches to the staff since the end of the 2014 season. Derrick Miles and Travis Wenrich return to their alma mater as defensive coaches on the staff. Miles is charged with coaching the defensive line – where he played four years for the Green Terror. Wenrich serves a defensive assistants, assisting primarily with the defensive line and secondary. Local product Kyle Purkey, who played his high school ball at South Carroll, joined the staff in the spring as running backs coach but shifted to defense to coach outside linebackers prior to the fall. Ricky Conner joined the staff this fall as the new running backs coach. Conner's father, Rick, is the head coach at Linganore and played for Western Maryland from 1980-83.
SAME FACES, NEW PLACES: Mike Hoyt also shifted the responsibilities of some of the returning staff members. The head coach returns to his roots in 2015 and will serve as defensive coordinator and also coach the safeties. Hoyt brought Aaron Bartolain over to the defensive side of the ball with him. Bartolain, the 2000 Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Year, will coach on the side of the ball he played for the first time in his coaching career and has charge of the linebackers. Bartolain, in his 15th season on staff, was also promoted to Associate Head Coach and also now coordinates special teams. With Bartolain's move to defense, Chris Bassler was promoted to offensive coordinator while retaining charge of the offensive line. Mike Dailey, an Arena Football League veteran, joins Bassler on the offensive side to coach the wide receivers and coordinate the pass game.
TERROR TIDBITS: The Green Terror will look to improve on its league-worst scoring offense (17.0 ppg) and scoring defense (39.9) from last year… The Green Terror returns 17 of its 22 starters from 2014, including 10 on defense. However, only seven projected Week One starters were members of the squad last year… McDaniel has 42 freshmen on the roster in 2015 and 50 total newcomers.
COACHES' CORNER: Mike Hoyt enters his fourth season at the helm of the Green Terror with an overall record of 3-27, picking up his first win on Sept. 14, 2013 – a 21-14 victory over Moravian. In 2015, he serves as defensive coordinator for the first time at McDaniel. He spent the previous eight seasons as the defensive coordinator, culminating with being a finalist for the American Football Coaches Association Assistant Coach of the Year award in 2011. In his first season at Albright, his defense went from allowing an average of 235.4 yards per game to 175.1 yards per contest, helping to guide Albright to an ECAC South Atlantic championship. His tenure as defensive coordinator was marked specifically by stout run defense, ranking in the top half of the Middle Atlantic Conference in rush defense, total defense and scoring defense in four of his last five seasons. His 2008 defense led the conference and ranked 33rd nationally, allowing just 16.9 points per games and appeared in the ECAC South Central Bowl… Dave Dunn is in his 10th season leading Catholic. In his debut campaign, he guided the Cardinals to a 3-7 record. In 2007, Dunn guided Catholic to its first .500 season since 2000 before putting up a 9-2 record in 2008. With a 36-45 record at Catholic, he has a 36-53 career record after serving as the first coach at Becker College in 2005, going 0-8 with the first-year program prior to his arrival in the nation's capital. He has more than 20 years of coaching experience, including time as an assistant at his alma mater University of San Diego, Indiana State, Harvard and Florida Atlantic.
THE WORD ON CATHOLIC: The Cardinals enter the 2015 season off a 3-7 campaign in 2014… Catholic returns its top rushing threat from a year ago. Matt Perno ran for 728 yards on 140 attempts last year. He lost only 27 yards over those rushing attempts and found the end zone eight times. Perno also caught nine balls out of the backfield for 155 yards… TJ Tutone returns for his senior season at quarterback after completing 63 percent of his passes as a junior. He threw for 2,371 yards and 16 TDs. A dual threat, Tutone also ran for 271 yards, which was second on the team… Tutone has his top two receiving threats back as well. Tim Murphy caught 37 balls for 470 yards and four scores while Lucas Morley snagged 31 passes for 373 yards and five touchdowns… Defensively, the Cardinals return five of their top seven tacklers from a season ago. Anthony Santo led Catholic as a freshman with 71 tackles at free safety… The Cardinals were outscored 213-162 in the second half of games last year, including 34-10 to the Green Terror.
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