Full game notes are available in PDF here.
Live stats and Audio are available through the links at the top of this page.
OPENING KICKOFF: Today's non-conference marks the 22nd 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 13-8 but the Cardinals have won four of the last five meetings. The lone McDaniel win during the stretch was a 34-31 victory in Washington, D.C. two years ago.
WHEN LAST WE MET: Catholic scored 21 of the game's final 24 points to rally for a 34-33 victory over McDaniel in the season opener last season. Garrett Diehl led the defense for the Green Terror, making 13 tackles in his debut with the squad. He also had an interception. Matthew Callahan (Germantown, Md./Northwest) went 22-for-34 through the air for 271 yards and two touchdowns while adding another 52 yards on the ground. T.J. Tutone threw for 356 yards and four touchdowns for the Cardinals, completing 35 of 51 passes that included a 49-yard strike to Lucas Morley for the game-winning score with 13.2 seconds left. Morley caught 13 passes for 210 yards and all four scores.
LAST TIME OUT: Johns Hopkins, ranked eighth by d3football.com at the time, took a 28-10 lead at halftime en route to a 49-24 win over McDaniel to close the 2015 regular season. Mike Oliveto completed his career for the Green Terror with 13 catches to finish with the program records for a career (169) and season (63) receptions. His 13 catches was two shy of the program record for a single game. Oliveto recorded 107 receiving yards on the day, including a 39-yard touchdown. Stuart Walters ran for 103 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Blue Jays, who wrapped up the outright CC title and won their 31st straight regular season game for a new conference record.
WITH HONORS: The Green Terror graduated its lone all-conference performer from a season ago. Brett Haas, a punter, earned his third all-conference nod as an honorable mention selection in 2015. He was also tabbed honorable mention as a freshman and junior.
LEADING THE WAY: Tyler DeMent (Olney, Md./Northwest), Vince Gorgone (Clarksville, Md./Good Counsel) and Matt Quattrone (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle Area) will captain the squad in 2016. This is the second straight year Quattrone has served as a captain while DeMent and Gorgone are first-time captains.
OPENING STATEMENTS: The Green Terror begins its 122nd season of football this afternoon, entering play with a 63-52-6 record on opening day. This is the sixth 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.
NATURAL LIGHT: This afternoon marks the first time since 2011 that McDaniel and Catholic will not meet under the lights. The two squads have not kicked off in the afternoon since a high noon start in Westminster to open the 2011, which Catholic won 39-36. The 2016 season will be the Green Terror's first without a night game since 2010.
MIXED SIGNALS: McDaniel returns a pair of quarterbacks who split the starts under center in 2015. Matthew Callahan started the first half of the campaign before Will Koester (Purcellville, Va./Woodgrove) took over as the starter during the second half of the season. Koester threw for 1,108 yards in six games, completing 55.1 percent of his passes with six touchdowns and eight interceptions. Callahan threw for 922 yards in five games, completing 52.7 percent of his passes with four touchdowns and seven interceptions.
200-LEVEL CLUB: Both Matthew Callahan and Will Koester were able to put up big numbers in the passing game last season. Callahan threw for 200 more yards in three of the season's first five games and has eight 200-yard passing games over the last two seasons. Koester reached the 200-yard mark in four of the year's final five games, including establishing a career best with 267 yards in his first collegiate start against Franklin & Marshall on Oct. 17.
THREE-HEADED BEAST: McDaniel also returns a trio of running backs who will all vie for time in the backfield. Perry Stefanelli (Rockville, Md./Good Counsel) is slated to get his first start this afternoon. He ran for 313 yards on 68 carries last season, ripping off three touchdowns. He was also the top threat out of the backfield, catching 13 passes for 98 yards. John Chamberlin (Williamstown, N.J./Williamstown) ran for 63 yards on 24 carries while Matt Cathey (Brick, N.J./Brick Memorial) ran the ball 49 times during his rookie campaign for 240 yards and a team-best four touchdowns.
MIND YOUR Q'S: Senior Matt Quattrone (Carlisle, Pa./Carlisle Area) returns to anchor the defense in 2016. Quattrone led the defense with 74 tackles, including a team-best 44 solo stops, from his linebacker position in 2015. With a new defensive look this season, Quattrone will shift from outside linebacker to a rover position and will quarterback the defense.
NEW FACES: With the promotion of Mike Dailey to head coach and the departure of long-time assistant Aaron Bartolain, the Green Terror has added a pair of new full-time coaches to the staff to start 2016. DeMarcus White takes over as defensive coordinator, coming to McDaniel with eight years of collegiate coaching experience that included serving as the defensive backs assistant at Rutgers last season. Mike Hohensee joins Dailey from the Arena Football League, spending 27 seasons in the league that included 21 years as a head coach. Hohensee played collegiately at Minnesota and also spent time as a quarterback in the National Football League, United States Football League, Canadian Football League and Arena Football League. Brandon Ludwig, Mike Oliveto, Colin Renner and Gentry White also joined the staff this season. Ludwig will work with the tight ends, Oliveto, a 2014 McDaniel graduate, will coach the wide receivers. Renner, who served as a student assistant on staff, will coach the B-Backs and White will mentor the linebackers. Kyle Purkey adds special teams coordinator to his duties in 2016.
TERROR TIDBITS: The Green Terror returns 28 players who started at least one game last season and 11 who started eight or more games… McDaniel has 38 freshman on the opening day roster and 45 players who were not on the 2015 team… The Green Terror will look to improve on its league-worst scoring defense (40.3 ppg) from last year.
COACHES' CORNER: Mike Dailey enters his first season at the helm of the Green Terror after seven seasons as an assistant on the staff. Dailey joined the Green Terror staff in 2009 with a pedigree of success at all levels of football that included compiling a record of 115-83 and two championships in 12 years as a head coach in the Arena Football League (AFL), leading the Albany Firebirds and Colorado Crush that included winning league titles in 1999 and 2005. For his first six seasons on the McDaniel sidelines, he served as defensive coordinator. His scheme put pressure on opposing quarterbacks game-in and game-out, recording 101 sacks and 55 interceptions. He helped produce 12 All-Centennial Conference selections, including four first-team nods. In 2015, Dailey shifted responsibilities to the offensive side of the ball – something he is renowned for from his days in the AFL. He spent last season coordinating the pass game and working specifically with the wide receivers… Bill Bachman was named interim head coach on June 1 after serving as defensive coordinator for the Cardinals in 2015. He also coached the Catholic tight ends in 2013 and 2014. Bachman previously served as the Defensive Coordinator in 1991. Between 1985 and 1990, Bachman was an assistant coach at James Madison, where he was special teams coordinator and outside linebackers coach for four seasons. He also coached the quarterbacks and receivers for two seasons. Bachman began his coaching career at Washburn, where he coached the outside linebackers in 1983 and 1984. The 1983 Washburn squad won its conference championship.
THE WORD ON CATHOLIC: The Cardinals enter the 2016 season off its second straight 3-7 campaign… Catholic begins the new year without its top offensive weapon from last year. The Cardinals graduated second-team All-ODAC quarterback T.J. Tutone, who threw for 3,138 yards and 25 touchdowns in 2015. Both numbers were second in the conference last year… Senior Matt Perno does return to the backfield for Catholic after running for a team-best 604 yards and five touchdowns last season. The Cardinals, however, had the seventh-ranked rush attack in the eight-team ODAC, averaging just 124.9 yards on the ground… Senior Lucas Morley also returns to lead the receiving corps after grabbing a league-best 100 receptions in 2015. The first-team All-ODAC receiver exploded for 967 yards and 14 touchdowns as the top threat in the aerial attack… Defensively, Catholic returns its top five tacklers. Ross Sanfield made 93 stops in 2015 with 3.0 sacks, 9.0 tackles for loss and two interceptions… Catholic had the worst scoring defense in the ODAC last season, allowing an average of 38.7 points per game. The Cardinals also allowed the most yards (494.4 ypg) and passing yards (283.6) in the league.
-30-
