Complete Game Notes

ERIE, Pa. - The Mercyhurst University football team will play its final regular season game of the season on Saturday afternoon against the Warriors of East Stroudsburg University. Kickoff is scheduled for 12:00 p.m. from Tullio Field.

Saturday's contest will mark the first meeting between the two schools.

Mercyhurst (8-2, 6-1 PSAC West) claimed a share of the PSAC West crown last Saturday, routing then #22 California 40-7 at Tullio Field. The win Saturday was Mercyhurst's largest margin of victory against a nationally-ranked opponent - shattering the previous record of 10 points against then #3 California back in 2010. The Lakers won that game 31-21 over the Vulcans. Redshirt freshman Brandon Brown-Dukes was named the PSAC West Offensive Player of the Week with 124 yards rushing and two touchdowns. He broke two school records last week - rushing touchdowns in a season (15) and most rushing yards by a freshman (1,221). Senior defensive back Linnell Robinson was the ECAC Defensive Player of the Week after returning an interception 52 yards for a touchdown last Saturday.

The eight wins this season tied the 1984 and 1985 squads for the second-most victories in program history. The PSAC Championship team won ten games back in 2010.

East Stroudsburg (5-4, 4-3 PSAC East) is coming off a 62-14 victory at Millersville to secure themselves at least a .500 season for the tenth time in the last 13 seasons. Redshirt freshman quarterback Matt Soltes was named PSAC East Offensive Player of the Week for the third time in five weeks for his performance at Millersville. He gained 382 yards (256 passing, 126 rushing) and four touchdowns in three quarters after setting a PSAC record and NCAA freshman with 666 yards (535 passing, 131 rushing) at LIU Post the previous week.

Mercyhurst will honor three senior cheerleaders and 14 senior football players prior to Saturday's kickoff. Seniors Chelsee Cool, Kristin Lorei, and Alyssa Ross are the senior cheerleaders that will be recognized. The football team will say goodbye to WR Paris Bruner, P Chad Tibbitts, DB Todd Wingate, DB L.J. Stevens, LB Josh Harold, DB Linnell Robinson, LB Nick Jackson, FB Leon Gallop, OL Kevin Poropat, OL Tymothy Takacs, OL Tyler Dawson, OL Joe Coyne, DL Brad Weisenseel, and TE Ryan Bartizal.

You can hear all of the action, beginning with the pregame show at 11:45 a.m., on WMCE 88.5 FM. You can also follow all of the action via live stats by clicking here.

OTHER NOTES

Revisiting Last Saturday
Mercyhurst held California's high-powered offense to a season-low 244 yards in a 40-7 rout of the Vulcans. The win Saturday was Mercyhurst's largest margin of victory against a nationally-ranked opponent - shattering the previous record of 10 points against then #3 California back in 2010. The Lakers won that game 31-21 over the Vulcans. For California, it suffered their largest margin of defeat since losing 45-7 to Minnesota Duluth in the 2008 NCAA Semifinals.

Brown-Dukes - A Season To Remember
Redshirt freshman Brandon Brown-Dukes has had, arguably, the best season by a running back in the 32-year history of Mercyhurst football. He currently sits with 1,221 yards and 15 touchdowns entering Saturday's game with East Stroudsburg. He has had six games of 100 yards or more and four games of at least 150 yards on the ground. Included are a career-high 213 yards against Millersville and 134 yards against an IUP team that was allowing 53 yards on the ground going into their matchup. Brown-Dukes averages 122.1 yards per game on the ground, which is ahead of the school record of 116.6 held by Craig Woodard in 1992. Against Millersville, Brown-Dukes was just the fifth back in school history to rush for more than 200 yards in a game. He was the first played to rush for more than 200 yards since Gerald Anderson rushed for 237 against LIU Post in 2010. His yardage output was the fifth-highest total in program history. All told, Mercyhurst had 379 yards rushing in the victory over the Marauders, the most by the Lakers in a game since rushing for 402 yards in a 48-0 win over Pace on November 6, 1993.

The 15 rushing touchdowns is a new single-season record for the program. He surpassed the previous record of 13, held by Tim Ruth (1985) and Richard Stokes (2007, 2008), last week against California. His 15 scores is one shy of tying the school record of 16 touchdowns in a season - held by Trevor Kennedy last season.

Last week, Brown-Dukes also broke the school's record for most rushing yards by a freshman in a single season. Craig Woodard had held the previous record since rushing for 1,166 yards way back in 1992. Only Gerald Anderson's 2010 season stands in the way of Brown-Dukes having the single-season record for any running back in history. Anderson rushed for 1,313 yards in 2010 - Brown-Dukes needs 94 yards to break the record. Anderson, however, played in 13 games back in the 2010 season.

Vendemia Reaches More Milestones
After, arguably, his best game of the 2012 season last week against California, redshirt junior quarterback Anthony Vendemia became the eighth quarterback in school history to reach 3,000 career passing yards and he became the ninth player in history to reach 3,000 career yards of total offense. He completed 10-of-13 passes for 191 yards and had two yards on the ground against the Vulcans.

Earlier, with 141 yards of total offense in the Lakers' win over Slippery Rock, Vendemia became the 16th player in school history to record 2,000 yards of total offense. He has 3,076 for his career - ninth on the all-time list. He trails Richard Stokes (2005-08) by 305 yards to move into eighth place.

Vendemia earlier became the 10th quarterback to throw for 2,000 career yards in week three's victory over Clarion. He has 3,079 passing yards for his career - eighth on the all-time list. He needs 195 yards to catch Mac McArdle (3,274 from 1999-01) for seventh.

From Paris With Love
Senior wide receiver Paris Bruner established two career-bests against Edinboro. He finished the afternoon with 187 receiving yards including a career-long 75-yard reception to set up Mercyhurst's game-winning touchdown. He now has a new career-high with 674 receiving yards this season.

With 114 yards receiving against Slippery Rock, Bruner became the 12th player in school history to record 1,000 career receiving yards. He since has cracked the top ten on the school's all-time receiving list, including surpassing Mercyhurst Hall of Famer Craig Zonna after his performance against IUP two Saturdays ago. He has 1,484 career receiving yards, which is now sixth on the all-time list. He passed Tim Brediger (1,481 from 1994-98) last Saturday. Unless Mercyhurst makes the postseason, this should be as high as Bruner gets on the list. Scott Gorring (1,780 from 1984-87) is fifth in the record books - 296 yards ahead of Bruner.

Just For Kicks
Junior placekicker Steven Wakefield has had a fantastic season handling all of the kicking duties for Mercyhurst. Wakefield currently is second in the PSAC in punting, averaging 42.0 yards per punt on 35 attempts, including a long of 77 yards against Millersville - the second-longest kick in school history. Last week against California, all four of Wakefield's punts were downed inside the 20-yard line. Wakefield also handles the kickoff duties and has had 21 touchbacks in 58 kickoffs (36.2%). He averages 61 yards per kickoff.

Wakefield has connected on 9-of-10 field goal attempts including a career-long of 46 against Millersville. His nine field goals is two shy of the single-season record of 11 by Vinny Repucci during the 2002 season. Wakefield has now made 21 career field goals, also two shy of the record of 23 by Phil Scanlon (2002-06). He is also 34-for-39 on PATs, giving him 61 points this season. His 181 career points has given him sole possession of Mercyhurst's all-time record for points by a kicker. Scanlon scored 165 points while at Mercyhurst.

Awards A-Plenty
Mercyhurst was honored numerous times after Saturday's victory over California. On Sunday, Brown-Dukes was named the PSAC West Offensive Player of the Week for the first time this season. On Monday, the Lakers received votes in the AFCA poll for the second time this season. On Tuesday, the Mercyhurst defense, along with Wakefield, were honored by Beyond Sports Network. And, finally, on Wednesday, senior Linnell Robinson was named the ECAC Division II Defensive Player of the Week and the team cracked the top 25 according to D2Football.com - coming in 25th in the country.

Pick Six
For the first time since Bryant Kimball returned an interception 46 yards for a touchdown against Shepherd in the NCAA Quarterfinals of the 2010 season, Mercyhurst finally took another interception to the house on Saturday. Senior Linnell Robinson picked off a Vulcan pass and ran it back 52 yards for a touchdown. It was Robinson's third interception of the season and the fifth of his career. It was also his first career interception return for a touchdown.

For his efforts, Robinson was named the ECAC Division II Defensive Player of the Week. Robinson became the sixth different Mercyhurst player to be honored with a weekly award from the ECAC this season, joining redshirt freshman Brandon Brown-Dukes (two-time offensive winner), redshirt freshman T.J. Latimer (defensive), senior Serge Augustin (defensive), junior Steven Wakefield (special teams), and junior Vladmir Rock (special teams).

Near Record Scoring Pace
Mercyhurst has scored 317 points (31.7 points per game), putting them within reach of surpassing a pair of program scoring records. The 2010 team holds the record for most points in a season with 354, while the 2007 squad holds the record by averaging 32.1 points per contest. Mercyhurst would need to score 38 points Saturday to set both the record for points in a season and the single-season scoring average.

Swartz Leads The Comeback
Redshirt sophomore quarterback Alec Swartz, who had thrown two collegiate passes (both incomplete), came on in relief of starting quarterback Anthony Vendemia against Edinboro. Swartz connected with senior Paris Bruner on a 75-yard pass play down to the Edinboro one-yard line, setting up the game-winning touchdown by Brown-Dukes. It was the longest offensive play of the season for the Lakers. Then, on fourth-and-six from the Edinboro 33-yard line, Swartz picked up a first down on a 15-yard connection with senior tight end Ryan Bartizal and Mercyhurst was able to run out the clock.

Jones-ing For More
Junior Allen Jones II rushed for 111 yards against Lock Haven to become the 12th player in school history to record 1,000 career rushing yards. Jones has three 100-yard games this season and now has 1,086 rushing yards at Mercyhurst.