Delaware Valley 34, Albright 9

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Saturday, November 15, 2008 — DOYELSTOWN, PA - It has been nearly 11 years since the Lions could call themselves Middle Atlantic Conference Champions. Despite falling to the host Aggies of Delaware Valley College (7-3/5-2 MAC) the Lions (7-3/5-2) earned themselves a piece of the conference championship with both Delaware Valley and Lycoming College Saturday afternoon at James Work Memorial Stadium in front of a crowd of 1,700 fans.

With the Lycoming victory over Lebanon Valley College in Williamsport, the Warriors earned the conferences’ automatic bid to the NCAA Division III Tournament which is scheduled to begin next weekend. The Lions and Aggies will now have to wait until Monday afternoon to see if they earned an ECAC Tournament bid.

Overall the Lions offense was unable to get anything going as a unit. In total the Red and White’s rushing game which has just dominated conference opponents over the last few weeks was held to 43 total yards on 30 attempts. The Albright passing game despite completing 22 of its 36 attempts was limited to 192 total yards and allowed three interceptions, one of which was returned for a touchdown.

For the Aggies, their running game led by Matt Cook proved to be the decisive factor in the victory as they totaled 236 yards on 39 carries. In the air Del. Val. Was able to tack on another 112 yards with no interceptions as quarterback Mike Isgro completed 10 of his 18 passes.

Isgro was also responsible for two touchdown passes. On the ground Chad Peterman and Dan Heiland each recorded scores for their team, both of which came in the later part of the second half. Peterman actually tacked on the first touchdown of the day for Delaware Valley following a 12 yard touchdown reception in the first quarter.

Putting up the only Albright touchdown was Nate Romig who earned a 36 yard touchdown reception in the opening minutes of the contest. A blocked point after attempt kept the game at 6-0. Peterman’s first touchdown followed by a made point after attempt gave Delaware Valley College the small one point lead.

Sophomore kicker John Whelan came on in the opening seconds of the second quarter to give his team their second lead of the day as he split the uprights from 33 yards out to make it a two point ball (9-7) game with plenty of time to play in the half.

However, the Whelan field goal would be the final score of the afternoon for the Red and White as the Aggies defense managed to keep the Lions off the scoreboard for the remainder of the contest.

The Aggies on the other hand exploded offensively recording a pair of touchdowns before the end of the half. They then carried that offensive momentum over into the second half as they tacked on a touchdown in the third and fourth quarters.

As a unit the Delaware Valley defense just dominated the Albright offense throughout the afternoon. Despite many valiant efforts by quarterback Tanner Kelly and receiver Luke Wallace the Lions offense was almost nonexistent throughout the remainder of the second quarter and second half.

The driving force behind the Delaware Valley defense was without a doubt Kyle Gesswein who totaled 10 tackles on the day, 3.5 sacks and was responsible for blocking the Albright point after attempt in the first quarter. In total the Del. Val. defense recorded eight sacks for -42 yards.

Albright’s defense was guided by junior Joe Baciotti, whose interception hot streak came to an end Saturday afternoon. Despite not recording a pick, Baciotti led the team in tackles with seven. Junior Andrew Kibler was next in line in tackles with six.

The Lions close out their regular season with an overall record of 7-3, 5-2 in the Middle Atlantic Conference and will find out on Monday if their season continues with a possible ECAC Tournament bid.

Press release submitted by on Nov 15, 2008 at 07:47 PM Eastern