INDIANA(PA) CRIMSON HAWKS (3-1, 2-1 PSAC West) at EDINBORO FIGHTING SCOTS (0-4, 0-3 PSAC West)

Date:  Saturday, October 4, 2014
Site:  Edinboro, Pa.
Stadium:  Sox Harrison Stadium (6,000)
Kickoff: 2:00 p.m.
Next:  Sat., Oct. 11 at Clarion, 6:00 p.m.
Radio:   WFSE?FM 88.9 -- Ron Raymond (play-by-play) and Mike Fenner (color commentary)
                http://www.boroonline.com.
TV:  ETV
Live Stats:   http://www.sidearmstats.com/edinboro/football/
 
Edinboro Game Notes
IUP Game Notes
PSAC Weekly Notes
 
 
The Game Story
It's Homecoming at Edinboro, with the contest against Indiana(Pa.) kicking off at 2 p.m. at Sox Harrison Stadium. Edinboro defeated Lock Haven 31-6 in last year's Homecoming game, and has won six of its last seven Homecoming tilts. The lone loss was in 2011 to Slippery Rock 24-23. The Fighting Scots are 38-32-2 all-time in Homecoming games, including 6-2 under head coach Scott Browning. Edinboro and IUP met on Homecoming in 2002, with IUP claiming a 54-35 win.
} Faced with a brutal early season schedule, Edinboro is off to an 0-4 start, its worst getaway since the 1955 team opened the year with five consecutive losses. The season started with a 38-24 loss at 16th-ranked Carson-Newman. That was followed by another long road trip to Shippensburg for the first PSAC game of the year. The Fighting Scots would fall 47-21 to a Red Raiders team that was 7-4 a year ago. Two weeks ago Edinboro played its home opener against an East Stroudsburg team that was picked to finish second in the PSAC East in the Coaches Preseason Poll. The young Fighting Scots rallied from a 20-7 deficit after one quarter and would be tied at 34-34 in the fourth period before finally falling 47-34. Last week the Scots traveled to California(Pa.) and dropped a 34-16 decision to a Vulcan team picked to finish second in the PSAC?West. Now they welcome the team the Western Division coaches voted as the preseason favorite -- Indiana(Pa.). The Crimson Hawks were 9-2 a year ago and are off to a 3-1 start.

A young Edinboro defense that is playing five freshmen or redshirt freshmen has had the misfortune of facing four high-powered yet distinct offenses and has paid the price. First came the bruising veer option attack run by a Carson-Newman team that finished fourth in the country in rushing last year. The Eagles finished with 342 yards rushing.  The next week Edinboro had to try to slow down a multi-faceted Shippensburg offense that ended up rushing for 246 yards and passing for 233 more.  Two weeks ago they had to contend with East Stroudsburg's high-flying passing game.  ESU?quarterback Matt Soltes would throw for 502 yards as the Warriors finished with 590 total yards. Last week a balanced California(Pa.) team finished with 382 yards. The defense struggled in the first half but limited the Vulcans to just a pair of field goals in the second half. After four games Edinboro has allowed 166 points. It marks the first time in school history the first four opponents have scored 30-or-more points.

The Edinboro offense had made strides over the first three weeks but struggled against a strong California(Pa.) defense. The Fighting Scots were held to 325 total yards, and finished with minus 12 yards rushing. That is the third-lowest single game total in school history. The ground game has struggled all year, with just 71 yards at Carson-Newman and 46 vs. Shippensburg. The Scots did run for 180 yards against East Stroudsburg.

Granted a sixth season of eligibility, Cody Harris is off to a strong start. He has thrown for 1,057 yards and has 9 TDs compared to just one interception. He has added four touchdowns rushing as he has accounted for all 13 Edinboro touchdowns. Harris played in just the first two games a year ago before suffering a season-ending injury. Edinboro averaged 35 points and 454.5 total yards in the first two games but just 19.6 points and 283.1 total yards over the final nine contests.  Harris was a second team All-PSAC?West selection in 2011 and '12.   

Edinboro was picked to finish sixth in the PSAC?West in the coaches' preseason poll for the second straight year. Indiana(Pa.) received five first place votes and was chosen the favorite to win the PSAC West.

IUP suffered two losses a year ago, with one of them coming to the Fighting Scots. One week after suffering a 55-14 loss at Gannon, Edinboro went down to IUP and shocked the 22nd-ranked Crimson Hawks 36-30.   

The Carson-Newman contest was the first of three Thursday games the Fighting Scots will play in 2014. Edinboro will also face local rivals Gannon and Mercyhurst on Thursday evenings. The Scots will host Gannon on Thursday, October 16 in the first Thursday night contest at Sox Harrison Stadium since 2008. A week later Edinboro will play for the first time at Erie Veterans Stadium since 1982 as Mercyhurst hosts the Scots on Thursday, October 23.
  
The All-Time Series
Indiana(Pa.) leads 55-23-4
Indiana(Pa.) had won the last three meetings against Edinboro before the Fighting Scots upset 22nd-ranked IUP last year 36-30 at George P. Miller Stadium. Edinboro scored just 10 points in those three meetings, with shutouts in 2010 and '11.   Edinboro has lost three of the last meetings at Sox Harrison Stadium, with the win coming in 2008 (24-17).
 
The Last Meeting
2013 -- Edinboro 36, #22 Indiana(Pa.) 30
The Edinboro defense forced five turnovers and blocked a punt, and Jon Girvin paced the offense with three touchdown passes as the Fighting Scots upset 22nd-ranked IUP.  IUP grabbed a quick 6-0 lead, but Girvin's first TD pass, a 26-yarder to Jordan Williams, knotted the score at 6-6.  Devin Ghafoor blocked an IUP punt, with Darren Massey returning it 19 yards for a 13-6 lead. Those scores were part of a 22-point second quarter as the Scots gained a 22-20 lead at the half.  The other scores were a 75-yard hookup between Girvin and Massey and a 39-yard field goal by T.J. Hardy.  Hardy's field goal started a string of 17 straight points for the Scots, as Jeremy Donaldson scored on a one-yard run and Girvin and Massey combined on a 33-yard touchdown pass. That gave the Scots a 36-20.  The Crimson Hawks would score the final ten points of the game, but the rally ended when Delano Fabor intercepted a pass with just over two minutes left to play.  
 
Last Week
California(Pa.) 34, Edinboro 16
Cody Harris scored on a pair of short touchdown runs in the second half but it wasn't enough to overcome a 28-0 halftime deficit.  California(Pa.) scored on four of its first five possessions, but the Boro defense settled down to hold the Vulcans to a pair of field goals in the second half. Cal had 271 yards in the first half while Edinboro was held to 104 yards, including minus 27 yards rushing. The Edinboro offense was held in check until the fourth quarter when Harris directed the Fighting Scots on scoring drives of 79 and 91 yards. He accounted for both touchdowns on runs of one and two yards. Edinboro added a safety with just under two minutes to play when Joel Fulton blocked a punt out of the end zone. Harris completed 29 of 42 passes for 312 yards, but he was under constant pressure all afternoon. Edinboro quarterbacks were sacked seven times as the Scots finished with minus 12 yards rushing, the third-lowest total in school history. California(Pa.) finished the day with 382 yards while Edinboro ended with 325 yards.    

Indiana(Pa.) 41, Mercyhurst 7
The Crimson Hawks sprinted to a 27-0 lead after one quarter and never looked back. It took just 12 seconds for IUP to open the scoring after Mercyhurst fumbled on the opening kickoff. Freshman Luigi Lista-Brinza, who rushed for 103 yards on 16 carries, scored the first of his three touchdowns on an 11-yard run. He capped a 10-play, 80-yard drive with a one-yard scoring run, and Brock DeCicco caught a 15-yard touchdown pass from Chase Haslett for a 20-0 lead with 1:55 to play in the quarter. The Crimson Hawks were back on the board just 31 seconds later after a quick Mercyhurst three-and-out. Lista-Brinza again did the honors with a 41-yard run. Haslett's 13-yard TD pass to Drew Carswell made it 34-0 at the half and Chris Temple's seven-yard TD run in the third quarter concluded IUP's scoring. IUP turned in a brilliant defensive effort, limiting the Lakers to 146 yards in total offense, including 29 yards rushing. Haslett completed 12 of 15 passes for 157 yards.
         
The Coaches
Scott Browning (Ohio State '81) took over as Edinboro's 13th head coach on January 5, 2006, and in his first six seasons he tied the record for most wins by a coach during that period.  Browning is in his ninth season with a 54-39 record, and is in his 29th season as a member of the Edinboro staff.  With last year's season-opening 35-34 win over Walsh, he became the third coach at Edinboro to reach 50 wins, joining Tom Hollman and Bill McDonald.   The win over Clarion was his 54th, tying him with McDonald for second in career victories.  Browning was certainly no stranger to Fighting Scot football when he was hired as head coach, serving as an assistant coach for the previous twenty years. While at Edinboro he has coached the offensive linemen, defensive backs and running backs, along with serving as the offensive coordinator.  Browning became the first head coach at Edinboro to debut with a win since McDonald in 1969 when the Fighting Scots opened the 2006 season with a 28-14 win at West Chester.  He went on to lead Edinboro to a 6-5 finish, the most wins ever by a first-year coach.  That was followed by a 7-4 finish in 2007.  His next two Fighting Scot editions recorded a school-record tying nine wins.  In 2008 Edinboro ended the year at 9-2 and was ranked 20th in the final AFCA?Top 25.  The Fighting Scots had a 9-4 record in 2009, making the NCAA?playoffs for the first time in his tenure.  Edinboro would end the year 24th in the AFCA?poll.  The Boro posted back-to-back 7-4 finishes in 2010 and 2011.  The 4-6 finish in 2012 represented Browning's first losing season as head coach. 

Curt Cignetti (West Virginia '82) is in his fourth year at the helm of the football program at IUP, showing a 31-8 record.  The son of former legendary IUP coach Frank Cignetti, he led the Crimson Hawks to a 7-3 record his first year, then followed that up with a 12-2 in 2012.  IUP won the 2012 PSAC?Championship with a 41-10 win over Shippensburg, then defeated Shepherd (27-17) and New Haven (17-14) in the NCAA Division II championships.  Winston-Salem State finally ended IUP's season with a 21-17 win in the Super Region One Championship. A year ago IUP went 9-2. Now in his 32nd year of coaching, Cignetti has an impressive resume' that includes  four seasons as wide receivers coach and recruiting coordinator under Nick Saban at Alabama.  The Crimson Tide won the 2009 BCS national championship with a 14-0 record.  In addition to the national title, Cignetti was part of Alabama teams that posted a record of 33-3 over his last three regular seasons, including 29 consecutive regular season victories, won the 2008 and 2009 SEC West championships and earned a berth in the 2008 Sugar Bowl. Cignetti joined the staff at Alabama after spending seven seasons (2000-06) as the recruiting coordinator at North Carolina State while also coaching tight ends from 2000-02 and 2005-06 and quarterbacks during the 2003 and 2004 campaigns. The Wolfpack qualified for five bowl games during that time, including the 2002 Gator Bowl when N.C. State set a school record with 11 wins.  Cignetti has also had previous coaching stops at Pittsburgh, Davidson, Rice and Temple.   
    
Browning Comments ... on the Fighting Scots
"We got behind early. Offensively we didn't do anything to help the defense. Defensivly we didn't do anything to help the offense. We spotted them 14 points. You have to get off the bus ready to play. We didn't respond early. As the game went on we got better. But the good thing is we played 60 minutes. We played hard. We hung together. I still like our football team. We still have a chance to have a good year."
 
Browning Comments ... on the Crimson Hawks
"They're starting to come together. To beat Mercyhurst like they did last week ... Mercyhurst is a good football team. It's a talented group. I don't know what happened earlier in the year.  Last week they certainly didn't play like that."