Saturday Gameday November 5th

Good morning everyone!

It's a huge week of Division 3 Eastern Region football. Two undefeated teams are in action against traditional rivals, the NJAC title hopes of Montclair State are on the line when they travel to fierce rival Rowan, and the Empire 8 title is up for grabs when St John Fisher travels to Salisbury.

Let's start with the biggest game. #1 Delaware Valley will be on the road to face #8 Lycoming. The Aggies are looking for their fourth consecutive MAC championship, but the Lycoming Warriors stand in their way. The Warriors are yielding only 11.4 points per game, while stuffing opponents' run games at 2.2 yards per carry. Anthony Marascio leads the Lycoming defense with 7 sacks and 19 tackles for losses.

Zach Klinger engineers the Lycoming passing game. The quarterback has thrown only 1 interception in 182 attempts, despite a completion percentage just under 50%. Wayne Oliver is providing big play ability at wide receiver.

The question is, can Lycoming's strong defense stop the Aggies, who average 32.5 points per game? Quarterback Aaron Wilmer is having a huge year at Delaware Valley, having thrown for just shy of 1700 yards with a quarterback efficiency rating of 157.7. The Aggies boast four targets with over 300 yards receiving, so good luck choosing someone to double. And Kyle Schuberth is averaging 6 yards per carry.

This is going to be a great game. As much as I like to pick the home team in games this close, I am leaning toward Del Valley to survive. I think the Aggies defense is comparable to Lycoming's, whereas I don't think Lycoming can win a shoot-out with Del Valley. Look for the Aggies to find a way to win, and keep hope alive for a true eastern team in the #1 seed come playoff time.

Meanwhile #5 St John Fisher travels to #2 Salisbury for the Empire 8 championship. Both teams are 7-1, and undefeated in the Empire 8. Salisbury is coming off a tough 23-14 loss to national powerhouse Wesley. St John Fisher was humbled 56-20 by Hobart in late September. Since then, the Cardinals have been rolling. Fisher has won their last 3 games by a combined score of 130 to 49, and put a 63-36 whooping on a competitive Utica College team last week.

Salisbury has one task to complete: stop Ryan Kramer. The Fisher quarterback rushed for 244 yards and 5 touchdowns, and threw for 156 yards and another touchdown against Utica last week. The offensive output won Kramer the honor of placement on D3Football.com's Team of the Week.

Impressive as Fisher has been lately, Salisbury looks like the favorite in this one. Besides their opponents having to travel from western New York to Maryland to play this game, Salisbury creates some match up issues for Fisher. The Gulls are traditionally an option run attack, and this season they average 6.2 yards per carry. The Fisher defense is yielding 3.4 yards per carry - an above average effort to be sure, but not dominating.

Gulls quarterback Dan Griffin runs a good option, averaging 4.6 yards per carry while having not thrown a single interception in 66 pass attempts. Randal Smedley, Ross Flanigan, and Jonathan Briscoe combine to average over 7 yards per carry. I just don't see the Cardinals being able to stop Salisbury's running game. The Gulls are a team which can make some noise on a national level. I like Fisher, but I don't think they are that team, this season. Look for Salisbury to clinch the Empire 8 title and an automatic birth in the NCAA tournament.

What are your predictions for today's games? Do you see any teams which should be on upset alert?