The Friday Tailgate

It just seems like yesterday when we gathered in Hershey for the 2008 Centennial Conference football media day. Now, we get together for the final time to put a cap on the gridiron regular season. Muhlenberg has already ended the suspense, capturing its second consecutive outright Centennial championship. But there is a great deal at stake for both teams in their annual rivalry game with Moravian. F&M and Gettysburg meet for the 94th time with more than pride on the line, while Dickinson and Ursinus and Hopkins and McDaniel square off in their traditional season finales.

Tailgate Recipe of the Week
Johns Hopkins and McDaniel not only meet for the 87th time in a series that began in 1894 ... they also play for the unofficial title of Maryland's private college and university football champion. In recognition, let's have some "Chesapeake Bay Grilled Shrimp."

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Muhlenberg at Moravian
TV: Tape-Delay. Radio: WSAN-AM 1470. Live Stats: No.
The Mules and the Greyhounds meet for the 57th time in a series that began in 1900 ... Muhlenberg has won two in a row to cut the all-time deficit to 31-23-2 ... Muhlenberg RB John DeLuca, who leads the CC with 161.8 yards per game, needs just 44 yards to become the third Centennial back to go over the 1,500-yard mark twice, joining McDaniel's Eric Frees '92 and Gettysburg's Paul Smith '00 ... QB Eric Santagato needs 168 passing yards to become the fourth Conference QB to reach 6,000 for a career ... he threw for 206 vs. the Bears, giving the Mules a 200-yard rusher and passer in the same game for just the second time in program history ... LB Matt Rathbun has 14 career turnovers - eight fumble recoveries and six picks, including two for six points ... PK Michael Katz has made 42 straight PATs ... Muhlenberg has won 20 consecutive regular-season contests and are one of three teams that are 19-0 over the last two regular-seasons, joining Mount Union and Case Western Reserve ... Moravian was idle last week after a 17-7 win vs. Ursinus ... it is the fourth time this decade that Moravian has won seven games in a season ... the Blue and Grey has not won eight in a season since 1993 ... PK Brian Reckenbeil booted a 32-yard field goal vs. the Bears to become the school's all-time leading scorer (218) ... RB Ryan Rempe rushed 32 times for 107 yards - his second consecutive 100-yard effort ... the 'Hounds lost the coin toss for the first time in eight games ... a Muhlenberg win could give the Mules a top seed in the NCAA South Region or a possible move to the East Region for the #1 seed there ... a Moravian win could lock up an ECAC playoff berth for the 'Hounds.

Franklin & Marshall at Gettysburg
Video: Yes. Audio: godiplomats.com. Live Stats: Yes.
It's the 94th renewal of the second-oldest series in the Conference between the Diplomats and the Bullets ... F&M holds a slim 44-42-7 all-time edge, winning five of the last six meetings ... Diplomat QB John Harrison's 14 TD passes on the season ties a Centennial single-season mark for freshmen ... WR Jarrell Diggs snared a 55-yard scoring pass vs. Hopkins for his fifth touchdown of the season, along with two passing scores ... RB John Kaschak leads all Centennial rookies with 564 rushing yards ... the Diplomats have lost just two fumbles this season ... Gettysburg won its fourth game in its last five starts with a 38-9 win at McDaniel, spoiling the Terror's Homecoming Weekend ... QB Matt Flynn went over the 2,000 passing-yard mark for the season (2,054) ... PK Josh Huson's 47-yard field goal vs. McDaniel was his third kick of 40 or more yards in his career and was a yard shy of his own school-record boot ... a victory would give would Gettysburg its third straight non-losing campaign for the first time since 1993-94-95 ... a win would give Franklin & Marshall just its second non-losing campaign since 1996.

Dickinson at Ursinus
Video: No. Radio: WDCV-FM 88.3. Live Stats: Yes.
The Red Devils and the Bears meet for the 80th time in a series that began in 1894 ... Dickinson holds a 43-30-6 advantage with the home team winning each of the last three tilts ... the Red and White set numerous records in its 53-41 win at Juniata in a game that saw the teams combine for a Conference-record 1,207 total yards ... Dickinson set a Centennial record with 34 second-quarter points which saw QB Ian Mitchell run for two and throw for two scores ... he threw for 253 yards and ran for 109, becoming the school's all-time leader in total offense (4,770) ... Mitchell is second on the all-time Centennial list in rushing yards by a QB (1,538) and leads the CC in total offense (228.2) ... he needs 118 total offense yards to become just the sixth Conference player to amass 2,500 yards in a season ... WR Pat O'Connor had 10 catches for 165 yards, setting a Dickinson career record with 1,849 receiving yards ... he needs 161 more yards to become the 17th CC receiver to accumulate 2,000 in a career ... the Bears dropped their road finale at #6 Muhlenberg ... WR Al Desiderio scored the lone points on an 82-yard kickoff return ... he had six receptions as well for 74 yards and 261 all-purpose yards overall ... the Bears' offense has struggled for the majority of the 2008 season, mustering just 92.4 rushing and 224.7 total yards per game.

McDaniel at Johns Hopkins
Video: Yes. Radio: WTTR-AM 1470, wjhuradio.com. Live Stats: Yes.
The Green Terror and the Blue Jays meet for Maryland bragging rights for the 87th time since 1894 ... Hopkins has won seven straight in the series to take a 46-35-5 advantage ... McDaniel's last win was a 41-7 triumph in Baltimore in 2000 ... the Terror dropped its final home game, losing to Gettysburg, 38-9 ... PK Jay Leonard accounted for all the points on three FGs covering 19, 29 and 32 yards ... Thomas Massucci became the fourth different QB to start for the Green Terror and completed 14-of-33 passes for 150 yards ... LB Mike Weick had a game-high 13 tackles and leads the CC with 12.1 per game ... the defense held Gettysburg's Matt Flynn - the CC's leading passer entering the game - to just 96 yards ... Hopkins recorded its sixth straight win at Franklin & Marshall with a thrilling 26-25 victory ... LB A.J. Albert picked off a two-point conversion pass with 29 seconds remaining to preserve the win ... it was the 77th career Centennial Conference triumph for coach Jim Margraff, tying him for second place on the all-time list with F&M's Tom Gilburg ... the Jays amassed 318 total yards vs. F&M - all by players that will return in 2009 ... through nine games, Hopkins' underclassmen have registered 3,468 of its 3,471 total yards ... RB Andrew Kase scored a pair of rushing TDs to tie the school single-season mark (14) but had his streak of 100-yard games ended at six ... QB Hewitt Tomlin has 1,801 passing yards on the season and needs 13 yards to set a CC yardage mark for freshmen and 36 to establish a Hopkins mark ... WR Tucker Michels is second in the CC with 57 catches and needs three more to become just the fourth JHU receiver to snare 60 in a season.