Washington and Lee University
SERIES INFO:
Time: 1:00 pm
Site: Gesling Stadium (3,500)
Series: Tied 1-1
Last Meeting: 11/5/60 at CMU (W&L won 6-0)
First Meeting: 11/7/59 at W&L (CMU won 20-16)
Last W&L Win: 11/5/60 at CMU (6-0)
Last CMU Win: 11/7/59 at W&L (20-16)
Current Series Streak: W&L +1
W&L vs. CMU at W&L: 0-1
W&L vs. CMU at CMU: 1-0
THE SERIES:
W&L and Carnegie Mellon will be meeting for the third time, with the series deadlocked at 1-1. The two teams have not met since Nov. 5, 1960 when the Generals walked away with a 6-0 victory in Pittsburgh, Pa. CMU won the series' first meeting, downing the Generals in Lexington on Nov. 7, 1959 by a score of 20-16.
THE HEAD COACHES:
Frank Miriello (East Stroudsburg '67) is in his 13th season as the head coach at W&L and his 40th year of coaching. He claims a 67-60-1 (.527) overall record and ranks second all-time at W&L in career victories, just 10 wins shy of tying Gary Fallon (1978-94) for the top spot. Miriello has guided the Generals to a .500 or better record in 10 of his 13 seasons and has posted a 26-13 record over the past four seasons. The Tartans are led by Head Coach Rich Lackner (Carnegie Mellon '79), who is 154-64-2 (.705) over his 22 seasons at CMU. Lacker has guided the Tartans to nine conference championships and two NCAA Tournament berths, including the 2006 season when CMU finished with an 11-1 record and advanced to the NCAA Second Round.
ALL-TIME RECORD:
W&L has compiled a 454-486-39 (.484) all-time record over 114 seasons of football. The Generals have been linked to the first intercollegiate football game played in the South, an 1873 matchup with neighboring VMI, though the University officially recognized football as a varsity sport beginning in 1890.
LAST TIME OUT:
(W&L 17, Emory & Henry 14; November 3, 2007 - Emory, Va.)
Sophomore quarterback R.J. Varner connected with senior wide receiver Jack Martin on a 61-yard touchdown pass with 1:07 remaining to lift Washington and Lee to a 17-14 victory over Emory & Henry on Saturday afternoon at E&H’s Fullerton Field. The Generals forced a punt with 2:12 remaining in the game and began the winning drive on their own 13-yardline. W&L proceeded to march 87 yards in just four plays capped by Varner’s game-winning strike to Martin on a 3rd-and-9 play. The Wasps took over the next possession on their own 35-yardline with one minute remaining but managed just 13 yards on seven plays before surrendering the ball on downs. W&L assumed a 3-0 lead in the first quarter after a fumbled punt setting the Generals up for a 1st-and-goal from the E&H 6-yardline. The Wasps’ defense stiffened and forced a 22-yard field goal by senior cornerback Mark Snoddy at the 3:45 mark. Emory & Henry took a 7-3 lead on a 26-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Daniel Booher to Johnathan Hawkins with 10:28 left in the half, but the Generals responded on the next drive as junior wide receiver Stuart Sitterson capped an 8-play, 76-yard drive with a 4-yard touchdown run for a 10-7 W&L lead at the half. The Wasps reassumed the lead at 14-10 with 6:08 left in the third quarter on a 4-yard touchdown run by tailback Matt Gillespie and the lead stood up until Varner’s game-winning connection to Martin. Sitterson paced the Generals with 207 all-purpose yards and one touchdown. He rushed 19 times for a career-high 110 yards, caught two passes for eight yards and racked up 89 return yards. He also completed one pass for 41 yards. Varner completed 13-of-23 passes for 193 yards and one score, while Martin snared six passes for 156 yards and the winning touchdown. Junior defensive end Tommy Matteo paced the defense with nine tackles, while senior linebacker Bryant Fulk totaled eight tackles, 0.5 sacks and one interception. Gillespie led the Wasps with 109 yards and one touchdown on 24 carries. Booher completed 11-of-25 passes for 137 yards and one score, while Hawkins caught five balls for 64 yards and one touchdown. Linebacker Evin O’Sullivan led the E&H defense with 12 tackles and a pair of sacks.
LAST MEETING WITH CARNEGIE MELLON:
(W&L 6, Carnegie Mellon 0; November 5, 1960 - Pittsburgh, Pa.)
Fullback Tommy Keesee scored the game's only touchdown on a 64-yard touchdown run in the third quarter as Washington and Lee claimed a 6-0 victory over the Tartans in Pittsburgh, Pa. Keesee rushed for a team-best 89 yards on nine carries, while halfback Jim Russ notched 59 yards on 16 carries. Both teams were held to less than 250 yards of total offense on the afternoon.
SCOUTING CARNEGIE MELLON:
Carnegie Mellon is 5-4 overall following a 42-19 victory over Bethany (W.Va.) on Saturday afternoon, the Tartans' third-straight win. CMU jumped out to a 28-6 lead in the second quarter and never looked back in claiming the 23-point victory. The Tartans racked up 355 yards rushing in the contest, led by senior running back Robert Gimson's 140 yards and one touchdown on 15 carries. Senior fullback Travis Sivek tallied 131 yards and three touchdowns on 21 carries, while sophomore running back David Babcock totaled 50 yards on eight attempts. Senior wide receiver Jeremy Doo snared one pass for 33 yards and a score and sophomore quarterback Phil Pantalone completed 3-of-6 passes for 44 yards and one touchdown. Senior cornerback Jon Scholl paced the CMU defense with 10 tackles and one interception. For the season, Sivek leads the offense with 908 yards and 15 touchdowns on 224 carries. His three touchdowns against Bethany gave him 348 career points, a total that ranks 20th in Division III history. He is also just 24 yards away from reaching 4,000 career rushing yards. Gimson has totaled 846 yards and four touchdowns on 148 carries this fall, while senior running back Colby Whitman has notched 249 yards and two scores on 52 carries. Pantalone has completed just 7-of-21 passes for 120 yards and two touchdowns (4 INT's), while Doo has five catches for 160 yards and two touchdowns. Scholl is the team's top tackler with 98 stops. Defensive lineman Richard Hauffe (senior) and Clay Crites (junior) have been a load to handle in the interior this season with 92 tackles and 12 sacks between them.
WHAT IS A TARTAN ANYWAY??:
Carnegie Mellon University's nickname, Tartans, is often misrepresented as a fierce warrior from either the Asian tundra or Scottish highlands. In actuality, a Tartan is a twilled woolen fabric with a plaid design. It is of Scottish origin and consists of stripes of various colors and widths against a solid ground, denoting a particular family lineage. The school's founder, Andrew Carnegie, was born in Dunfermline, Scotland, in 1835. Carnegie came to the United States in 1848 and founded Carnegie Technical Schools in Pittsburgh in 1900.
FOUR AND MORE:
The Generals' win over Bridgewater two weeks ago clinched the program's fourth-straight winning season, something that had not occurred since W&L posted six-consecutive winning campaigns from 1980-85. Saturday's win over Emory & Henry clinched W&L's fourth-straight season of at least six wins for the first time since a four-year stretch between 1912 and 1915. Additionally, the Washington and Lee senior class improved their overall record to 26-13, tied for the third-most wins by a senior class in school history (1965 seniors went 26-9 overall). Prior to notching a 6-4 record in 2004, W&L had not had a winning season since 1995, Frank Miriello's first season with the Generals. Including the final game of the 2003 season, W&L has recorded a 27-13 (.675) mark in its last 40 games.
JACK BE NIMBLE, JACK BE QUICK:
Senior Jack Martin leads the Generals' receivers this season with 42 catches for 785 yards and six touchdowns. A 2007 Preseason Second Team All-America pick by D3Football.com, Martin claims 153 receptions for 2,845 yards and 31 touchdowns over his career. He already ranks first all-time at W&L in career receiving yards and career touchdowns and is just nine catches away from breaking the career catches mark as well. Martin has nine games of at least 100 yards receiving during his career, including three this season. He is coming off a six-catch, 156-yard effort against Emory & Henry on Saturday.
VERSATILE BACK:
Junior Stuart Sitterson plays the position named V-Back or "versatile back" in the Generals' offensive scheme. Sitterson's style of play reflects the name perfectly as he ranks second in the ODAC in all-purpose yards, averaging 174.6 yards per game. Sitterson has been heating up over his last four outings, averaging 240.3 all-purpose yards and scoring five touchdowns during that stretch. Sitterson tallied a W&L-record 389 all-purpose yards, set a school record with 193 kickoff return yards, had a career-high 148 receiving yards and scored two touchdowns in a loss to Hampden-Sydney on Oct. 13. He followed that performance with 149 all-purpose yards and two touchdowns in a win over Guilford on Oct. 20, has had 216 all-purpose yards and 103 rushing yards in a win over Bridgewater on Oct 27 and tallied 207 all-purpose yards and one touchdown, including a career-high 110 rushing yards in a win over Emory & Henry on Saturday. He also completed one pass for 41 yards against the Wasps. A D3Football.com First Team All-America return specialist in 2005, Sitterson is averaging an ODAC-best 29.8 yards per kickoff return this season. His 3,547 career all-purpose yards already rank fifth all-time at W&L and he can move into third place with just 194 more all-purpose yards. With his pass against E&H, Sitterson has now completed 3-of-7 passes for 61 yards and two touchdowns for his career.
THE WORK HORSE:
Junior tailback Tom Pacicco has been a work horse all season, totaling 749 yards and eight touchdowns on 181 carries. Pacicco began the season with four-straight 100-yard games and his 749 yards and the most in a season for a W&L player since Chris Sullivan '03 rushed for better than 1,000 yards in 2002.
LEAVING HIS MARK:
Senior cornerback Mark Snoddy has left his mark in the W&L record books. A two-time First Team All-ODAC selection, Snoddy claims a W&L-record 19 career interceptions, including two this season. He has also become the Generals' top placekicker this season, drilling all 12 of his PAT's and hitting 4-of-5 field goal attempts. A two-time First Team All-ODAC selection, Snoddy was a finalist for the 2006 Dudley Award that is presented to the Virginia Division II-III Player of the Year. He was also selected the 2006 Roanoke Times Division II-III Defensive Player of the Year.
THE INCREDIBLE FULK:
Senior linebacker Bryant Fulk had perhaps the best game of his distinguished career two weeks ago against Bridgewater when he tallied nine tackles and 3.5 sacks. He followed that performance with eight tackles, 0.5 sacks and his first career interception in Saturday's win over Emory & Henry. A First Team All-ODAC selection last season, Fulk currently leads the team in sacks (6.0) and ranks second in tackles (60). The 2006 Richmond Touchdown Club Division II-III Defensive Lineman of the Year, Fulk claims 196 career tackles, including 39.5 tackles for a loss. He also ranks second all-time at W&L with 21.5 career sacks.
-- GENERALS --