Washington and Lee University
SERIES INFO:
Time: 1:00 pm
Site: Fullerton Field (5,500)
Series: E&H leads 26-10
Last Meeting: 11/4/06 at W&L (W&L won 24-6)
First Meeting: 10/8/21 at W&L (W&L won 27-0)
Last W&L Win: 11/4/06 at W&L (24-6)
Last E&H Win: 11/8/03 at E&H (34-16)
Current Series Streak: W&L +3
W&L vs. E&H at W&L: 8-12
W&L vs. E&H at E&H: 2-14
THE SERIES:
Washington and Lee and Emory & Henry will be meeting for the 27th time, with the Wasps holding a 26-10 advantage in the all-time series that began during the 1921 season. E&H racked up 19-straight wins over the Generals from 1983-2001, but W&L has won four of the last five encounters, including a current streak of three in a row. The Generals won last season's meeting 24-6 in Lexington and have outscored the Wasps 69-13 over the last two contests.
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 66-60-1 (.524) overall record and ranks second all-time at W&L in career victories, just 11 wins shy of tying Gary Fallon (1978-94) for the top spot. The Wasps are led by third-year Head Coach Don Montgomery (Mount Union '77), who is 11-17 (.393) at Emory & Henry. Montgomery spent 27 seasons at Mount Union, including 19 as defensive coordinator, before taking over at Emory & Henry.
ALL-TIME RECORD:
W&L has compiled a 453-486-39 (.483) 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, Bridgewater 14; October 27, 2007 - Lexington, Va.)
The W&L football team snapped a seven-game losing streak to Bridgewater as the Generals downed the 19th-ranked Eagles, 17-14, on Saturday afternoon. W&L held Bridgewater to just 212 yards of total offense and limited the Eagles to just 3-of-15 on third-down conversions. The Eagles jumped out to a 7-0 lead just 4:12 into the game as senior running back Phillip Carter scored on a 31-yard scamper to cap BC's opening drive of the game. However, the Generals' defense would stiffen and W&L knotted the game at 7-7 with 5:03 remaining in the first half on a 22-yard touchdown strike from sophomore quarterback R.J. Varner to junior wide receiver Ty Parrino. The Generals then assumed a 14-7 lead with 30 seconds left in the first half as Varner hooked up with junior wide receiver Billy Murray on a 2-yard touchdown pass. Carter returned the ensuing kickoff 65 yards to the W&L 18-yardline with 17 seconds left in the half, but W&L blocked a 35-yard field goal attempt by BC senior placekicker Kyle Beach to preserve a 14-7 lead at the break. Senior cornerback Mark Snoddy capped the Generals' first drive of the third quarter with a 23-yard field goal for a 17-7 lead with 9:01 remaining. The Eagles climbed to within 17-14 on a 9-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Jeff Highfill to senior wide receiver Brandon Copeland with 12:09 left in the game, but the Generals' defense held the Eagles on their final possession and the offense drained the final 4:12 off the clock to end the game. Junior wide receiver Stuart Sitterson led the offense with 216 all-purpose yards. He rushed 18 times for a career-high 103 yards, caught a team-high five passes for 51 yards and tallied 62 yards on returns. Varner completed 19-of-34 passes for 198 yards and two touchdowns with one interception, while Parrino snared two passes for 32 yards and one touchdown. Senior defensive back Kyle Luby totaled a team-best 11 tackles, while senior linebacker Bryant Fulk notched nine tackles and 3.5 sacks.
LAST MEETING WITH EMORY & HENRY:
(W&L 24, Emory & Henry 6; November 4, 2006 - Lexington, Va.)
Washington and Lee claimed the 2006 ODAC title with a 24-6 victory over Emory & Henry at Wilson Field. W&L entered halftime with a 7-0 lead as senior wide receiver Colton Ward scored on a 13-yard touchdown run with 5:27 left in the second quarter. The Generals upped their lead to 10-0 on a 20-yard field goal by senior placekicker Ben Long with 7:21 left in the third quarter, then assumed a 17-0 advantage just 2:26 later as linebacker Kyle Harvey picked off a pass by Emory & Henry senior quarterback Todd Woods and ran 47 yards for a touchdown. The Wasps then sliced the lead to 17-6 with a 28-yard touchdown pass from Woods to senior wide receiver Brennan Stewart with 36 seconds remaining in the third quarter. The PAT was no good. The Generals added some insurance with 13:27 left in the game as quarterback R.J. Varner hooked up with wide receiver Jack Martin for a 52-yard touchdown strike and a 24-6 lead. Sophomore running back Stuart Sitterson paced the W&L offense with 98 rushing yards on 19 carries, while Martin caught three passes for 59 yards and one touchdown. Varner completed 7-of-12 passes for 78 yards and one touchdown. Defensively, the Generals held E&H to just 35 rushing yards on 28 carries and intercepted three passes. Cornerback Jimmy Gift led the way with eight tackles, while junior cornerback Mark Snoddy picked off two passes. Defensive lineman Tommy Matteo added seven tackles and 2.5 sacks. Woods led the Wasps by completing 19-of-37 passes for 209 yards, one touchdown and three interceptions. Stewart caught seven passes for 85 yards and one touchdown, while running back Matt Gillespie rushed 16 times for 30 yards. Linebacker Evin O'Sullivan paced the Wasps' defense with 14 tackles and a fumble recovery.
SCOUTING EMORY & HENRY:
Emory & Henry is 4-4 overall and 1-3 in the ODAC following a 31-21 loss at Catholic on Saturday afternoon. The Wasps comitted eight turnovers in the game and saw a 21-17 halftime lead evaporate with six second-half turnovers. Sophomore wide receiver Johnathan Hawkins paced the E&H offense with three receptions for 93 yards and one touchdown, while senior fullback Tia'von Hamler posted 39 rushing yards on seven carries. Sophomore quarterback Daniel Booher completed just 4-of-11 passes for 101 yards and one touchdown (1 INT) and senior quarterback Gavin Haynes was 6-of-11 for 59 yards, but was picked off four times. Junior linebacker Evin O'Sullivan paced the Emory & Henry defense with 15 tackles. For the season, the Wasps' offense has been led by Hawkins' 16 receptions for 449 yards and seven touchdowns. Booher has completed just 42.1 percent of his passes for 1,133 yards and 13 touchdowns with 11 interceptions, while senior running back Matt Gillespie has a team-high 648 rushing yards and one touchdown on 137 carries. Sophomore running back Caleb Moore has 344 yards and one touchdown on 83 carries, while sophomore running back Cain Ringstaff had 269 yards and a team-best four rushing touchdowns. O'Sullivan is the ODAC's leading tackler with 114 stops. Senior linebacker Kevin Worley also claims 103 tackles on the season.
FOUR IN A ROW:
Saturday's win over Bridgewater upped the Generals' 2007 record to 5-2 overall and clinched the program's fourth-straight winning season, something that had not occurred since W&L posted six consecutive winning campaigns from 1980-85. 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 26-13 (.667) mark in its last 39 games.
JACK BE NIMBLE, JACK BE QUICK:
Senior Jack Martin leads the Generals' receivers this season with 36 catches for 629 yards and five touchdowns. A 2007 Preseason Second Team All-America pick by D3Football.com, Martin claims 147 receptions for 2,689 yards and 30 touchdowns over his career. He already ranks first all-time at W&L in career receiving yards and career touchdowns and is just 15 catches away from breaking the career catches mark as well. Martin has registered 11 catches for 262 yards and three touchdowns in his last two games against Emory & Henry.
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 170.0 yards per game. Sitterson has been heating up over his last three outings, averaging 251.3 all-purpose yards and scoring four touchdowns. 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, then had 216 all-purpose yards and a career-high 103 rushing yards in a win over Bridgewater on Saturday. A D3Football.com First Team All-America return specialist in 2005, Sitterson is averaging an ODAC-best 31.5 yards per kickoff return this season. His 3,340 career all-purpose yards already rank sixth all-time at W&L.
THE WORK HORSE:
Junior tailback Tom Pacicco has been a work horse all season, totaling 729 yards and eight touchdowns on 171 carries. Pacicco began the season with four-straight 100-yard games and his 729 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 10 of his PAT's and hitting 3-of-4 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 against Bridgewater on Saturday when he tallied nine tackles and 3.5 sacks. A First Team All-ODAC selection last season, Fulk currently leads the team in sacks (5.5) and ranks second in tackles (52) this fall. The 2006 Richmond Touchdown Club Division II-III Defensive Lineman of the Year, Fulk claims 188 career tackles, including 39 tackles for a loss. He also ranks second all-time at W&L with 21 career sacks.
MORE ABOUT THE DEFENSE:
Washington and Lee had the ODAC's top rated defense last season and with nine starters returning in 2007, the defense is again perched atop the ODAC statistical rankings. Thus far, the Generals lead the league in rushing defense (120.4 ypg), passing defense (170.0 ypg), passing efficiency defense (97.1 rating) and total defense (290.4 ypg). W&L also leads the league in third down conversion percentage (29.4 percent) and ranks second in sacks (21).
-- GENERALS --