Brady Kempa's two interceptions helped Stevenson start the season with a win at North Carolina Wesleyan. Stevenson athletics photo

If there is any place on the landscape of NCAA Division III football programs in the east where expectations have increased the most recently it may be in the Baltimore suburbs, at Stevenson University.

The Mustangs, in just their fifth season of existence, are coming off an eight-win season that included an ECAC bowl victory. Under energetic young coach Ed Hottle, it was the first time the program has posted a winning season after starting up in 2011.

Stevenson seems to have all things the things needed to become a consistent power in the Middle Atlantic Conference: great facilities and a fertile recruiting area. The question is when. The Mustangs are still in search of a victory against the conference elite. Their first and maybe best chance to so that may be this Saturday when they host Lycoming.

The Mustangs opened the season with a 20-9 over an improving N.C. Wesleyan on the road. Meanwhile, Lycoming, who won eight games last season and finished third behind Widener and Delaware Valley, fell to Susquehanna 28-13. The Warriors are breaking in a host of new starters, including a new quarterback.

And while Lycoming has some question marks heading into the second week of the season, the Mustangs have some as well. They lost the core of a team, 25 seniors in all from last season -- the guys that pioneered the program’s start and led it to a brighter future.

“It’s nice to win the opener,” Hottle said. “Coming out of camp you are never 100 percent sure what you have. But I don’t know that we played particularly well.”

The offense managed just 245 yards, punted 11 times and converted just two of 15 times on third down.

Part of the reason, for the Mustangs' offensive struggles may be due to fact that they brought in a new offensive coordinator in Ryan Larsen, late in the spring practice. He only had a few practices and summer camp to implement a new scheme.

“It’s a work in progress,” Hottle said. “The kids are still learning the system, when you change there’s a learning curve, new pass protections, new route schemes.

"There’s a million excuses you could make but the fact is we need to get better on offense. The first game is always tough, but the mistakes we made weren’t catastrophic. They’re fixable.”

On the bright side, the Mustang O didn’t turn the ball over and got a solid game from running back Naquan Watkins, who rushed for 89 yards on 13 carries. With Trey Lee, a 1,000-yard rusher last season, gone for a year to fulfill a commitment to the U.S. military, the diminutive runner at 5-5 and 150 pounds, broke a key 46-yard run to set up team’s first touchdown.

“He’s a little smaller than what we’ve had the past couple years,” Hottle said. “He’s shifty little guy who did a nice job during camp. Right now, he’s the starter and he was productive.”

Defensively, Stevenson fared better allowing a respectable 316 yards on 79 plays and getting three turnovers. Hottle was quick to credit coordinator Dustin Johnson, now in his second year heading the defense. (If that name sounds familiar, yes he is the former standout quarterback at Salisbury, who led the program’s resurgence a decade ago.)

“He does a nice job with adjustments and the kids respond well to him,” Hottle added. “We’re lucky to have him. He’s a good football coach.”

The unit was also lucky to have veteran linebackers. Senior Brady Kempa, who had two key interceptions along with nine tackles, while junior Cory Pietrzyk lead the Mustangs with 10 stops and a pair of sacks.

While Stevenson has one victory under its belt, Hottle know that the road just gets tougher from here on out.

“We really try to focus on one week at a time,” he said. “When you look at the MAC, it’s good from top to bottom. We had four teams advance to postseason play (two got ECAC bowl bids) a year ago.”

And while expectations are raised after last season, Hottle has been around long enough to know that it’s a new season.

“Last year is over,” He said. “For us to get where we want to be we have to compete every Saturday. That’s the focus. For us, it’s who’s next.”

So while Lycoming, appears vulnerable after an opening loss, Hottle knows that the Warriors are replacing a lot of starters from last year, including the school’s all-time leading rusher Craig Needhammer and quarterback Tyler Jenny.

“They lost some guys, but the thing about that program is there’s always somebody else,” he said. “Mike (Clark)” does a great job up there. They win seven, eight, nine games a year. I don’t expect that to change.”

Last season, the Mustangs shed their pony status in the MAC. Are they ready to take the next step and be in serious consideration for the conference title? We may find out this week.

Franks makes the Dolphins

Former Hobart offensive lineman Ali Marpet made big news this spring by earning the highest NFL draft spot (second round) by a D-III football player. But another familiar Liberty League face will be suiting up in the National Football League this season. Andrew Franks, formerly of RPI, was named the starting kicker for the Miami Dolphins on Saturday. The undrafted free agent showed consistency throughout training camp and preseason games to earn a spot on the 53-man roster. That included a 51-yard field goal against the Atlanta Falcons.

Trending up

In a week that featured more than a few interesting inter-conference match ups, these teams scored impressive or in some cases surprising victories this weekend:

Morrisville State. No Lemar Johnson at quarterback, no problem. Some figured after a nine-win season, a share of the NJAC title and an ECAC bowl win that the Mustangs might take a step back after losing the All-East playmaker.  But Cory Bennedetto stepped in to throw for 276 yards, helping stake SUNY Morrisville take 14-0 and 22-7 leads against St. Lawrence. In beating the Saints (28-20), a preseason favorite in the Liberty League, they avenged a 31-14 loss from last season while establishing themselves as a team to watch out for in their first season in the Empire Eight.

Rowan. The Profs bounced back from a 10-3 halftime deficit to take down the defending MAC champion on the road in Chester. A hard-hitting defense pressured veteran quarterback Seth Klein (four sacks), while shutting down the run (75 yards.) Though the offense gained just over 240 yards, Withler Marcelin provided a pair of long touchdown runs (31 and 82 yards) to put Rowan in front by the end of the third quarter. A pick-six by Bobby Barbieri sealed the victory in the fourth quarter.

Cortland State. A last-second win over a team in Heidelberg that has won eight or more game each of the last four seasons in the Ohio Athletic Conference. It helped excise some of the demons from last season’s opening pair of end game disasters. It was a game that I should have given more attention last week. John Mannix hauled in a 29-yard Hail-Mary from Steven Ferreria on the game’s final play. The Red Dragons face another tough nonconference challenge as they travel to two-time defending MASCAC champion Framingham State this Saturday. After moving from the NJAC, they’ll play St. John Fisher in their first Empire Eight game on September 19.

Albright. The Lions scored 21 points in the fourth quarter to slip past Salisbury by a point. The Lions don’t have much of a running game yet, but quarterback Mike Knight shook off three interceptions to thrown for 303 yards in leading the comeback. They’ll host a tough challenge in a wounded Widener squad this Saturday at home.

Delaware Valley. Hardly any starters returning on offense, no problem. The Aggies used a short field and a fumble return to take an early lead, then a pair of 70-plus yards in the second half that were capped by pair of long runs to stay ahead. With a seemingly favorable schedule (Wilkes, Misericordia, King’s and FDU-Florham) over the next four weeks, DVU could 5-0 heading into an October 10 match up with Stevenson.

RPI. A 37-0 shutout victory over Norwich, who has posted at least seven wins each of the last six years deserves mention. But how they fare in a trip to Alfred this week could give us a better indicator as to whether the Engineers are ready to move up and challenge Hobart this season in the Liberty League.

Trending down

Though it’s premature to draw any conclusions after one game, these teams had rough weeks:

St. John Fisher. An early loss to an excellent program like Thomas More is understandable. But 48-0 is, frankly, shocking. The Saints made a resounding statement by rolling up over 600 yards and allowing just over 200. The Cardinals will have a long two weeks of soul searching before they open up their E8 slate against a battle-tested Cortland State.

St Lawrence. A loss against a team that you beat by 17 last season in Morrisville State was not the ideal way to start a season for a team that wants to challenge Hobart for dominance in the Liberty League.

Salisbury. Blowing a 21-point lead in the fourth quarter is painful. Still the Sea Gulls should have won this game, missing an 18-yard field goal with 12 seconds left. On the bright side, receiver Isaiah Taylor is going to give opponents a lot of problems this year if they load up the box to stop the triple option. I don’t think I’m going out on a limb if I say that he’ll lead the NJAC in yards per catch this season.

Montclair State. With eight starters back on both sides of the ball, their statistical numbers were okay but somehow the Red Hawks found a way to lose to a less experienced Delaware Valley squad. Denzel Nieves rushed for 107 yards and Aaron Williams caught seven passes for 142 yards. They’ll get a week off before opening their NJAC schedule at home versus Salisbury. The loser of that game will be 0-2.

Lycoming. The Warriors suffered a stinging 28-13 loss to Susquehanna in the “Stagg Hat” game to a Susquehanna. It was their first loss to the Crusaders, who won just three times in the last two seasons, since 2007. Incidentally, that was the last time they posted a losing record in the MAC. On the bright side they are 4-0 all-time against this week’s opponent, Stevenson.

Top 25: Rowan jumps in, Widener and Fisher fall out

Wesley, idle in the opening week, stays at number five.

Hobart climbs a spot to 15th after a 29-7 road win over Dickinson.

Rowan appears at number 20, after a knocking off 12th-ranked Widener 24-10. The Pride, who reached the D-III quarterfinals last season, fall out of the Top 25. They are still receiving votes (25.)

Also taking a tumble out of the rankings was No. 19 St. John Fisher. A slow start snowballed into 48-0 loss to Thomas More, who now rank 16th. Somehow, the Cardinals are still receiving votes (10.)

Christopher Newport (28), Ithaca (27), Delaware Valley (23), Cortland State (13) and Morrisville State (5) were all winners this weekend and are all receiving votes.

Looking ahead to this week

Cortland State (1-0) at Framingham State (1-0). A win here sends the Dragons 2-0 into their E8 opener against St. John Fisher. The Rams are coming off a 42-6 win over Endicott and hungry to earn some respect for the MASCAC. Oh yeah, FSU has only lost three times in the last two seasons.

Hampden-Sydney (0-1) at Christopher Newport (1-0). What’s this game doing in Around the East? Oh yeah, the Captains are in the NJAC now. CNU got off to a good start by beating The College of New Jersey last week 31-21. This week is a matchup of two teams that were in the playoffs last year. The Tigers fell to Wabash. The quarterback combo of Tyler Quigley and Arsaiah Robinson impressed for CNU. Quigley completed 13 of 16 passes for 208 yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Robinson broke a 71-yard scoring run that helped stake the Captains to a 24-0 lead by halftime.

RPI (1-0) at Alfred (1-0). As mentioned previously, the Engineers beat Norwich behind efficient quarterbacking by Jeff Avery and the legs of Mike Tivinis and Nick Schlatz, who combined to rush for 200 yards. Meanwhile, the Saxons survived a long ride to Maine and pulled away from Husson late to win 39-25. Tyler Johnson ran for two touchdowns, while passing for two others.

Wesley (0-0) at Frostburg State (1-0). The Bobcats showed signs of improvement in their final season in the E8 in 201. They even knocked off conference champ Ithaca last season. Last week, they played their most complete game in years during last week’s 52-21 win over Geneva. FSU held the Tornadoes under 200 yards, posted over 400 themselves and returned two punts for touchdowns. In the first NJAC game for both teams, they’ll face a Wolverine team with a lot of new faces on defense. Still, you have to think that an experienced Wolverines offense which put up nearly 50 a game in ’14 directed by quarterback Joe Callahan is going to be a huge challenge.

Contact

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