Union athletics photo

By Brian Lester
D3sports.com

It’s the energy that stands out to linebacker Spencer Goldstien when he’s asked about what Union first-year head coach Jon Poppe has brought to this football team.

And that energy, in many ways, has fueled a turnaround season and a spot in the NCAA Division III playoffs for the Garnet Chargers.

“It’s the energy he’s brought to the team. Practice, games. He’s flying up and down the sideline making sure everyone is engaged,” Goldstien said. “It makes it easy to rally behind him and the team to rally together.”

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For Poppe, that energy has always been a thing for him. He wouldn’t have it any other way.

Named the head coach in January and charged with getting the program back on track, the coach has done his job and his players' willingness to put in the effort and time to help make that possible has paid off as well.

“I love being with them and in the fight. It’s who I am, and the thing is the guys have embraced it,” Poppe said. “I hope I’ve made it where the moments that can create adversity are made a little easier to get through because they have the same energy and motivation I have to keep pushing and fighting.”

Union (9-1) was 6-4 last year and is back in the playoffs for the first time since 2019, receiving an at-large bid and a date with Delaware Valley (9-1).

Goldstien was part of the last playoff team here but saw limited action. This is the first time he’ll be in the playoffs where he’ll have an opportunity to make a real impact as one of the leaders on defense. He has recorded 54 tackles, three sacks and three interceptions this year.

“It’s my first time back here since freshman year. It’s huge,” Goldstien said.

And like his teammates who were around last season, he goes into it with added motivation.

“After last year, we had a sour taste in our mouth,” Goldstien said. “We came into the year fired up and with a chip on our shoulder.”

This playoff bid also means a lot to senior running back Michael Fiore, who, on Saturday, became the 12th player in program history to rush for 1,000 yards in a season. He is tied for seventh all-time on the single-season rushing touchdown list with 15.

“It’s unbelievable to be here and an unbelievable feeling,” Fiore said. “It means we get to play more football, and that’s big for us.”

And like Goldstien, Fiore said the way last year went down motivated everyone.

“It really fueled us to work hard in the offseason. It’s worked out to have a special season,” Fiore said.

Union comes into the playoffs riding high after closing out the regular season with a 13-7 win over rival RPI to bring the Dutchman Shoes trophy back to campus.

The team hoped that win would be enough to catapult it into the postseason, and it turns out it was. It was a thrill for the Garnet Chargers to hear their name called. Then it was time to get to work ahead of Saturday's playoff opener on the road.

“I think the time for enjoying the moment hit its peak Sunday night when we got in,” Poppe said. “Then it was right back to work. We’re fortunate to be in this position and definitely grateful to the committee for selecting us. But now we have to focus on Union and who we are and what we are about.”

How dialed in is this football team? It didn’t even spend much time looking at film from the RPI win.

“We didn’t even get a chance to review the rivalry game film, other than looking at a couple of things that Delaware Valley might take because it worked towards us,” Poppe said. “We started breaking down their film Sunday night, and I know the players were watching film, too. It’s a different team than what we’ve seen with their structure and strength and stoutness. It’s going to be a fun challenge. We’ll see if we are up to the task.”

Poppe said a lot of the credit goes to the seniors and the others with experience for getting to this point.

“We have a tremendous amount of experience, and it may not be playoff experience outside of a couple of guys, but we have great leaders,” Poppe said. “The seniors on this team have been great since day one. They have that it factor, that inner desire to be great every day. They approach practice the right way. Some guys will coast on teams. These guys won’t let that happen. It’s been great to see and great to be a part of.”

Fiore said the way this team gets along has been instrumental as well.

“The camaraderie on this team is great and we have a lot of leaders,” Fiore said. “A lot of guys have stepped up. Everyone on this team has bought in.”

The Garnet Chargers have gotten the job done in all phases of the game.

Union is averaging more than 450 yards per game (456.6) while allowing only 204.2 per outing.

Donovan Pacatte has thrown for a little over 1,900 yards (1,913) and 11 touchdowns while Fiore and Jonathan Anderson have been tough in the running game behind an experienced offensive line. Fiore has 1,031 yards on the year while Anderson has rushed for 859 yards and five scores.

Four receivers have 19 or more catches, including Landers Green, who has caught 34 passes for 553 yards and three touchdowns.

In addition to Goldstien on defense, Cole DaSilva (53), Miguel Rodriguez (37), Nathan Sullivan (35), Jimaar Edwards (33) and Jame Gillespie (30) all have 30 or more tackles on the year. The defense has come up with 21 turnovers and no opponent has scored more than 17 this year.

And on special teams, Andrew Lau is averaging 37 yards per punt while the Garnet Chargers have blocked five punts and six kicks this year. Max Gluck has been effective as a kicker, connecting on 13 of his 18 field goal attempts.

Poppe said there is a lot of confidence among his players in all three aspects of the game. He said that comes down to having the right players in the right place.

“We knew we were pretty talented coming into the year and that we could compete with anyone.” Poppe said. “We’ve put guys in the right position to be successful and those guys have done a good job of making us look good as coaches by executing and buying into what we are selling from an offense, defense and special teams standpoint.”

How far Union goes in the postseason remains to be seen. But for the players, the chance to still be playing football means everything.

“It means the world to me and we hope it’s not the last time we are playing,” Fiore said. “We want to keep going.”

Goldstien echoed that thought.

“We say it’s free football,” Goldstien said. “We only get 10 guaranteed games in a season and this is my last year playing, so you want as many games as you can get. It’s a blessing to be playing still and we want to play as long as we can.”