Lebanon Valley (0-0) at Gettysburg (0-0)
Saturday, Sept. 5 - 1 p.m. - Musselman Stadium - The 37th Meeting
Radio: WMSS 91.1 FM
Webcast: WMSSFM.com
Live Stats: GettysburgSports.com

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Media Notes In PDF Format (includes two-deep)

Lebanon Valley, optimistic with 16 returning starters from a 6-4 season, targets a season-opening win at Gettysburg Saturday. LVC is meeting the Bullets in the opener for the ninth consecutive year, and hope to win back-to-back debuts for the first time since 1969.

On the Radio
All of this season's games will be heard live in the capital region on WMSS 91.1 FM, with the exception of the Wilkes game, which will be on WWSM 1510 AM in Lebanon County. John Wilsbach and Brian Keyser will call the action for the fourth consecutive season. Every game will be streamed live and free at WMSSFM.com and www.GoDutchmen.com.

Live Stats On the Web
Live stats for every home LVC game, and select away games including Gettysburg, will be available on www.GoDutchmen.com.

If You Only Know 5 Things...
1. LVC has not won in Gettysburg since 1979, and has not won consecutive season openers in 40 years, since 1968 and 1969 (both vs. Dickinson).
2. Senior RB Charlie Parker needs one touchdown to become LVC's career rushing TD leader (he has 23, tied with Ken Wilson '90). Parker (2,741 yards) also needs 365 yards rushing to surpass Rick Coleman '78 (3,106 yards) as the career leader in that category.
3. LVC returns 16 starters, including nine on offense, from the 2008 squad that went 6-4.
4. Gettysburg coach Barry Streeter, a 1971 Lebanon Valley graduate, is facing his alma mater for the 16th time. He is 12-3 against LVC.
5. Statistically in 2008, LVC had the MAC's top-ranked total offense, rushing offense, total defense, pass defense, and rushing defense. They also allowed the fewest sacks (12) and converted the most first downs (198).

Series History
The game is the 37th meeting all-time between LVC and Gettysburg ... Gettysburg leads the series 30-5-1, but three of LVC's wins have come in the past five years ... This will be the eighth consecutive year the two teams have met ... LVC's 19-13 win at home last season snapped a four-year run where each team won at home  ... The Bullets won the last game in Gettysburg, 49-25, in the 2007 season opener ... LVC has not won in Gettysburg since 1979, when they pitched a 13-0 shutout ... LVC leads, 3-2, over the last five games but Gettysburg is 7-3 in the last 10 ... Before LVC's 7-3 win in 2004, Gettysburg had won 10 in a row in the series ... Head Coach Jim Monos is 3-2 against the Bullets ... The first meeting in the series was Oct. 1, 1898, a 6-0 Gettysburg win in what was the first true intercollegiate game in LVC football history ... LVC is 1-0 on Sept. 5 ... Before defeating Gettysburg in 2004, LVC had not won a season opener since 1994.

Team Captains
Team captains for 2009 are fifth-year senior WR Sean Donovan and seniors LT Sean Tetreault, ILB Will Keylor, and WR Joe Brennan. Donovan, Keylor, and Tetreault also served as captains in 2008.

Starting Up
LVC will have four players making their first career start against Gettysburg. On offense, there is only one - sophomore left guard Brendon Myer, who will join an offensive line that has a combined 54 career starts. Three players on defense start for the first time, with sophomore nose tackle Nick Bowne beating out his brother Mark, the 2008 starter, for that spot, and sophomore Cory Homer lining up next to him at defensive end. Senior Matt Lillis will start at cornerback for the first time. All-MAC junior free safety Dane Eichelberger will also make his first start at strong safety, moving over to make way for Jur'ey Fowlkes, who started one game at free last year.

Parker Nears Records
Senior RB Charlie Parker is chasing after three LVC career rushing records, and could get one of them today. He is currently tied with Ken Wilson '90 for career rushing touchdowns at 23 and will take the record with his next score; meanwhile, he is 365 yards short of Rick Coleman '78's all-time yardage mark of 3,106. Parker also needs 78 more touches to own that record.

Running Deep
When RB Charlie Parker went down with an injury against Widener last year, there were more than a few anxious looks among LVC fans. Thankfully, a stable of back-ups, led by Ben Guiles and Cruz Mannherz, performed admirably in his two-game absence, and the good news is that every player who got more than 10 touches in 2008 is back. In addition to the lightning-fast duo of Guiles (90 carries, 399 yds, 2 TDs) and Mannherz (34/187/2), Mike Scott (18/85/0) and Blair Ransom (16/66/3) are hard-nosed carriers. And don't forget all-MAC fullback Bryan Lynch, who, when he wasn't blocking for any of the aforementioned, averaged a team-best 6.7 yards per carry on 23 attempts.

Gettysburg Scouting Report
The Bullets return most of an offense that was the Centennial's #1 scoring and passing unit in 2008 ... Senior QB Matt Flynn was the CC's leading passer, completing 58.1% of his attempts for 2,126 yards and 12 touchdowns ... RB Jamel Mutunga ran for 800 yards and seven TDs as a sophomore ... Gettysburg averaged a whopping 32.9 points and 438.2 yards of total offense per game ... Gettysburg will have three new starters on the offensive line ... On the flip side, the Bullet defense was dead last in the CC, allowing 28.2 points and 376.5 yards of total offense per game ... This season, Gettysburg has switched from a 4-3 set to a 4-4 in hopes of improving their stopping power.

Young On the Lines
Between the eight starters of the offensive and defensive lines, there are three all-MAC returners and 71 combined career starts. Yet among those eight, there is a more significant number that jumps out - there's only one senior. LT Sean Tetreault is the lone senior, with four juniors and three sophomores rounding out the group. And, if you go further into the two-deep, there's only one more senior among their back-ups: Rob Evangelista at strong-side defensive end.

The Red Zone Blues
How was it that LVC had the MAC's top-ranked offense last year, but was 6-4? Red zone production. Inside the 20, LVC scored just 59 percent of the time; opponents scored 70 percent of the time. The Dutchmen simply had trouble with big plays in the red zone - QB Caleb Fick completed passes there at a 39% clip, far below his 51.7% average, while rushing plays netted 2.8 yards per carry, below LVC's 4.0 yards per carry average.

Go Long! Longer!
The LVC special teams put the defense in a bind last year, with an average opponents' starting field position from kick-offs on the 38. A major off-season goal for the special teams was to increase the depth of kick-offs to around the 10 yard-line, helping the kick coverage team to stop the return. With freshman Nate Fehr booming kick-offs during preseason, the LVC coaching staff hopes this problem will be fixed.

LVC Picked Preseason #4 in the MAC
Lebanon Valley was selected to finish fourth in the preseason MAC coaches' poll, behind defending tri-champions Delaware Valley, Lycoming, and Albright. In 2008, the Dutchmen played for a MAC title until the very last game of the season at Lycoming, a position they had not been in since sharing the championship back in 1969.

Brittany Ryan Featured in Sunday New York Times
LVC junior PK Brittany Ryan was featured in the Aug. 30 New York Times, in a column by George Vescey about the acceptance of Ryan as a member of LVC's football program. The story, which also includes thoughts from coach Jim Monos, Nic Shirey, and TJ Giovarelli, appeared on page 10 of the Sunday sports section and can be read online at GoDutchmen.com/blog.

Taking on the Centennial Conference
Forget eyes on the MAC title - if their non-conference schedule goes well, LVC could be halfway to a Centennial Conference championship by Week 3. All three non-conference opponents this year - Gettysburg, Ursinus, and Moravian - are members of the Centennial, marking the 13th straight year that every one of LVC's non-conference opponents has come from the conference. That streak will end next year, however, with the beginning of the PAC-MAC Challenge, in which the first-place MAC team plays the first-place Presidents' Athletic Conference team, #2 plays #2, etc.

The Coatesville Connection
It's remarkable enough that LVC has four players on its roster that are alumni of Coatesville High School - ILB Will Keylor, ILB Bruno Iozzo, RG Andrew Scott, and FB Andrew Norton. But what's more remarkable is that three of them (Keylor, Iozzo, and Scott) are set to start against Gettysburg, and Norton is #2 on the depth chart at fullback. Keylor and Iozzo, in fact, will play right next to each other at inside linebacker, a spot the two classmates have been at since their days as Red Raiders.

The Bowne Brothers
Last season marked the first for the Bowne brothers, Mark and Nick, to play together in Annville. Mark was the starting nose tackle, while Nick, his back-up, saw plenty of time and was a fan favorite as a fullback blocker in LVC's Power-I short-yardage set. This year, however, the younger Nick has beaten out his older brother in camp for the starting nose tackle spot, and the 6-1, 301-pound sophomore is expected to make his first career start against Gettysburg.

The J.V. Advantage
Since junior varsity football was brought into the mix a few years back, coach Jim Monos has had the goal that the team would ultimately be a feeder system for the varsity squad. And in 2009, that finally seems to be the reality. In 2008, there were eight freshmen on the Week 1 two-deep; out of necessity, given the lack of depth at multiple positions. This week? Just two - freshman kicker Nate Fehr will kick off, and Ryan Calabro is the back-up right guard.

The Track & Field Connection
It wasn't a bad spring for members of the team who are also track & field athletes. DE Zach Bleiler was named the MAC Co-Field Athlete of the Year as he won the MAC titles in the discus and hammer throws, and qualified for ECAC Championships in multiple events. CB Jerome Duncan and CB Bryan Phanthavong finished 2-3 in the 110 hurdles at MACs as well, and OC Clint Surgeoner was fourth in the javelin while qualifying for ECACs.

AFCA Respect Weekend
The American Football Coaches Association and the NCAA have designated September 3-6 as NCAA/AFCA Respect Weekend, calling attention to mutual respect and sportsmanship between the game's coaches, players and administrators. The AFCA is asking teams to participate in a pre-game handshake instead of the traditional post-game line.

Erik Orndorff '93 To Enter Hall of Fame
Former quarterback Erik Orndorff '93 has been elected to the LVC Athletic Hall of Fame, and will be inducted on Oktoberfest Weekend Oct. 24 after the LVC-King's game. Orndorff was a record-setting signal-caller, twice earning all-MAC honors. A preseason All-America in 1992, Orndorff graduated as the career passing yardage and completions leader, and still holds the single-season records for passing yards (2,134) and completions (168).

Next Time Out
LVC will play its 2009 home opener Sept. 13 against Ursinus College. Kick-off at Arnold Field is slated for 1 p.m. The game will be heard live on WMSS 91.1 FM and GoDutchmen.com.