#15/17 Frostburg (10-1)	vs.	#10/14 Washington & Jefferson (11-0)

NCAA Playoffs Second Round
Cameron Stadium  I  Saturday, November 25
Washington, Pa.  I  12:00 pm

Live Video
Live Stats
Radio - Broadcast by WCBC Radio (Cumberland)

Directions to Washington & Jefferson/Cameron Stadium
GPS Location to Cameron Stadium: 60 Park Avenue, Washington, PA 15301
Fan Parking

Frostburg Game Notes
NCAA Playoff Bracket
 

---

Setting the Scene
The 15th-ranked Frostburg football team advanced to the second round of the NCAA Playoffs for the second time in program history following last Saturday's dominating 35-7 victory over ninth-ranked Wittenberg.

The victory over the Tigers propelled the Bobcats into a second-round matchup against 10th-ranked Washington & Jefferson in Washington, Pa. at Cameron Stadium. Kickoff is set for 12:00 pm on Saturday, Nov. 25.

Frostburg received one of five at-large bids to the NCAA Playoffs when the field was announced, while the Presidents received an automatic bid after winning the Presidents' Athletic Conference for the 25th time.

The matchup with W&J will have the Bobcats facing yet another undefeated team as the Presidents are 11-0 following a 31-28 win over No. 19 Johns Hopkins in the first round. FSU handed Wittenberg its first and only loss of the 2017 season and snapped a 15-game home winning streak in the process.

The Bobcats will visit W&J having won six-straight games and they are outscoring their opponents 222-37 during the run.

Washington & Jefferson carries a 15-game winning streak into the contest and it hasn't lost at Cameron Stadium since its second game of 2012, a span of 30-straight wins.

The Bobcats and Presidents are also familiar with one another when it comes to the NCAA Playoffs as the two met in the second round in 1993 in Frostburg's first-ever trip to the NCAAs. W&J earned a 28-7 win that afternoon at Bobcat Stadium.

The Series
Saturday's matchup between Frostburg and Washington & Jefferson will be the seventh meeting between the two schools.

Separated by less than 100 miles, the Presidents have won all six previous matchups. W&J won back to-to-back games in 1964 and 1965 and it captured three-straight wins from 2008-10.

In 1993, Frostburg and Washington & Jefferson met in the second round of the NCAA Playoffs at Bobcat Stadium and the Presidents captured a 28-7 win.

Scouting Washington & Jefferson
Washington & Jefferson is 11-0 on the season earned its 25th trip to the NCAA Playoffs after winning the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) for the 25th time. The Presidents, who are making their first trip to the NCAAs since 2014, are ranked just one spot ahead of the Bobcats in the D3football.com Top 25 poll and W&J is seven spots ahead in the AFCA poll.

The Presidents advanced to the second round following a last minute, 46-yard field goal that downed Johns Hopkins 31-28 last Saturday. The win is the 30th-straight victory at Cameron Stadium for W&J dating back to their second home game of the 2012 season.

Washington & Jefferson has also won 15-straight games dating back to last season that included an ECAC Bowl Game victory over Brockport (38-31).

The Presidents are perfect this fall behind the nation's 15th best offense that averages 479.3 yards per game. W&J also boasts one of the best passing offenses in the country as it is 13th in DIII with over 320 yards per game and completes over 67 percent of its passes.

Senior quarterback Alex Rowse has thrown for 2,372 yards and 24 touchdowns, while sophomore Jacob Adams has thrown for 1,801 yards and seven scores. Senior Jesse Zubik has emerged as possibly the best wide receiver in the country as he is third nationally in yards (1,324), fourth in touchdowns (16), eighth in yards per game (120.4) and 53rd in scoring (8.7).

Sophomore Jordan West paces the rushing attack with 681 yards on 155 carries and 10 touchdowns.

Defensively, Washington & Jefferson allows 310.6 ypg and just over 130 yards on the ground. However, the Presidents are seventh in the country in turnovers gained as they have taken the ball away 30 times this fall and have intercepted 20 passes.

Senior linebacker Nick Murgo leads the team with 92 total tackles, including 11.5 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks, three interceptions and three recovered fumbles. Senior defensive lineman Tom Marra has registered 20.0 tackles for loss with 9.0 sacks, while senior defensive back O'Shea Anderson is seventh in country with seven interceptions.

Scouting Frostburg
The 15th-ranked Frostburg State football team continues the NCAA DIII Playoff gauntlet against undefeated and 10th-ranked Washington & Jefferson on Saturday at noon. It will be the second-straight road playoff game for the Bobcats, who dispatched previously unbeaten Wittenberg on November 18.
 
Frostburg (10-1) rolled to a 35-7 victory over then ninth-ranked Wittenberg last week in Springfield to secure its second-straight 10-win season. The Bobcats once again got it done on all three phases of the ball against the Tigers and used a relentless rushing attack to seal the victory in the first meeting between the two schools. Frostburg held the potent Tigers offense in check, forcing three turnovers and holding the hosts on fourth down three times in the final quarter. Senior Dante Chinnery took a fake punt and raced 93 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
 
Fourth-year head coach DeLane Fitzgerald enters the playoff matchup with a 30-12 (.714) career record as the coach of the Bobcats, including a 20-2 (.909) mark since 2016. Frostburg has rolled through the latter portions of its schedule with six-straight wins, outscoring opponents 222-37 in that span.
 
The Bobcats rank second in the NJAC in scoring offense (35.0) and have shown a good balance between the run and pass. Overall, Frostburg has converted 64 first downs through the air and 52 on the ground. Junior quarterback Connor Cox ranks second in program history with 52 career touchdown passes and has tossed a career-high 23 this season. Junior running back Jamaal Morant leads the Bobcat ground game with 871 rushing yards and nine touchdowns and junior wideout Sergio Andino is the team's top receiving option with 499 yards and 10 touchdowns.
 
On defense, Frostburg has limited seven of 11 opponents to 10 points or less this season and is limiting opponents to 11.7 points/game. Junior defensive back Josh Scales is the team's leading tackler (66) while senior defensive back Dante Chinnery is second on the team with 49 stops this season.
 
Frostburg capped the regular season at 9-1 and 8-1 in conference and was named as one of the five at-large bids in the NCAA Playoffs.

A Closer Look At Washington & Jefferson
Last Saturday, Frostburg faced Wittenberg, NCAA Division III's second winningest program of all-time with 754 wins. Fast forward a week and Frostburg faces Washington & Jefferson, NCAA Division III's third winningest program of all-time.

The Presidents boast 735 wins in 126 seasons of football and had the 11th-best overall win percentage (.645) in DIII history heading into the '17 season.

W&J has won 22 playoff games, the ninth-most in DIII history and it has appeared in the national championship game twice.

The Presidents have also collected 33 consecutive winning seasons. Heading into the 2017 campaign, that is the fourth-longest active streak among all NCAA divisions. Only Linfield (DIII), Florida State (FBS) and Mount Union (DIII) own longer streaks.

Pulling Rank
Frostburg has been ranked inside the D3football.com Top 25 poll for the enitre season, including the preseason poll, while Washington & Jefferson jumped into the Top 25 following a week-one win over then-No. 23 St. John Fisher.

Heading into it's midseason overtime loss to Wesley, Frostburg had moved to ninth in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Top 25 poll.
The Bobcats currently sit at No. 15 in the D3football poll and are 17th in the AFCA Poll.

The Bobcats were ranked 17th in the D3football.com preseason poll and they have spent the entire season ranked inside the top 20. The Bobcats were also ranked 15th in the Street & Smith's Preseason Poll, 16th according to the Lindy's Poll and were tabbed 19th in the College Football Yearbook Preseason Poll.

W&J has slowly moved up in both polls throughout the season following its week-one upset. The Presidents are currently ninth in the coaches poll and are 14th in the D3 poll.

The Last Time Out
Frostburg rolled to a 35-7 road win at Wittenberg in the first round of the NCAA Playoffs behind a stout defense and a bruising running game. The Bobcats limited the nation's 22nd ranked offense to just 271 total yards and just 60 rushing yards. The Bobcats allowed the Tigers' only touchdown in the third quarter, forced three Wittenberg turnovers and held them on fourth down three times.

On the offensive side of the field, Frostburg averaged nearly seven yards a carry after totaling 385 yards on 57 carries. Junior Jamaal Morant ran for 168 yards on 26 carries, including a 61-yard touchdown in the fourth. Senior defensive back/punter Dante Chinnery faked a punt in his own endzone and raced 93 yards for a touchdown midway through the fourth for a 28-7 lead.

The Last (and First) Time In the NCAA Playoffs
Frostburg's only other appearance in the NCAA Playoffs came back in 1993 and that squad finished at 10-2 overall. The Bobcats posted their first-ever NCAA Playoff win in the first round in dramatic fashion by rallying with 19 fourth-quarter points for a narrow 26-25 win at Wilkes.

After falling behind 25-7 after three quarters of action, Frostburg started its rally when junior quarterback Gilbert Telleria scored from a yard out to narrow the deficit to 25-13 early in the fourth. With 4:41 left, senior halfback Kevin Bellamy posted a 14-yard scoring run that further narrowed the deficit to 25-20. Both scores were setup by Wilkes turnovers and the final touchdown came when freshman Chris Jackson blocked a punt at the Wilkes 21 and junior Germain Norman scooped up the loose ball and raced 20 yards for the game-winner.

In the second round of the playoffs, Frostburg hosted undefeated Washington & Jefferson and the winner would be crowned as the top team in the NCAA South Region.

The Presidents built a 14-0 lead and limited Frostburg to just one touchdown in a 28-7 W&J win. Freshman E.J. Fuller caught a 46-yard touchdown pass from Telleria early in the second quarter that narrowed the score to 14-7. However, Washington & Jefferson scored two more touchdowns and finished the afternoon with 359 yards of offense.

Head Coach DeLane Fitzgerald
DeLane Fitzgerald is in his fourth season at the helm of the Frostburg State football program in 2017 and his impact has been immediate. The Bobcats finished 4-6 overall in '14, posted a 6-4 mark in 2015 and rolled to an impressive 10-1 overall mark a year ago. FSU capped the '16 season with nine-straight wins, a share of the NJAC Title, the 18th Annual Regents Cup trophy and the Asa S. Bushnell Bowl Game trophy.

Frostburg hasn't just improved in the win/loss column, but the team GPA has improved every semester since Fitzgerald became head coach. Fitzgerald and his staff also see vast improvements in the weight room and around campus and in the town of Frostburg in terms of volunteer hours.

On the field, the Bobcats posted some of the most impressive numbers last fall. The FSU defense finished ninth nationally in total defense after holding opponents to just 240.6 yards per game. The Bobcats also led the nation in tackles for loss per game (10.7), and allowed just 13 points per game, good for the sixth-best scoring defense in Division III.

Fitzgerald also placed an emphasis in special teams since the day of his arrival at Frostburg. Following the '14 season, the Bobcats finished 17th in the nation in blocked kicks (6) and they finished 18th following the '15 campaign (6). FSU finished the 2015 season ranked 11th in the country in punt returns (15.63) and 15th in kickoff return defense (14.95). Last season, the Bobcats finished first in the NJAC and 12th nationally in blocked kicks.

Through 11 games this fall, the Bobcats are 10th in DIII in rushing defense (235.1), 11th in blocked punts (3) and fourth in kickoff returns (28.08). The Bobcats are also ninth in the nation in team tackles for loss (8.7), 23rd in sacks (3.09), 10th in total defense (235.1) and 10th in scoring defense (11.7).

A Win Would ...
- Lift the Bobcats to 266-280-8 overall in 56 seasons
- Land Fitzgerald his 31st victory at the helm of Frostburg
- Hand Frostburg its seventh-straight win
- Be the Bobcats' third NCAA Playoff victory
- Be the 11th-straight win away from Bobcat Stadium
- Hand Frostburg a school record 11 wins in a season
- Be the first win over W&J in six tries
- Hand Washington & Jefferson its only loss of the 2017 season
- End the Presidents 30-game home winning streak
- Avenge Frostburg's 28-7 loss at home to W&J in the 1993 NCAA Playoffs

Oh Captain, My Captain
A foursome of Frostburg players will serve as team captains for Saturday's matchup with Washington & Jefferson: senior offensive linemen Jake Townsend and Christian Walsh, senior defensive back Dante Chinnery and senior defensive tackle Niles Scott.

Frostburg Football History
Frostburg is in its 57th year of collegiate football in 2017 and the Bobcats have an overall record of 265-280-8. Prior to the win over Wittenberg, the Bobcats last appeared in the 1993 NCAA Playoffs and have played in eight ECAC Bowl Games. The Bobcats capped their 2016 campaign with a 10-1 overall record that included a lopsided 38-14 win over then 22nd-ranked St. John Fisher in the ECAC's Asa S. Bushnell Bowl Game.

The '17 season marks the third year for the Bobcats as a member of the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). It was announced in March 2014 that Frostburg, along with Christopher Newport, Salisbury and Wesley, would become associate members of the NJAC beginning with the 2015 season. Southern Virginia joined the conference a year earlier in 2014.

The NJAC also contains Rowan, Montclair State, The College of New Jersey (TCNJ), William Paterson and Kean.

Prior to the NJAC, the Bobcats competed in the Empire 8 from 2011-14 and the Atlantic Central Football Conference for 12 seasons from 1999-2010, capturing league titles in 1999, 2003 and 2004.

Spreading the Wealth
Frostburg enters its second playoff matchup with Washington & Jefferson ranked 49th in the country in points per game (35.0). Since their early October loss to Wesley, the Bobcats have rebounded in an impressive way and they are outscoring their opponents 222-37 during their current six-game winning streak

The Bobcats have scored over 40 points in three games this season, the first team to do so since 1994.

Six different players have scored a rushing touchdown for Frostburg this fall and eight players have hauled in a scoring pass. First-year defensive end Zach Strand returned a fumble 75 yards for a score against Montclair and senior Jordan Proctor pounced on a loose ball in the end zone for a score in the season opener against Stevenson.

On offense, junior Connor Cox has thrown 23 touchdowns and his favorite target is classmate Sergio Andino. On the ground, junior Jamaal Morant has rushed for a team-high nine touchdowns, while classmate Grayson Boyce has found the end zone six times.

Third Down Success
The Bobcats have had plenty of success on third down this season on both sides of the ball.

Offensively, the Bobcats are 14th in the nation in third down conversions at 48.4%, converting 78 of 161 attempts. On defense, Frostburg is allowing opponents to convert just 20.2% (26-129) of their third downs, a mark that paces Division III.

All He Does Is Catch Touchdowns
Bobcat junior receiver Sergio Andino transformed in mid-October into one of the nation's top wideouts after recovering from an early-season injury. Since his first catch against Wesley on Oct. 7, Andino has hauled in 32 passes for 499 yards and 11 touchdowns. He has scored in seven-consecutive games and has pulled down two TD passes in four of those contests.

He is finding the endzone on one of every 2.9 receptions and is currently 30th in the nation in touchdown receptions.

On the Defensive
Through 11 games this fall, Frostburg has held its opponents to 835 rushing yards on 329 carries, a 2.5 yard per carry average. The Bobcats are 10th in the nation in rushing defense, holding three opponents to negative yardage this fall while allowing just two rushing touchdowns on 329 rushing attempts.