Bulldogs Travel to Bentley Friday Night for 7 p.m. Game
October 25, 2004
Bryant University Bulldogs (4-3, 4-3 NE-10)
at Bentley College Falcons (7-1, 7-1 NE-10)
Friday, October 29 2004 @ 7:00 p.m. kickoff
Bentley Football Field (3,200) € Waltham, Mass.
Northeast-10 Game of the Week (www.northeast10.org)
TOP STORY:
Bulldogs Return To Action Friday Night at Bentley
Following a bye week, the Bulldogs return to action this Friday night with a visit to Bentley College. Kickoff is at 7 p.m. at the Bentley Football Field in Waltham, Mass. The game will be the Northeast-10 Conference Game of the Week and can be heard live at www.BryantBulldogs.com and the conference web site at www.northeast10.org. The Bulldogs are coming off a thrilling 28-21 double overtime win at home over Saint Anselm back on Oct. 21. The win surpassed last year’s total number of wins and puts the Bulldogs above .500 for the first time this season and the first time since the 2001 season. Bryant however will have its hands full as the Bulldogs square off against a Falcons’ squad that is in first place in the Northeast-10 Conference at 7-1 and have scored 111 points in its last two games. Bentley, which defeated Bryant 51-20 last season, has won five-straight including a 49-7 win over Stonehill two weeks ago and a 62-3 win at Saint Anselm last Saturday.
LAST TIME OUT: Bulldogs 28, Saint Anselm 21 (2ot)
Chris Peaks’ (Silver Spring, Md.) 17-yard touchdown scamper in the second overtime proved to be the difference as Bryant University edged Saint Anselm by a score of 28-21. Peaks rushed for 57 yards on 21 carries while freshman quarterback Charles Granatell (Franklin Lakes, NJ) completed 13 of 23 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns. Saint Anselm led 3-0 at the half but Bryant roared back with a pair of third quarter touchdowns in the third to take a 14-3 lead. Granatell hit Shane Cheltenham (Lynn, Mass) with an 11-yard score and Peaks scored from 17 yards out to help lead the Bulldog comeback. Saint Anselm would answer as Derek Dimartino (Amherst, N.H.) caught a 19-yard touchdown pass from Shane Dinagen (Harrisville, RI). Following a four-yard touchdown run by Granatell that staked Bryant to a 21-10 lead midway through the fourth, the Hawks would rally, scoring on a two yard pass to Michael Garcarz (New Britain, Conn.) with 3:54 left. Garcarz would force overtime with a 32 yard field goal with only six seconds left in regulation. However, Garcarz would miss a 26-yard field goal in the first overtime that would have won the game for the Hawks and helped give Bryant another shot. On the Bulldogs first possession, Peaks broke through a huge hole up the middle to the game-winner.
BRYANT VS. STONEHILL SUMMARY
Charles Granatell completed 11 of 22 passes for 149 yards and three touchdowns while tailback Chris Peaks rushed for a career-high 131 yards to help lead Bryant to a 31-6 win at Stonehill College last Saturday. The 31 points scored are the most this season for the Bulldogs as Bryant rushed for a season-best 201 yards and generated a season-high of 301 yards of total offense. Bryant led 10-0 after one quarter thanks to Pete DiMartino’s career-best 36-yard field goal and Shane Cheltenham 13-yard touchdown pass from Granatell with 44 seconds left to go in the quarter. It would be the first of two touchdown receptions on the day for Cheltenham as the junior was on the receiving end of a 10-yard pass later in the fourth. Stonehill would close to within 10-6 in the second after a touchdown and failed two-point conversion. But Bryant would answer with another score just before the end of the half thanks to a 12-yard punt return by Chris Wohlheter to the Stonehill 45 yard line. From there, Granatell went to work, completing three of five passes including a 16-yard strike to Justin Kix for a touchdown to make it 17-6. The Bryant defense did a good job of containing Stonehill’s offense, holding the Chieftains to just 197 yards of offense including 78 yards passing in the game. Chieftain quarterback Greg Borsari had just 49 yards passing on the day while Stonehill’s top tailback Bob Powell carried the ball 11 times for 71 yards - 50 of which were on Powell’s longest run from scrimmage on the day that helped set up the Chieftains’ only score. David Boak had five tackles and a sack to lead the way for the Bryant defense.
BULLDOGS VS. BENTLEY
Bryant trails the overall series with Bentley 4-1 and have dropped the last four in a row since defeating the Falcons 44-39 in Smithfield back during Bryant’s inaugural season in 1999. In 2000, Bryant dropped a 7-0 game to the Falcons, but since then, Bentley has had its way with Bryant, winning 44-22 in 2002 and 51-20 last year on the Bulldogs’ homecoming in Smithfield. Bentley would go on to a 10-1 record last year and qualify for the NCAA Division II playoffs, falling to eventual national champion Grand Valley State 65-36. Quarterback Mark Eddy had thrown for 2,255 yards and 25 touchdowns this season with his favorite receiver Dallas Mall catching 59 passes for 792 yards and 16 touchdowns.
BULLDOG BITES
€ Freshman quarterback Charles Granatell needs only 126 yards passing to pass Tony Granieri’s record for yards passing in a season. Bryant, which ran an option offense for the past couple of seasons, has attempted 158 passes this season for 1,048 yards.
€ Bryant is 4-3 this season, the first time above .500 since 2001.
€ Senior defensive end Delano Dryden has 6.5 sacks this season and needs only one sack to break Ben Wellington’s career sack record of 19.5. Dryden has 19 for his career.
€ Chris Peaks has 881 career yards rushing (532 this season).
THE BRYANT - BENTLEY SERIES
This will be the the sixth meeting all-time between both schools with Bentley leading the series 4-1 - including wins in the last four meetings.
Year Winner Location
1999 Bryant, 44-19 Smithfield, RI
2000 Bentley 17-7 Waltham, Mass.
2001 Bentley 7-0 Smithfield, RI
2002 Bentley 44-22 Waltham, Mass.
2003 Bentley 51-20 Smithfield, RI
NORTHEAST-10 CONFERENCE LEADERS
A look at Bryant in this week’s NE-10 Conference statistical rankings:
Rushing - Chris Peaks 4th 76.0 ypg
Passing - Charles Granatell 5th 145.1 ypg
Total Offense - Charles Granatell 6th 130.7 ypg
All Purpose- Chris Peaks 6th 100.5 ypg
Punt Returns - Chris Wohlheter 4th 10.9 y/return
Punting - Mike Lajterman 2nd 39.2 y/punt
NEXT UP
The Bulldogs will return home to host Southern Connecticut for “Senior Day” on Saturday, Nov. 6 at Bulldog Stadium. Kickoff is at noon. Sixteen Bulldog seniors will be honored prior to kickoff.
PEAKING AT THE RIGHT TIME
Tailback Chris Peaks went over 100 yards rushing for the third time this season with a career-high 131 yards vs. Stonehill. Peaks was named to the Northeast-10 Conference weekly honor roll on Sept. 27 for his performance in the win at Pace. Peaks had 118 yards rushing and scored three times - two rushing and one receiving. It marked the second honor roll recognition this season for Peaks.
Peaks This Season Att. Yards TD
Sept. 4 at AIC 11 51 yards 0 TD
Sept. 11 vs. Merrimack 11 35 yards 0 TD
Sept. 18 vs. Assumption 30 111 yards 0 TD
Sept. 25 at Pace 25 118 yards 2 TD
Oct. 2 vs. CW Post 14 32 yards 0 TD
Oct. 9 at Stonehill 29 131 yards 0 TD
Oct. 16 vs. St. Anselm 21 57 1 TD
Total 141 532 yards 3 TD
CHARLES IN CHARGE
Freshman quarterback Charles Granatell has completed 75 of 153 passes this season for 1,016 yards. He has also thrown ten touchdown passes this season including a 62-yarder to freshman Jon Zenquis against Merrimack. In the win at Stonehill, Granatell had 149 yards and 3 touchdowns to help lead the Bulldogs to victory. In his last outing, the freshman completed 13 of 23 passes for 179 yards and two touchdowns.
Granatell This Season A - C - I Yards TD
Sept. 4 at AIC 29-12-3 218 yards 1 TD
Sept. 11 vs. Merrimack 31-13-2 139 yards 1 TD
Sept. 18 vs. Assumption 14-7-1 137 yards 2 TD
Sept. 25 at Pace 24-15-1 162 yards 1 TD
Oct. 2 vs. CW Post 10-4-2 32 yards 0 TD
Oct. 9 at Stonehill 22-11-1 149 yards 3 TD
Oct. 16 vs. St. Anselm 23-13-0 179 yards 2 TD
Total 153-75-10 1,016 yards 10 TD
STATISTICALLY SPEAKING
€ The 36-yard FG by Pete DiMartino vs. Stonehill was just one yard shy of the school record of 37 yards by Rocco Navarro.
€ The 3 touchdown passes by Granatell vs. Stonehill was the fifth time a Bryant quarterback has thrown three TDs in a game. The record is four by Tony Granieri vs. Stonehill in 2001.
€ Granatell’s 1,016 yards passing this season is the third-best in school history. Tony Granieri had 1,141 in 1999 and 935 in 2001.
€ Pete DiMartino has made all 16 PAT attempts this season and leads Bryant in scoring with 30 points. DiMartino has 57 career PATs.
BULLDOGS ON THE INTERNET
All nine Bryant football games will be broadcast live on the internet at www.BryantBulldogs.com. The games are made available for free courtesy of Stretch Internet. John McCarthy of WEEI calls the action live and Coni Fichera provides expert analysis. Jacob Van Ryan will join McCarthy for the Bentley game.
DELANO GIVING CHASE TO SACK RECORD
Senior defensive end Delano Dryden (Riverdale, Md.) leads the Bulldogs with 6.5 sacks this season, giving him 19.0 sacks for his career - ONE SACK shy of the school record for career sacks of 19.5 held by Ben Wellington (1999-2002). Wellington’s single season sack record of nine in 2002 is also in jeopardy as well. Dryden entered the season with 12.5 career sacks including six total last season.
GETTING HIS KIX
Sophomore Justin Kix (Shoreham, N.Y.) leads Bryant with 18 receptions for 274 yards and two touchdowns this season. With just seven receptions for 66 yards all last season (10 games), Kix has already surpassed that total. In fact, he passed his yard total in the first game of the 2004 season with 96 yards against AIC on Sept. 4. One of the four receptions against AIC was a 51-yard touchdown from quarterback Charles Granatell.
PLAY CALLING
Bryant has attempted a total of 153 passes this season and have rushed the ball 276 times.
BULLDOG SENIORS 2005 (16)
24 WR Demetrius Bobo (District Heights, Md.)
33 FB Adam Brown (Oaklyn, N.J.)
58 OL Anthony Carullo (Hasbrouck Heights, N.J.)
36 WR Shane Cheltenham (Lynn, Mass.)
95 WR Matt Cutler (Yarmouthport, Mass.)
5 DL Delano Dryden (Riverdale, Md.)
17 DB Ian Johnson (Salem, N.J.)
49 LB Joe Kugler (Katonah, N.Y.)
29 DB Jesse Lewis (Elizabeth, N.J.)
2 DB Dashon Llyod (Willingboro, N.J.)
20 DB Thomas Major (Pearland, Texas)
28 DB Pat Murphy (East Greenwich, R.I.)
27 DB Ché Perez (Bridgeport, Conn.)
93 DL Matt Ramos (Milford, Conn.)
46 FB Drew Shaw (Gladwyne, Pa.)
81 WR Justin Williams (Randallstown, Md.)
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