Football Hosts Saint Anselm For Parents & Family Weekend Saturday; Bulldogs Ranked No. 4 in Region

BRYANT HOST SAINT ANSELM SATURDAY
Kickoff Saturday is 1 p.m.

Records: Bryant 5-2 (5-2 NE-10)    Saint Anselm 0-7 (0-6 NE-10)
Date:  Saturday, October 14, 2006
Time: 1:00 p.m. kickoff
Location: Smithfield, RI
Stadium: Bulldog Stadium (4,400)
Radio: web link (John McCarthy play by play, Patrick Sullivan color)
TV: www.NE10.tv
Series: Bryant leads 4-3
Last Meeting: Bryant def. Saint Anselm 27-0 at Manchester, NH 2005
Coaches:  Bryant - Marty Fine, 3rd year (16-10)
 Saint Anselm - Ken Knapczyk, 2nd year (1-16)

Justin Kix caught his 100th career reception in Bryant's win at Stonehill last week.

THIS WEEK
The Bryant University football team hosts Saint Anselm Saturday afternoon for Parents and Family Weekend at Bulldog Stadium.  Kickoff is at 1 pm.  Bryant, ranked No. 4 in the Northeast region, rebounded from a home loss to C.W. Post with a 35-14 triumph at Stonehill last week.  Lorenzo Perry rushed for 247 yards on 31 carries and scored three touchdowns to lead the Bulldogs to the win.  This will be the eighth meeting meeting between the two schools with Bryant leading the series 4-3 thanks to last year's 27-0 win during a driving rain storm in Manchester, NH.  Bryant remains steady at No. 4 in this week's regional rankings ... Lorenzo Perry is ranked No. 3 nationally with 182.7 yards rushing per game. 

LAST WEEK: Bryant 35, Stonehill 14
    The Bulldogs started fast, and weathered a Stonehill push to take a 35-14 win over the Stonehill Skyhawks Saturday afternoon.
   The Bulldogs jumped on the Skyhawks in front of their homecoming crowd behind the strong running of senior Lorenzo Perry, who scored the first touchdown of the day on an electric 62-yard run. A Justin Kix touchdown reception and another Perry touchdown gave the Bulldogs what appeared to be a commanding lead. 
   Perry finished with 247 yards rushing and three touchdowns. It was Perry's best rushing game of the year, and good for the third-best in school history. Perry holds that record with a 313-yard performance last year versus Stonehill. 
    However, the Skyhawks came back to score two touchdowns in the last three and a half minutes to cut the deficit to 21-14 at the half. 
    Bryant quickly retook the momentum after the break. Another Perry touchdown and a 72-yard touchdown reception by Justin Kix again silenced the Stonehill faithful. 
     In what was a sloppy game, the teams combined for seven turnovers (four by Bryant). Bryant however, dominated the total offensive numbers, out-gaining Stonehill 551 to 248.   Junior quarterback Charlie Granatell finished with an efficient 274 yards on 13 of 17 passing.  

THE BULLDOGS VS. HAWKS
This will be the eighth meeting all-time between Bryant and Saint Anselm with the Bulldogs winning the last two matchups including a 27-0 win last year.  The last time the Hawks paid a visit to Bulldog Stadium, Bryant needed overtime to pull out a 28-21 win.  In last year's meeting, Vince Norris hauled in a 63-yard touchdown reception while Jon Zenquis returned a kickoff a school record 91 yards as the Bulldogs won 21-0. 

All-Time Series History
Year Location Result
1999  Manchester, NH 27-7 W
2000 Smithfield,RI 20-28 L
2001 Manchester, NH 16-31 L
2002 Smithfield,RI  25-13 W
2003 Manchester, NH 3-10 L
2004 Smithfield, RI 28-21 W ot
2005 Manchester, NH 27-0 W

NE-10 Statistical Comparison (NE-10 Rank of 10 teams)
Category Bryant      Saint Anselm
Scoring 31.7 (1) 7.3 (10)
Scoring Defense 17.6 (5) 29.8 (10)
Rushing Offense 206.9 (2) 62.2 (8)
Rushing Defense 135.0 (7) 165.2(8)
Passing Offense 179.0 (5) 100.8 (9)
Passing Defense 162.1 (6) 149.8 (9)
Total Offense 385.9 (2) 163.0 (8)
Total Defense 297.1 (6) 315.0 (8)

NE-10 Individual: 
Rushing: Lorenzo Perry 182.7 (1)
Passing: Charlie Granatell  177.9 (4)
Receptions Justin Kix 4.2 (4)
Rec. Yards Justin Kix 72.3 (2)
Scoring Lorenzo Perry 14.0 (1)
Tackles Andrew McLarty  10.3 (8)
PATs Bobby Heilmann  96.2% (1)  - 25 of 26

NCAA STATISTICAL RANKINGS out of 143 DII schools
TEAM
Rushing  13th 206.9
Scoring  19th 31.7

INDIVIDUAL
Rushing Lorenzo Perry  - 3rd 182.7
Pass Effic.  Charlie Granatell - 8th 161.0
Scoring Lorenzo Perry - 5th 12.0
All Purpose Lorenzo Perry - 4th 193.3
Punt Returns Chris Wolheter - 10th 14.0 yards per return

QUICK GLANCE AT SAINT ANSELM
The Hawks will be looking for the first win of the season against the Bulldogs following last week's 58-25 loss to Merrimack at home.  Receiver Pat Turner had six catches for 148 yards to lead the Hawks highlighted by a school-record 88 yard touchdown reception to tie the game early.  Ryan Drago had 84 yards rushing. Head coach Ken Knapczyk is in his second year at Saint Anselm (1-16).  

PERRY RACKING UP THE YARDS ... AND POINTS
Senior tailback Lorenzo Perry, a two-time NE-10 Conference Player of the Week and Boston Globe Gold Helmet Award winner as the New England Player of the back in September, leads the NE-10 this season with 1,279  yards rushing and is first with 182.7 yards per game.  The school's all-time record holder with 30 career rushing touchdowns,  Perry has 14 TDs this season (all rushing) for a conference best 84 points.  He is currently ranked THIRD nationally in rushing (182.7) and FOURTH with 193.3 all-purpose yards. 
 
NOTABLES / RECORDS CHECK...
*   Lorenzo Perry (Providence) went over the 100 yard mark for the 12th time in his career and  now has 2,614 career rushing yards - second all-time in Bryant history.  Perry needs 57 yards to pass his single season rushing record total of 1,335 last season. He has 1,279 this year to go with a record 14 TDs.
*  Charlie Granatell (Franklin Lakes, NJ) needs one more passing touchdown to tie the career school record of 35 held by Tony Granieri. 
* Andrew McLarty (College Park, Md.) has posted 10 tackles in each of the last two games giving him 177 for his career.  He is fourth all-time and needs 8 to move into third and 30 for second. * Justin Kix (Shoreham, NY) has 11 career touchdown receptions (2 vs. Stonehill Saturday) and needs three to set the school record for career (Adam Ewing with 13). Kix is first all-time with 1,469 rec. yds.
* Chris Wohlheter (Newark, Ohio) holds the school record with 384 punt return yards and 34 punt returns.
* Wohlheter (7 INTs) needs five interceptions to pass Jesse Lewis' career record of 11 picks.
* Mark Gunther (Clarksburg, NJ) (15 sacks) needs 5 sacks to pass Ben Wellington's career record for sacks of 19.5.


NCAA NORTHEAST REGIONAL RANKINGS
Bryant is currently fourth in the NCAA Northeast Region following last week's poll.  The NCAA will select the playoff field on Sunday, November 12 with six teams from the Northeast Region to participate in the tournament.  The top two teams will receive a bye with the No. 3 and No. 4 teams hosting No. 5 and No. 6 for a first round game on Saturday, Nov. 18.  The ranking is the highest in school history as the Bulldogs cracked the top 10 last year and finished No. 11 in the region.

October 16, 2006
1. Shepherd (6-0)
2. Bloomsburg (6-1)
3. CW Post (6-1)
4. Bryant (5-2)
5. Merrimack (4-3)
6. Southern Connecticut (4-3)
7. Indiana (PA) (5-1)
8. American International (4-2)
9. East Stroudsburg (5-2)
10. California PA (4-3)