FOOTBALL RETURNS HOME TO HOST SAINT FRANCIS FOR SENIOR DAY SATURDAY

November 9, 2009

BRYANT FOOTBALL HOSTS SAINT FRANCIS (PA) IN HOME FINALE
Kickoff at Bulldog Stadium Set for Noon

GAME NOTES (pdf) /  2009 SEASON STATS

GAMEDAY LIVE STATS /  AUDIO / VIDEO  

The Bryant University football team looks to snap a five-game losing skid this Saturday when

Senior Anthony Castelli of Cranston, RI is sixth on the team with 42 tackles. www.dspics.com

the Bulldogs return home to host Saint Francis (PA) for a Northeast Conference game at Bulldog Stadium. Bryant is 3-6 on the season (2-4 NEC) after falling on the road at Sacred Heart 24-14.  Saint Francis (PA) is tied for last-place in the conference at 1-5 in league (2-7 overall) with Duquesne University, Bryant's final opponent next week in Pittsburgh.  While this week will be the final home game of the year for the Bulldogs, it will also be the home finale for 23 Bulldog seniors who will be honored prior to the opening kickoff.  These seniors were part of 25 team wins during their four seasons and were freshman in Bryant's first-ever NCAA appearance in 2006.  In all, Bryant won back-to-back conference (NE-10) titles and earned two-straight NCAA playoff berths (2006 & 2007).  Among the seniors are Rhode Island natives Anthony Castelli (Cranston), Peter and Patrick Gauthier (Woonsocket) and Kevin Menawonu (Providence / Country Day). Bryant is 22-8 at home in the past four seasons and 4-1 on Senior Day under coach Marty Fine.

LAST YEAR VS. SAINT FRANCIS (PA)
Jerell Smith rushed for 150 yards and the Bryant defense held SFPA to just 58 yards of total offense in a 23-0 win in Loretto, Pa.  The win concluded Bryant's first year of Division I with a 7-4 record. Lindsey Gamble had 54 yards rushing on the snowy afternoon at DeGol Field.

QUICK HITS
- Saturday's game with Saint Francis is the 111th game in the Bryant football history (58-52 overall) and 21st competing at the Division I level.
- Bryant will trying to avoid a six-game losing skid against SFPA Saturday. The five-game losing skid equals the most in school history going back to the 2000 season. when Bryant dropped five-straight. 
- Bryant is 22-8 at home in the last six seasons and 4-1 on Senior Day games under coach Fine. The lone Senior Day loss was to Southern Connecticut in Fine's first season in 2004.
- This will be the second meeting all-time between the Bulldogs and Saint Francis.  Last year Bryant won 23-0 in Loretto, Pa. in the season finale.
- Jerell Smith (Brooklyn, NY) rushed for 139 yards against Monmouth, marking the fourth-time this season Smith has gone over the 100-yard mark in a game and the 13th time in his career.   Smith needs one more 100-yard game with three games remaining to tie Lorenzo Perry for the most in a single season. Perry had 10 in 2006.  With 863 yards rushing this season, Smith needs just 137 yards in the final two games to reach 1,000 yards for the second time in his career. He had 1,254 in 2008.
- Aaron Bryant's (New London, Conn.) 4 blocked kicks is a new school record. As a team, Bryant has a school record 7 this season.
- Junior Chris Bird (Monument Beach, Mass.) made two field goals against Monmouth to give him 24 for his career (first all-time in school history). On the season, Bird has made a school record 9 field goals and has missed just one, a 44-yarder at Fordham.
- Senior linebacker Paul Polomski (Franklin, Mass.) is currently 3rd all-time with 212 career tackles.  He needs 16 to move into second and 18 to become Bryant's all-time career tackles leader.
- Senior defensive end Don Smith (Attleboro, Mass.) registered two sacks against Monmouth, moving him into fourth all-time with 17 career sacks.  Mark Gunther holds the school record with 23. 
- Defensive back Michael Morgan (New London, Conn.) has 26 career pass breakups, just one shy of all-time leader Bryce Martins who has 27 from 2005-08. 

2009 BRYANT FOOTBALL SENIORS - 23

Aaron Bryant, LB (New London, Conn. / New London)
Nick Candito, LB (West Boylston, Mass. / St. John's)
Anthony Castelli, DB (Cranston, RI / Cranston West)
David Cosenza, (Fitchburg, MA / Fitchburg)
Lindsey Gamble, RB (Roxbury, MA / Reading Memorial)
Patrick Gauthier, DL(Woonsocket, RI / Woonsocket)
Peter Gauthier, DL (Woonsocket, RI / Woonsocket)
Peter Krafka, OL (Milford, MA / Bishop Feehan)
Ben Lyons, OL(Westfield, MA / Avon Old Farms)
Tim Mastrino, WR (Elmhurst, IL / Immaculate Conception)
Kevin Menawonu, DB (Providence, RI / Providence Country Day)
James Meyer, WR (Wayland, MA/ Wayland)
Michael Morgan, DB (New London, CT / New London)
Zack Norley, QB (Sudbury, MA / Lincoln-Sudbury)
Paul Polomski, LB (Franklin, MA/ Franklin)
Nick Scardelli, QB (Manalapan, NJ / Manalapan)
Jerell Smith, RB (Brooklyn, NY / St. Francis Prep)
Don Smith, DL (Attleboro, MA / Attleboro)
Kurt Spear, QB (Greene, NY/ Greene Central)
Vinton South, WR (Dumont, NJ / Dumont)
John Tashjian, OL (Paramus, NJ / St. Joseph's)
Dan Weaver, LB (Bloomfield, Pa. / West Perry)
Andre Whyte, DB (Bennington, Vt. / Mount Anthony)

LOOKING AT SAINT FRANCIS
The Red Flash come into Saturday's game looking to bounce back from a 24-10 loss to Monmouth at home last week.  Wins this year have come against Morehead State, 31-0 and Duquesne, 31-14 two weeks ago and nearly pulled out a road win at Wagner back on September 26 only to fall in triple overtime, 56-48 on Staten Island.  Saint Francis (PA) has played a tough non-conference schedule, opening with nationally-ranked New Hampshire (24-14 L) and third-ranked Northern Iowa (30-0 L).  Running back Jude Yearwoood leads a ground game averaging just 113.1 yards per game with 52.9 yards rushing average while quarterback John Kelly has completed 53 percent of his passes (122-230) for 1254 yards andseven touchdowns.  The defense is led by standout linebacker Scott Lewis who comes into Saturday's game with Bryant with a team-best 96 tackles.

THE COACHES
Bryant coach Marty Fine, now in his sixth season, comes into Saturday's game with a 37-24 record since arriving at Bryant in 2004. He has led the Bulldogs to four consecutive winning seasons including an impressive 7-4 campaign in 2008, Bryant's first at the Division I level. Fine led the Bulldogs to back-to-back conference championships and NCAA playoff appearances in 2006 and 2007.  Saint Francis coach David Opfar is in his 8th season where he is 17-66 overall. 

SMITH TOPS 2,000 CAREER RUSHING YARDS
Senior running back Jerell Smith, who is now in his third season at Bryant after transferring from Howard University in 2007, became the third player in school history to go over the 2,000 yard mark in rushing in a career.  He is currently third on Bryant's all-time career rushing list with 2,736 yards (program is only in its 11th year) behind Andre McLeod (3,521) and Lorenzo Perry (3,259).  Smith had 121 yards against Southern Connecticut in the opener. He reached the 2,000 mark with an 11-yard run on the team's first drive in the first quarter against Hofstra.  He has gone over 100 yards in four of Bryant's nine games this year including a season-best 178 vs. Wagner in the rain.

SOPHOMORE IN THE POCKET
Sophomore quarterback Mike Croce (Waterbury, Conn.), who transferred from Merrimack College last year, looked strong in his first career start for the Bulldogs, completing 68.2 of his passes for 169 yards in the win over Southern Connecticut back on Sept. 

SENIOR RUNNING BACK JERELL SMITH
Senior runningback Jerell Smith (Brooklyn, NY) comes into Saturday's game with 863 yards rushing this season and has 4 of Bryant's 5 rushing touchdowns.  He has gone over 100 yards in four games this season: 121 vs. Southern Conn; 111 vs. Robert Morris; 178 vs. Wagner; and 139 at Monmouth. He is currently third all-time with 2,736 career yards. He has 14 career 100-yard rushing games, two shy of the school record of 16 held by Lorenzo Perry.

HOME SWEET HOME
The Bulldogs are 22-8 at home over the past five seasons and 21-6 in regular season games since 2004. The Bulldogs fell to West Chester in the 2006 NCAA playoffs at Bulldog Stadium.  Bryant was 3-1 at home in 2008. 

2004 -  2-3

2005 -  5-0

2006 -  5-2 (including NCAA playoff loss to West Chester)

2007-   4-0

2008 -  4-1

2009 -  2-2

Total   22-8

BRYANT AGAINST DIVISION I OPPONENTS
Bryant is currently 7-13 all-time vs. Division I-AA teams, earning the school's first win over a Division I opponent on Sept. 27, 2008 at Wagner. Bryant is in its first season competing in Division I.  The Bulldogs are independent during their four-year transition year and will join the Northeast Conference (NEC) in the fall of 2012.