MONTCLAIR, N.J. – The No. 14/16 Salisbury University football team begins New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) play with the first of two games in the Garden State to open the second month of the season against the Montclair St. Red Hawks on Saturday.
Both teams are coming off of wins entering the Week 5 contest. The Sea Gulls are coming off a 40-14 win over the Western New England Golden Bears while the Red Hawks earned its first win of the season with a 30-14 win over the WPI Engineers on Saturday.
The two divisional winners from the Spring 2021 season will kickoff from Sprague Field at 1 p.m.
THE RUNDOWN
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The Series: Montclair St. holds the 8-6 series advantage over Salisbury but the Sea Gulls have had the recent edge on the Red Hawks. The Sea Gulls enter Saturday's game with a five-game winning streak on the Red Hawks.
The two teams last faced off during the 2019 season with the Sea Gulls coming back from a third-quarter deficit to take down the Red Hawks, 27-24. Salisbury gained 235 yards on the ground and 129 yards through the air. Jack Lanham accounted for three touchdowns. He carried the ball 19 times for 64 yards and two touchdowns while going 6-of-12 for 129 yards and a touchdown through the air. Chad Gleason registered 84 yards on six carries and added a pair of catches for 48 yards. Shamar Gray recorded two catches for 61 yards and a touchdown and toted the rock seven times for 36 yards.
Pat Bernardo led the Salisbury defense with nine tackles while Sean Carroll racked up six tackles.
Last Time Out: Salisbury cruised to a 40-14 win over the Western New England Golden Bears on Sept. 25. Salisbury tallied 400 yards of total offense, 359 of which came through the rushing attack. Jack Lanham accounted for 127 yards of offense for the Sea Gulls. He carried the ball 20 times for 86 yards with a career-high four rushing touchdowns. In his first career start, David Fletcher led the ground game for SU with a career-best 99 yards on 11 carries.
Salisbury held WNE to 193 yards of total offense, including 31 rushing yards. Jamere Furbush led the defense with seven tackles, including a sack and a tackle for loss. Myles Christian and A.J. Butler each tallied six tackles and a tackle for loss.
National Rankings: Salisbury jumped a spot in both the D3football.com and American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Division III Coaches' Poll following the win over Western New England on Saturday. In the D3football.com Poll, Salisbury moved up from 15th to 14th. In the AFCA Poll, Salisbury was slotted 16th in the latest rankings.
Weekly Honors: For the second time this season, senior kicker Bert Schrecongost was named the NJAC Special Teams Player of the Week. Schrecongost continued his perfect record in the field goal category with a 23-yard make to help Salisbury pull away from Western New England, 40-14, on Saturday. Schrecongost also made all five extra points. He also kicked off seven times for 435 yards with two touchbacks.
In the NJAC, Schrecongost is one of three conference kickers who hasn't missed a field goal in 2021.
Success on the Jersey Shore: Salisbury has won 25 of the last 26 games against teams from New Jersey since the 2011 season. Salisbury enters Saturday's games with a 17-game win streak against New Jersey schools.
The Class of the NJAC: Since joining the NJAC in 2015, Salisbury has won 43 games in the conference. The 43 wins stand as the most wins among active teams in the conference.
Breaking through the books: Senior quarterback Jack Lanham is approaching 2,000 passing yards in his SU career, which will crack the top-10 in program history in career passing yards. Through 23 games played in his career, Lanham tallied 1,932 passing yards as the signal-caller for the Sea Gulls.
8. Dustin Johnson (2002-05) - 2,204
9. Marc Thomas (1993-94) - 2,128
10. David Doy (1992-95) - 2,079
11. Jack Lanham (2017-present) - 1,932
12. Ronnie Curley (2005-08) - 1,768
Among the Greats: Salisbury head coach Sherman Wood ranks in the top-20 of active coaches in wins, regardless of NCAA Division. Entering 2021, Coach Wood is tied for 19th with Willie Fritz of Tulane amongst active coaches in victories with 177. He had more career victories than other notable coaches with 20 or more years of experience such as Kirk Ferentz of Iowa and Gary Patterson of TCU.
No Fly Zone: Senior All-American defensive Back Sean Carroll recorded an interception in the Week 1 win over Albright to move to a tie for sixth all-time on the SU career interceptions list.
T4. Du'Juan Wilson (1998-2000) - 12
T4. Greg Stanton (2010-13) – 12
T6. Sean Carroll (2017-present) – 11
T6. Tim Jones (1993-93) – 11
T6. Marvin Robbins (1985-89) – 11
T6. Fred Bess (1877-80) – 11
T9. Rob Wagner (1983, 1985-87) – 10
T9. Jay Jefferson (1977-79, 1983) – 10
Scouting Montclair: Montclair joined Salisbury in winning a division title during the Spring 2021 season just a few months ago. The Red Hawks have stumbled out of the blocks with a 1-3 overall record so far in 2021 but won its last time out with a 31-10 win over WPI on Sept. 25.
On offense, Montclair is led by senior quarterback Ja'Quill Burch and D3football.com All-American offensive lineman Zach Schmoll. Burch became the fifth player in Montclair history to eclipse the 5,000-yard passing mark in the win against WPI. The three-time All-NJAC quarterback has totaled 39 passing touchdowns in his career,
The Red Hawks have a strong special teams unit with Zahir Wilder back to return kicks and punts. The D3football.com All-American averages 17 yards per kick return and 12 yards per punt return.
The defense has garnered two NJAC Defensive Player of the Week awards so far in 2021. Safety Mike Ramos was named the NJAC top defender a week ago while Dimitri Pali earned the honors in Week 1.
