SALISBURY, Md. – Hoping to do its part to help the postseason math line up in its favor, the Salisbury University football team concludes its regular season with a New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC) showdown against the Kean Cougars on Friday, Nov. 10. Kickoff from Sea Gull Stadium is locked in for 7 p.m.
 
Friday's game will serve as a Senior Night celebration for the Sea Gull football program as the team honors 16 graduating seniors. The game will also feature a halftime performance from the Parkside High School marching band and a postgame fireworks show.
 
THE RUNDOWN
TICKETS
LIVE VIDEO
LIVE STATS
GAME NOTES
 
The Series: Salisbury has gone 15-2-1 overall against Kean, winning 10 straight matchups since 1984. The Sea Gulls bested the Cougars 32-17 in their most recent contest in Union, N.J. on Nov. 5, 2022. Ben Hutchins threw for 170 yards and a touchdown, while Joey Bildstein and Dario Belizaire each ran in a score and Ryan Muller took a pick-six 70 yards to the house.
 
Last Time Out: Salisbury won for the fourth time in its last five games in lopsided fashion, taking down McDaniel on the road, 59-20, on Saturday.
 
The Sea Gulls put 359 total yards of offense on the board, averaging 7.04 yards per play. Joey Bildstein rushed for 76 yards and three touchdowns, while Gage Katzenell-Hall passed for 121 yards and found Micah Brubaker for a pair of touchdowns.
 
Brock Keeler paced the SU defense with eight tackles, while Casey Counts put up seven tackles, two sacks, a forced fumble, and a blocked punt. Salisbury ultimately blocked three McDaniel kicks on the day – two punts and an extra point – and neutralized one other fake punt.
 
Team Captains: Salisbury named four captains before the start of preseason camp: seniors Casey Counts and Joey Bildstein, along with juniors Jimmy Celentano and Tony Mason. Seniors Charles Barley, Connor Shephard, and Marquise Spriggs have also been named captains for the Kean game.
 
Drive for Five: A win over Kean and a Christopher Newport loss at TCNJ would clinch the Sea Gulls a share of their fifth straight NJAC championship and sixth overall (2015, 2019, spring 2021, 2021, 2022). SU's active four-title streak is tied for the third-longest in league history. Montclair State won a record six consecutive NJAC titles from 1981-86 and five straight from 1969-73, while Rowan (as Glassboro State) captured four in a row from 1974-77.
 
Anybody Got a Slide Rule? A narrow path exists for Salisbury to earn not just a share of the NJAC championship but the league's automatic bid into the NCAA Tournament. In addition to a Sea Gull victory over Kean and a CNU loss at TCNJ, SU would need Rowan to defeat William Paterson, which would set up a five-way tie for first place between Salisbury, CNU, TCNJ, Rowan, and Montclair State, all of whom would own 4-2 conference records.
 
Because all five teams in this scenario would have collectively gone 2-2 against each other, a five-way tie would trigger first-half point differential in head-to-head matchups between the first-place teams as the deciding tiebreaker. In this scenario, the Sea Gulls would win the tiebreaker and the NJAC automatic bid if TCNJ leads CNU anywhere between six and 33 points at halftime of that game.
 
All Aboard the B-Train: After missing the first four games of the season with an injury, Joey Bildstein hasn't lost a step in his return to the gridiron, rushing for 592 yards and an NJAC-leading 12 touchdowns over his first five games. With three more scores against McDaniel, Bilstein now has 10 career multi-touchdown games; he has also powered into the end zone at least once in nine straight NJAC contests.
 
A two-time All-NJAC First Team superback, Bildstein enters the Kean game with 2,792 career rushing yards, good for seventh in program history after surpassing Dwayne Humenik '85 (2,784) last week; he sits just one yard behind Randal Smedley '11 for sixth. Despite missing the first four games, Bildstein still ranks 19th in Division III in rushing touchdowns and 117th in rushing yards, anchoring an SU ground game that slots 30th in the nation at 210.9 yards per game.
 
Sea Gull Special (Teams): Salisbury is tied for first in the nation with eight blocked kicks – five extra points and three punts. The Sea Gulls also rank 20th nationally in kick return average (23.9) and 23rd in punt return average (15.1), with A.J. Butler slotting 18th individually with an average of 13.3 yards per punt return.
 
Ball Hawking: Salisbury ranks second in the nation in fumbles recovered (14), led by national co-leader Casey Counts with four. The Sea Gulls also rank 33rd nationally in turnovers gained (20) and 62nd in turnover margin (0.38).
 
Mr. 200: Salisbury's 35-20 win at Rowan on Oct. 21 was the 200th in the career of Salisbury head coach Sherman Wood. He became just the 12th active football coach across all levels of the NCAA to reach 200 career wins. Wood, who began his career at Bowie State in 1993 before arriving in Salisbury in 1999, joins a shortlist of college football's winningest bosses, including Alabama's Nick Saban, North Carolina's Mack Brown, and LSU's Brian Kelly.
 
The all-time winningest coach in Sea Gull football history with 180 victories, Wood has guided Salisbury to 19 postseason appearances (including 18 straight entering the 2023 season), 10 NCAA Tournament berths, and nine conference championships while producing 18 D3football.com All-Americans and 304 all-conference selections.
 
Scouting Kean: Kean is trying to avoid a winless season, having gone 0-9 overall and 0-5 in NJAC play. The Cougars endured one of their closest losses of the season last week, bowing to Rowan 16-6 at home. Six of KU's losses have come by margins between 10 and 16 points.
 
The Cougars went 3-7 in 2022, earning a pair of conference wins against Montclair State and TCNJ. Kean's last winning season came in 2016 when the team went 7-4 and won the ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl.
 
Freshman Christian Rando took over as starting quarterback in Week 7. Through five games overall, he has passed for 433 yards, three touchdowns, and two interceptions. Anthony Summey has netted 196 yards on the ground to lead the KU rushing game. Alex Bryant has been the Cougars' best receiver with team-highs in receptions (22), yards (379), and touchdowns (3).
 
Junior linebacker Raymond Gorny ranks second in the NJAC with 72 tackles (23 solo), including 3.5 tackles for loss. Tommie Lee Pierson has sacked the quarterback twice, while Robert Long, Jr. has picked off two passes.
 
If You Go: Fans are encouraged to purchase their tickets online to save time on the day of the game. The Sea Gull Stadium in-person ticket window will open at 6 p.m.
 
New ticket prices for the 2023-24 athletic year are $10 for general admission; $7 for non-SU students, SU alumni, veterans, and seniors aged 65-plus; and $5 for children ages 5-12. Children under five and SU students, faculty, and staff (with valid GullCard) can get in for free.
 
Fans are encouraged to park in the Wayne Street Parking Garage, located within walking distance of Sea Gull Stadium. Limited street parking is available on Wayne Street near Sea Gull Stadium, the Gerry DiBartolo Sea Gull Soccer Complex, the SU Track & Field Complex, and Donnie Williams Sea Gull Baseball Stadium.
 

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Salisbury University is a proud member of NCAA Division III with primary membership in the Coast-to-Coast Athletic Conference, along with the New Jersey Athletic Conference for football and men's and women's swimming, and the Coastal Lacrosse Conference for men's lacrosse. With over 500 student-athletes in 21 varsity sports, SU is recognized as one of the most competitive intercollegiate athletics programs regardless of division, featuring dedicated coaches and staff that foster excellence on and off the field. The Sea Gulls have celebrated 23 team national championships, 24 individual national champions, 196 conference championships, and 45 Academic All-Americans.

To Make Tomorrow Yours at Salisbury University, and learn more about Sea Gull Athletics' tradition of excellence, visit www.SUSeaGulls.com or follow on social media @SUSeaGulls.