Game Notes as a PDF

CHALLENGING AN OLD FOE
The second game of a two game road swing to start the 2008 season takes place on Saturday when the No. 20 nationally ranked Southern Connecticut State University football team heads to Bryant. The Owls are coming off a 26-21 victory at West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday in the season opener. The Bulldogs have made the jump up to the Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) from the Northeast-10 Conference. Last year, the teams met twice, with the Owls notching a pair of victories. The opening kickoff is set for 1 p.m from Bulldog Stadium. Fans can catch all of the action live with Don Boyle on the call at www.sportingnewsct.com, beginning with the pre-game show at 12:30.

MOVING ON UP IN THE POLLS
The Owls received more national recognition thanks to the win over West Virginia Wesleyan. SCSU jumped up four spots to No. 20 in the American Football Coaches Association poll and entered the www.d2football.com poll at No. 25 this week.

COMEBACK KIDS
Trailing by a point heading into the fourth quarter against West Virginia Wesleyan, the Owls rallied for a late touchdown to record the win. Last year, the team was 0-3 when trailing after three quarters of play.

NO BIG GUNS...NO PROBLEM
The Owls rallied against West Virginia Wesleyan without the services of several key performers. All-Conference picks Chris Bergeski, Eric Holter and Martin Manson all missed the entire contest, while All-American quarterback Steve Armstrong was forced from the game due to illness.

LYNCH STEPS INTO THE SPOTLIGHT
Redshirt freshman quarterback Kevin Lynch saw his first action as an Owl in relief of Steve Armstrong on Saturday, and he made it count. He finished 8-of-14 for 94 yards and threw for one touchdown - the eventual game-winning strike to Johnny Lee.

FREEMAN BACK TO HIS OLD WAYS
Junior tailback Jarom Freeman picked up right where he left off in 2007 in this year's season opener. He finished with 242 yards on 35 carries, while also scoring two touchdowns in the contest. It was Freeman's fourth career outing with at least 200 rushing yards.

SANDBERG HAS A DAY
Junior defensive back Kyle Sandberg stepped up in a big way on Saturday against West Virginia Wesleyan. He recorded three interceptions, six tackles and also recovered a fumble in the contest.

DUO HONORED BY NORTHEAST-10
For their play in the season opener, Kyle Sandberg and Jarom Freeman were both honored by the Northeast-10. Sandberg was named as the league's Defensive Player of the Week, while Freeman was tabbed to the weekly honor roll.

LYMON OFF TO A STRONG START
Senior captain Desmond Lymon helped pace the Owls defense in the opener against West Virginia Wesleyan. He tallied a team-high 10 tackles and two sacks in the victory.

IN THE NATIONAL PRESEASON POLLS
Thanks to another strong campaign in 2007, the Owls were ranked in three national preseason polls in 2008. Lindy's tabbed the Owls for No. 14 in their college football preview, while the Sporting News picked them No. 21. The club was also ranked No. 24 in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) preseason poll.

EVERYBODY'S ALL-AMERICANS
Three Owls earned preseason All-America honors heading into the 2008 campaign. Quarterback Steve Armstrong, running back Jarom Freeman and wide receiver Chris Bergeski all were tabbed as preseason All-Americans by Consensus Draft Services. In addition, Freeman was also named a preseason All-American by the Sporting News.

IN THE NORTHEAST-10 PRESEASON POLL
The Owls were selected as the preseason favorite to win the 2008 Northeast 10 title during the league's annual Media Day at Gillette Stadium on Aug. 5. It marked the second straight year that the Owls were named the preseason favorite.

SEASON STREAKS ON THE LINE
The Owls will look to maintain their standard of success as has been established in recent years. Coming into the 2008 season, SCSU has posted 14 straight seasons with records at or above .500 - the longest such streak in program history. In addition, the program has also recorded six straight campaigns with at least seven victories.

SLOW STARTS, STRONG FINISHES
In each of the past three seasons, the Owls have had to rally late in order to qualify for the post-season. SCSU started the 2005 season with a 1-2 mark before rolling off seven straight wins. In 2006, the Owls were 2-3 before winning the final five games of the regular season. Last year, the Owls were also 2-3 before winning the final six games of the regular season.

FAMILIAR FACES ALL AROUND
Twenty starters are back for the Owls from last year's NCAA playoff squad. Included in that group are nine All-Conference selections - Steve Armstrong, Jarom Freeman, Chris Bergeski, Craig Toulouse, Martin Manson, Desmond Lymon, Eric Holter, Carlos Agosto and Ed Peters.

HIT THE TARGET
Five players who tallied at least 10 receptions in 2007 are back for the Owls this fall - Chris Bergeski (63), Johnny Lee (61), Ty Marshall (38), Tom Cerny (16) and Jarom Freeman (11).

TACKLE HAPPY
Seven of SCSU's top nine tacklers from a season ago also return in 2007, including Andrew Pratt, who led the club with 97 a year ago. Jaliem Cuttino (94), Chris Lorenti (82), Desmond Lymon (66), Rossi Patterson (66) and Mike Campbell (65) also all ranked among the team leaders in that department a year ago.

THE CAPTAINS
Steve Armstrong, Chris Lorenti, Desmond Lymon and Ed Peters will serve as team captains for the Owls in 2008.

STANDING ABOVE THE REST
Steve Armstrong was also named the 2007 ECAC Division II Player of the Year and captured the Gold Helmet Award as the top Division II/III player in New England.

MATCHING A LEVEL OF SUCCESS
The Owls matched a school record with nine wins in 2007. In addition, they matched or set 21 other records during the course of the campaign.

FIRST THINGS FIRST
Last year's win over Bryant was the first NCAA playoff win for the Owls in program history.

ESTABLISHING A NEW HIGH
The Owls played a school record 13 games in 2007. SCSU had never played more than 11 games in a season coming into the year.

ARMSTRONG MAKING A MARK
Steve Armstrong set new single-season marks for passing yards, completions and touchdown passes during the 2007 season. He finished the year with 3,280 passing yards, which broke his old mark of 2,950. Armstrong also moved past Mike Abate's single-season mark and finished with 31 touchdown passes. Lastly, Armstrong finished with 230 completions on the year, which broke Kevin Dickinson's old mark of 202. He also set a new record for career passing yards and now has 8,150 yards.

GROUND GAME WAS GREAT
The Owls surpassed the old mark for rushing yardage in a season (formerly 2,667 yards) and finished with 3,113 yards.

FOUR OWLS NAMED ALL-REGION
Quarterback Steve Armstrong, tailback Jarom Freeman, wide receiver Chris Bergeski and offensive lineman Patrick Gildea took home Daktronics All-Northeast Region honors.

FIVE SELECTED AS ALL-ECAC
Steve Armstrong, Jarom Freeman, Patrick Gildea, Ed Peters and Martin Manson were named All-ECAC selections for their play during the 2007 season.

TWO EARN ALL-NEW ENGLAND HONORS
Quarterback Steve Armstrong and tailback Jarom Freeman were both named to the New England Football Writers' Division II-III All-New England team.

TWELVE OWLS NAMED ALL-CONFERENCE
A dozen players took home All-Northeast-10 year-end honors when the official announcement came from the league office. Steve Armstrong was selected as the conference's Most Valuable Player and also earned First-Team All-League honors. Joining Armstrong on the First-Team were Jarom Freeman, Ed Peters, Pat Gildea and Martin Manson. Seven players also took Second-Team honors - Carlos Agosto, Chris Bergeski, Tyrell Escoffrey, Robert Felder, Eric Holter, Desmond Lymon and Craig Toulouse.

ARMSTRONG A FINALIST FOR HARLON HILL AWARD
Junior quarterback Steve Armstrong was named as one of 24 finalists for the 2007 Harlon Hill Award, given annually to the top Division II player in the nation.

THROW THE BALL TO BERGESKI
Chris Bergeski became just the fourth wide receiver in program history reach the 1,000 yards receiving mark. Bergeski finished with 1,073 yards on the year. He joined Jim Lukowiak (1,311 in 2005), Jeff Cupe (1,051 in 2002) and Chris Ortiz (1,021 in 1994).

NEW LEADER AT THE TOP
Jarom Freeman set a new single-season program rushing record in 2007 after rushing for 1,906 yards.

HOME IS WHERE THE HEART IS
SCSU has posted an 17-4 (.810) record at Jess Dow Field over the past four seasons.

NINE TIMES THE FUN
SCSU was 9-0 in 2007 when scoring at least 40 points, and was also 9-0 when meriting under 30 in a contest.

THAT'S A GOOD COMBINATION
The Owls went nearly two years without two wide receivers each amassing more than 100 receiving yards in a game. However last year, the duo of junior wide receivers Johnny Lee and Chris Bergeski did it twice. Bergeski had 110 yards and Lee 105 in a win over C.W. Post. Then, in the regular season finale against St. Anselm, Bergeski tallied 147 yards, and Lee, a career-high 144. Prior to that, the last time that two SCSU receivers had more than 100 yards in the same game was Jim Lukowiak (220) and Jamel Lewis (114) against Bryant on Nov. 5, 2005.

SPREADING THE WORD NEAR AND FAR
Jarom Freeman's 418-yard rushing performance against Bryant on Nov. 2 was featured as the No. 5 play of the day on Sportscenter's Top Plays on Nov. 2. He was also featured on ESPNews and was mentioned in several national publications including the San Diego Union Tribune, San Antonio Express-News, Houston Chronicle, San Jose Mercury News and Dallas Morning News. Freeman's tally was a new NCAA Division II record and ranks fourth all-time in NCAA history.

FREEMAN TOOK HOME THE HARDWARE
Jarom Freeman earned plenty of honors after his record-setting performance against Bryant. He was named National Player of the Week by three media outlets – www.d2football.com, the College Sports Report and Don Hansen's Football Gazette. Freeman was also awarded with a Gold Helmet honor by the New England College Football Writers Association and the Boston Globe. He was also named Northeast-10 Conference and ECAC Offensive Player of the Week.

REWRITING THE RECORD BOOK
It took only eight games into his junior season, but Steve Armstrong has distinguished himself as the most prolific touchdown passer in program history. He threw three against C.W. Post on Oct. 20 to give him 54 career touchdown tosses. The record of 53 was previously held by Mike Abate and Kevin Dickinson. Armstrong has 69 career touchdown passes.

CENTURY CLUB PLUS TWO
The Owls accomplished a rare feat on Oct. 27 of last year against Stonehill when running backs Jarom Freeman and John Wiechman each broke the 100-yard mark in the same game. Freeman had 123 yards on 21 carries, while Wiechman had 118 yards on 12 carries.

LEE DID THE JOB
Wide receiver Johnny Lee was second on the Owls with 61 receptions last season and more than quadrupled his reception total from 2006, when he caught 14 passes.

PRATT TOPS THE PACK AGAIN
Andrew Pratt finished as the team leader in tackles for the second straight year in 2007. He concluded the season with 97 tackles. In 2006, Pratt led the Owls with 54 tackles.

CUTTINO TAKES IT TO A NEW LEVEL
Jaliem Cuttino responded to an increased role on the defensive side of the ball in 2007. After tallying just seven tackles in 2006, he finished with 94 in 2007, which was second on the team.

ARMSTRONG REMAINED CONSISTENT
Steve Armstrong threw for more than 200 yards 11 of 13 outings on the season in 2007. In addition, he tossed at least two touchdown passes in 11 of 13 games.

OWLS OFFENSE CLICKED
SCSU tallied at least 30 points in 11 of 13 games last season, and averaged 38.4 points per game.

ON DECK
The Owls return to action on Sept. 12 for the home opener against American International. Game time is set for 7 p.m. at Jess Dow Field.