Wildcats Host Marist For Homecoming Saturday

Davidson Wildcats (0-6, 0-3 PFL) vs. Marist Red Foxes (3-3, 2-1 PFL)

Date: Oct. 19 - 1 p.m.

Site: Richardson Stadium (4,500 capacity) - Davidson, N.C.

Audio: Mark Plemmons and Lenny Batyicki call the action on the Davidson Radio Network (WHIP 1350 AM, Mi-Connection Ch. 4 -TV, online at DavidsonWildcats.com and mobile with the TuneIn Radio App Android | iTunes)

Video: DavidsonWildcats.com

Web sites: Davidson (DavidsonWildcats.com), Marist (GoRedFoxes.com)

Tickets | Game Notes | Live Audio | Live Video | Live Stats | Live Twitter Updates | Buy Davidson Photos | Coach's Show
Promotions | Like Davidson Football on Facebook | Follow Davidson Football on Twitter

Saturday's Game
• Davidson hosts Marist for homecoming, Saturday at 1 p.m. in Richardson Stadium.
• Dr. Bill Winkenwerder '76 will be honored with the Hendrix Award, which is presented annually to a Davidson football letterman who, by the use of lessons learned on the playing field, has gone on to achieve outstanding success in his chosen profession.
• It's also Military Appreciation Day. Phi Delta Theta will be presenting a check from their "Phis for G.I.s" fundraising efforts to U.S. Armed Forces.
• Senior QB Jonathan Carkhuff ranks as Davidson's career leader in passing yards (10,091), attempts (1,616), completions (980) and completion percentage (60.7%). His completion and attempts totals are also PFL records.
• He is 20 completions shy of becoming the first Davidson or Pioneer Football League quarterback to complete 1,000 passes in a career.
• He leads all active FCS players in career pass attempts and completions and ranks third in both in all of NCAA football. He also is ranked second among FCS' active career passing yards leaders and sixth in the NCAA.
• A Davidson win would end a seven-game losing streak dating back to last season, and an eight-game home losing streak.
• Andre Carelock '01 is serving as an honorary team captain for Davidson. He ranks eighth all-time at Davidson with 18 career sacks, shares the record for most tackles for loss in a season of 21.0 with Bo Henderson '01 and ranks fifth all-time with 34.0 career tackles for loss.
• Marist has PFL wins at Dayton (31-20) and vs. Valpo (37-0), and nearly defeated San Diego on the road, but lost 35-33 on a last second field goal.
• The 'Cats were picked ninth in the PFL preseason poll while Marist was picked sixth.

Series Record
• The Red Foxes lead the all-time series, 4-1, and have been victorious in their three visits to Richardson Stadium.
• The first four games in the series were decided by eight points or less.
• Last season, Davidson linebacker Patrick Moynahan made a school-record 22 tackles but Marist fended off a late Davidson rally to hang on for a 34-21 win.
• A Davidson touchdown with 5:31 remaining pulled the Wildcats within two scores, and then on Marist's next possession, AJ Pignone came in unblocked to sack Marist quarterback Chuckie Looney and force a fumble that was recovered by Davidson's Weston Hawkins at the Marist 13-yard line with 4:03 remaining. Attempting to pull within a touchdown, a scramble by quarterback Jonathan Carkhuff moved the 'Cats inside the 10-yard line, but Carkhuff's fourth-down pass bounced off the intended receiver as he was hit by a defender in the end zone, and it was intercepted by Paul Sakowski at the one-yard line.
• Looney and receiver Mike Rios connected on three touchdown plays. Looney completed 17-of-26 passes for 403 yards and four touchdowns, while Rios made eight catches for 244 yards and three touchdowns.
• Carkhuff completed 25-of-45 pass attempts for Davidson for 274 yards and was intercepted twice. Chris Trinetti was his top target with four receptions for 36 yards and Reese Williams led the team with 59 yards receiving and scored a touchdown.

Scouting Marist
• Marist is 3-3 and shared two common opponents with Davidson so far this season. The Red Foxes defeated Georgetown and Dayton on the road in September, but the Wildcats fell to both teams on the road.
• Marist's offense ranks 7th in the PFL with 377.8 yards per game, while the defense ranks fourth allowing 369.0 yards per game. Davidson is 11th (318.5) and 10th (476.2), respectively.
• Atiq Lucas leads Marist's rushers with 52.3 yards per game and ranks 10th in the PFL. Senior QB Chuckie Looney ranks fourth in the PFL with 239.7 yards per game, and has a league best 15 touchdowns with just three interceptions. WR Armani Martin is tied for seventh in the conference with 4.7 receptions per game and is ninth with 71.0 receiving yards per game.
• DB Nick Kaszei is tied for fourth in the PFL and tied for first at his position with 9.5 tackles per game. He also has two interceptions. DL Terrence Fede is tied for the PFL lead with 6.0 sacks and ranks in a tie for third with 1.25 tackles for loss per game.

Last Time Out
• A pair of second-half rushing touchdowns by Gary Scott and a strong defensive effort secured a 27-6 victory for Drake over Davidson last Saturday in Richardson Stadium.
• Davidson had a chance early in the second half to take the lead, receiving the kickoff and driving 68 yards to the Drake 2-yardline, but John Bloss broke up Jonathan Carkhuff's 4th-and-goal pass in the end zone. The Bulldogs then took over on downs and drove 98 yards on 20 plays, eating up the remainder of the third quarter, before Scott rushed into the end zone from 5 yards out for a 19-6 lead. Scott then added a 6-yard touchdown run with 7:58 remaining in the game for the final margin.
• Carkhuff became the first Davidson quarterback to throw for over 10,000 yards, completing 20 of 35 passes for 228 yards and a touchdown. Will Morris caught six passes for 84 yards and a touchdown, while senior Jeff McDaniels caught a career-high seven passes for 85 yards.
• Andy Rice completed 26 of 34 passes for 278 yards and two touchdowns with one interception for Drake. Nick Rosa had nine catches for 108 yards and a touchdown. In addition to his two touchdowns, Scott led a strong rushing attack, carrying the ball 26 times for 110 yards.
• The Wildcats had one opportunity to get back in the game in the fourth quarter, but an 11-play, 65-yard drive stalled out at the Drake 10 on 4th-and-3. Drake was then able to run out the clock.
• Davidson went to the locker room at halftime trailing by a touchdown after Myles Atkins' second interception of the season setup a late scoring drive. Down 13-0, Atkins picked off Rice near midfield and returned it 33 yards to the Drake 18, but was too exuberant celebrating, resulting in a 15-yard penalty after the play. The extra distance did not phase Carkhuff though, who went over 10,000 career passing yards with a 6-yard pass to AJ Pignone, and following an 8-yard pass to Garrett Diehl, connected with Morris on a 19-yard touchdown pass. The extra point attempt was blocked though, and Drake took a 13-6 lead into the locker room.

Jonathan Carkhuff Rewrites the Record Books
• Quarterback Jonathan Carkhuff has 36 career starts and Davidson owns a 9-27 record when he starts.
• Carkhuff is Davidson's career leader in passing yards (10,091), attempts (1,616), completions (980) and completion percentage (60.7%). His completion and attempts totals are also PFL records.
• He became the first Davidson quarterback to pass for 10,000 yards in a career vs. Drake on Oct. 12, 2013.
• He is 20 completions shy of becoming the first Davidson or Pioneer Football League quarterback to complete 1,000 passes in a career.
• He leads all FCS active players in career attempts and completions and ranks third in all of NCAA football. He is ranked second among FCS' active career passing yards leaders behind Eastern Illinois' Jimmy Garoppolo (10,465) and sixth in all NCAA football. The PFL career passing yard record is 11,230 yards set by Jacksonville's Josh McGregor (2008-11). To break that record before the end of the regular season, Carkhuff will need to average 227.8 yards per game to total 1,139 more yards.
• To equal the career record of 72 TD passes set by Ryan Alexander '09 by the end of the regualr season, Carkhuff will need to average 3.6 TD passes per game for the rest of the season. He presently has 54 to rank second all-time.
• Carkhuff holds the single-game records for most passing yards (459), most completions (41), completion percentage (78.7%) and longest touchdown pass (99).
• He also holds the season records for most completions (348), passing attempts (556 - also a PFL record), passing yards (3,326) and completion percentage (62.6%).
• Of the 17 350+ passing yard games in Davidson histroy, Carkhuff has eight.
• He is working in his third offensive system in four years.

Taking Care of the Football
• After throwing two interceptions in the season opener at Georgetown, Jonathan Carkhuff went three consecutive games (vs. L-R, at JCSU, at Morehead State) without throwing an interception for the first time since his freshman season.
• His career long streak of 164 pass attempts without an interception was snapped in his final pass attempt at Dayton when Chris Beaschler returned an interception 42 yards for a touchdown.
• Davidson has only had an unfavorable turnover margin in two games, and is even for the year.

Youth Movement
• Of the 56 slots on the 2-deep, 28 are occupied by underclassmen, including 11 in first-team roles.
• The defensive side of the chart is the youngest with 18 of 28 slots occupied by underclassmen.

PFL and NCAA FCS Leaders
• QB Jonathan Carkhuff is third in the PFL and 19th in the country with 268.7 yards per game. He also ranks fifth in the PFL and 23rd in the country with 20.83 completions per game.
• WR William Morris ranks third in the league and eighth in FCS with 105.2 receiving yards per game. He also ranks second in the league and 34th in the country with 5.7 receptions per game.
• LB Matt Casey ranks second in the PFL and 12th in FCS with 10.5 tackles per game.
• KR Garrett Diehl ranks third in the PFL averaging 24.4 yards per kickoff return.
• Amongst defensive linemen, Chris Woods is second in the PFL with 5.2 tackles per game, while DB Myles Atkins ranks fourth at his position with 7.3 tackles a game.

Converts
• Davidson features several players in drastically different roles on the field.
• A.J. Pignone and Robert Klein have both moved from the defensive side of the ball to running back. Pignone was a starting outside linebacker and had his first 100-yard rushing game at Johnson C. Smith earlier this season. Klein had previously been a defensive back.
• Chris Gorman was Davidson's starting running back until an injury ended his season in just the fourth game last season. Unable to continue his football career at running back, he has taken over the Wildcats' kicking duties. Tyler Hickey, a wide receiver, also assists with kicking duties.
• Freshman QB John Cook had no idea he would be called upon to punt at Davidson, but he has seen the majority of long snaps on fourth down and posted a career long punt of 57 yards at Johnson C. Smith. Senior wide receiver Jeff McDaniels also assists with the punting duties, and posted a career long punt of 59 yards at Dayton.

Weekly Honors
• Kick returner Garrett Diehl (at Morehead State), wide receiver William Morris (at Johnson C. Smith) and tight end Reese Williams (vs. Lenoir-Rhyne) have all been honored with College Football Performance Awards this season, earning weekly honorable mention player of the week recognition at their respective positions.
• Recipients are selected exclusively based upon objective scientific rankings of the extent to which individual players increase the overall effectiveness of their teams.

Just One Agenda
• From team gear to posters to Twitter, the motto "Just One Agenda" (JOA) can be found throughout the Davidson football program. The agenda is, of course, to win, but to win not only on the field, but in the classroom, community and socially, as well.

Honor Committee
• Another change in leadership for this year's squad is amongst the players themselves. Instead of team captains that were typically juniors and seniors, Nichols has instituted an "honor committee" comprised of two representatives from each class (three for the freshmen as there was a tie in voting).
• Reese Williams and Dan Casey represent the senior class, AJ Pignone and Trey Huelskamp represent the juniors, Chris Woods and David Rogers represent the sophomores, and Dustin Atchley, Nate Casey and Ryan Leak represent the freshmen.
• The committee is tasked with handling discipline issues, representing the team in the community and serving as liaisons to the coaching staff to deal with issues ranging from team meals to equipment.
• Team captains will be selected on a per game basis based on leadership and performance, and a captain of the offense, defense and special teams will be voted on at the end of the season based on leadership demonstrated.

2013 Game Captains
• Week 1: Jonathan Carkhuff, Ben Prater, Chris Gorman, Tom Abernethy; Mike Sheridan '79
• Week 2: Reese Williams, Colin Merrill, James Gessner and Caleb Krause; John Giles '68
• Week 3: Matt Casey, Martell Campbell, John Cook, William Morris; Mills Ariail '94
• Week 4: Nate Larsen, Bryant Bednarek, A.J. Pignone, Trey Huelskamp; Steve Harvey
• Week 5: Jeff McDaniels, Chris Woods, Ethan Corcoran and Michael Corbett; John Webel '74
• Week 6: Jeff McDaniels, Robert Klein, John Cook and Ryan Leak; Steve Heckard '65

Calendar

Upcoming Events

Recent Results