(Posted September 16, 2002)

The FDU-Florham Devils most likely came into their game against the Juniata Eagles worrying about the right arm of sophomore quarterback and reigning MAC rookie of the year Greg Troutman. It turned out, the Devils should have been worrying about his legs.

Troutman rushed for a team-leading 74 yards and two touchdowns, along with going 25-46 for 263 yards passing and another touchdown as Juniata defeated FDU-Florham 30-13 and started the season 2-0 for the first time since 1987.

"Obviously we are very happy for our kids," Head Coach Kevin Burke stated. "We push them hard in practice all week, and we push them hard during the games, so that hopefully they can have the very nice feeling of winning games."

The Eagles have won both their games displaying a versatile offense. In week one, Craig Moshier led the attack with 107 yards rushing. This week it was Troutman doing the job, both through the air and on the ground.

"We know we have the ability to change the game plan based on how a team is trying to defend us," Burke explained. "We have the athletes at the skill positions to be able to do a lot of different things, so we're going to make adjustments to help us get the job done."

After both teams were unable to get on the scoreboard in the first quarter, Troutman put Juniata on top with a two-yard touchdown run after Juniata started the drive on the FDU 16 yard line following a botched punt.

FDU bounced right back with a five-play 80-yard drive capped by an Ed Cracchiolo touchdown run.

Juniata moved back in front with on a 2-yard TD run by John Boyer Jr, the first touchdown of his career. A missed extra point left the score at 13-7 Eagles.

Again FDU responded, this time on a 93-yard run by Cracchiolo, which broke the record for the longest run from scrimmage by a FDU player. The previous record of 88 yards was also held by Cracchiolo, which he did last year against Juniata. Juniata blocked the extra point to leave the game tied at 13.

The Juniata defense then got stingy, and the offense continued to roll as Troutman threw a 39-yard touchdown pass to another freshman Chase Steffy, and then capped the scoring with another run to the end zone for himself, this one from four yards out.

The Eagles defense got into a groove following the long Cracchiolo run. FDU managed only 57 yards of offense for the rest of the second half.

"Our defense right now is putting enough pressure on teams that we are forcing them into mistakes," Burke said. "We are also tackling extremely well which has been a big key for us. They tried to make some adjustments, which were good moves, but we were also able to adjust and continue to pressure them."

That pressure defense forced three FDU interceptions and resulted in five sacks for a total of 46 lost yards for the Devils. Matt Wharton and Fred Taber each had a pair of sacks, and Bill Bishop, Steven Parsons and Paul Evans each had a pick.

Offensively the Eagles racked up 469 yards of total offense. Along with Troutman's 74 yards rushing, Craig Moshier and Paul Kozick tallied 55 and 51 yards respectively on the ground. Andrew Raup led the pass catchers with 115 yards receiving.

The win moves Juniata to 2-0 overall, and 1-0 in MAC play. The 1987 Eagles who were the last group to start a season 2-0 ended the year with a 7-3 record.

Game Notes:
Freshman linebacker Peter Thomas led the Eagles in tackles with nine. It was the second week in a row the freshman has recorded the most tackles for Juniata. FDU's Matt DeNardo led all players with 16 tackles. Troutman's 74 yards rushing was the third highest total of his career. His two rushing touchdowns matched his career best. Raup's 115 receiving yards was a career best for a single game. His previous single-game high was 40 yards, which he recorded in the 2000 season finale.

Our readers respond...

Be the first to provide a response.

Contact April Feagley at feaglea@juniata.edu or (814) 641-3131 for more information.