In his high school days, Matha was a standout athlete at McDowell before going to Pitt./Photo by Jack Hanrahan/Erie Times-News

Transferred. Injured. Ineligible.

Senior right tackle Dan Matha has had his share of obstacles, but is once again a force on the field in helping No. 22-ranked Indiana (Pa.) boast one of the top rushing teams in NCAA Division II.

” It’s a great feeling,” Matha said. “It’s been a lot of bumps along the way. Haven’t always been healthy. So to finally be healthy. It’s a weight off my shoulders.

“To be able to play and do the things I know I’m capable of doing. Not really being hindered by an injury or pain or anything, it’s long overdue.”

With the 6-foot, 7-inch, 290-pound Matha helping clear space to run free, the Crimson Hawks (5-1, 2-1 PSAC West) are seventh nationally in rushing and have the nation’s second-leading rusher in senior Harvie Tuck.

“We vote every week in the offensive meeting room which side of the line did better,” Tuck said. “The right side has been getting a lot of wins. Probably four out of the six weeks, they’ve won and I think part of it is because of Dan.”

It wasn’ t that long ago Matha, an McDowell High graduate, was at Pitt wondering if he’d ever become healthy enough to even compete for a starting spot, let alone play.

Read the rest of this entry »

Gannon University heads into Saturday’s PSAC West rivalry game at Edinboro University with an 0-6 record against the Fighting Scots (2-2, 1-1).

The Knights (1-4, 0-2) have dropped four straight games to Edinboro since joining the PSAC. Check out players and coaches from both sides talk about the upcoming showdown at Sox Harrison Stadium.

Gannon University and Edinboro Universiy have their share of local athletes who will play in Saturday’s PSAC West rivalry game between the Knights and Scots at Sox Harrison Stadium in Edinboro.

See what Edinboro senior Shawn Walker, who played at General McLane High School, and Gannon senior Ashton Jones, who played at Strong Vincent High School, have to say about that aspect of this game.

Akeem Satterfield played his final college game in his hometown last Saturday as Slippery Rock lost at Mercyhurst, 38-23./Photo by Christopher Millette/Erie Times-News

Mercyhurst’s 38-23 PSAC West win against Slippery Rock was more than just a homecoming win for the Lakers.

It was Akeem Satterfield’s his final college game in his hometown.

An Erie native, Satterfield ran for 90 yards for the Rock in the loss. Satterfield, who played for Cathedral Prep, is one of four players from Erie playing for Slippery Rock this season.

“It’s bittersweet. man,” Satterfield said. “Bittersweet. Played a good game, but we didn’t win. So that’s just it. Wish it would have turned out the other way, but it didn’t.”

To add insult to injury, no pun intended, Satterfield also hurt his shoulder in the first half, but returned to the game.

“Oh man, I had a real bad stinger,” he said. “I couldn’t feel anything. I thought my shoulder was dislocated, but it was just a stinger.”

This season, Satterfield is eighth in the PSAC in rushing with 361 yards and two touchdowns. He is sixth in career touchdowns at Slippery Rock with 33, eighth in scoring with 198 points and 10th all-time in rushing with 2,575 yards.

The Rock also have three players out of Strong Vincent High in junior receiver Bobby Joyce, senior defensive back Marquis Knight and sophomore defensive back Kevin Green, a transfer from Edinboro.

In Saturday’s loss, Joyce had two catches for 25 yards and Knight had eight total tackles. According to the participation chart, Green didn’t play.

A new NCAA rule made Scots coach Scott Browning change his strategy in last week's 24-14 home loss to No. 6-ranked California (Pa.)./Josh Barber/Erie Times-News

In preparing for last week’s home opener against No. 6-ranked California (Pa.), the Edinboro coaches made a decision to go for it on 4th-and-short if put in that situation against the Vulcans.

“We had decided on Wednesday that if we were 4th-and-2 or less, we  were going to go for it,” Edinboro coach Scott Browning said Monday. “That was a staff decision.”

He didn’t know at the time the NCAA’s new rule in which players must sit out a play if their helmets come off would make him go against he and his staff’s thinking.

Down 10-7 on its second offensive series of the second half, Edinboro had a 4th-and-2 situation at the Cal 29. Junior quarterback Cody Harris put the Scots in this position with a 5-yard run on third down.

Harris also lost his helmet.

So instead of bringing in a new quarterback or even calling a timeout to get Harris back in the game, Browning elected to try a 46-yard field goal that Sean Seefeldt missed.

Now Browning says Seefeldt, a freshman from Newfane,  N.Y., has made field goals from that distance in practice.

“He’s been hitting them left and right, now,” Browning said. “He’s had a lot of success hitting them. That was not a stretch by no means.”

However, Harris losing his helmet impacted the decision.

Read the rest of this entry »

After having an extra week to prepare for the 2012 season, Edinboro University will play its opener Saturday at No. 19-ranked Bloomsburg.

Out of the PSAC West, the Scots are playing an PSAC East power in Bloomsburg, which opened its season with a 44-28 win at Stonehill College.

After playing four years against Gannon as a quarterback at Lake Erie College (Ohio), Sean Bedevelsky will coach against the Knights this year as a graduate assistant at Mercyhurst./Jack Hanrahan/ETN.

Mercyhurst has two graduate assistants this season who know just a little bit about college football in this area.

Lakers graduate assistant Jordan Krentz never lost to Gannon in his four years playing at Edinboro./ Christopher Millette/ETN.

Jordan Krentz finished his senior season at Edinboro with 28 tackles in 2011 while Sean Bedevelsky played against Gannon four straight seasons while at Lake Erie College (Ohio).

Although they’re graduate assistants, each bring a different knowledge of the PSAC to the table. Krentz has played against every team in the PSAC West outside of Edinboro, but his knowledge of the Scots is greater because he played for them.

As for Bedevelsky, he did something last season that Mercyhurst hasn’t done in two years — beat Gannon. The Storm upset the Knights 13-10 in Painesville, Ohio.  Lake Erie College had never beaten Gannon in its previous three tries.

The Knights and Storm meet again Aug. 30 at Gannon University Field.

As for Krentz, the Scots went 4-0 against the Gannon, 2-2 against Mercyhurst in his four years of playing there. Redshirted in 2007, Krentz had 71 career tackles at Edinboro.

A four-year starter, Bedevelsky played for Mark McNellie,  a longtime assistant at Mercyhurst who built the Lake Erie College football program from scratch.

As a senior, Bedevelsky threw for 2,179 yards, 13 touchdowns and six interceptions and was the team’s second-leading rusher with 535 yards and a team-best 12 touchdowns.

A Murrysville native, Krentz received his degree in Sports Administration while Bedevelsky, who is from Brunswick, Ohio, graduated with a degree in Sports Management.

Former University of Iowa linebacker Bruce Davis will play for Edinboro this season, Scots coach Scott Browning confirmed this morning. Edinboro opens the season Sept. 8 at PSAC East power Bloomsburg.

Last season, Iowa coach Kirk Ferentz said Davis, an Cleveland, Ohio, native left the Hawkeyes last season for “personal reasons” three games into the 2011 season.

Davis, who attended Glenville High, which has become known for producing NCAA Division I talent, had an ACL knee injury against Arizona three games into the 2010 season and missed the rest of the year.

The 6-foot, 232-pound Davis had 25 tackles in his 25 career games at Iowa. Known for his play on special teams, Davis played three games in each of his last two years with the Hawkeyes.

Davis, 23, was scheduled to graduate in December of last year. His major was Interdepartmental Studies.

– Duane Rankin

Edinboro University head coach Scott Browning and seniors Branden Williams and Kenny Pettis talk about the Scots being picked to finish fourth in the PSAC West at today’s PSAC West media day in Slippery Rock.

Get all the basics in one place — rosters, game notes, season results, videos and more — for the eight teams competing in the Division II Women’s Basketball Atlantic Regional at Edinboro:

No. 3 Edinboro

No. 21 Indiana (Pa.)

No. 22 Gannon

No. 25 Bloomsburg

West Chester

Johnson C. Smith

Shaw

West Virginia Wesleyan

Get live stats from all games, and watch Edinboro games online or listen at WFSE-FM/88.9 FM. Friday’s noon Gannon game is available on WJET-AM/1400

West Chester will have a courtside live chat going Friday at 2:15 p.m.

Previews:

Seniors power Edinboro

Edinboro photo gallery

Regional quarterfinal game previews

Gannon light on postseason experience, but not talent

Gannon photo gallery

Division II national bracket