DOYLESTOWN (PA) – The Delaware Valley University football team, ranked 13^th in the country in the latest D3Football.com polls is set to do battle against 22^nd ranked Wesley College in its 2019 home opener on Saturday, September 14. Kickoff at Robert A. Lipinski Field is slated for 1 p.m.

The Aggies will look to ride the momentum of last Friday's 37-7 triumph over Kean University in the season opener, but will have to halt a Wolverines squad that also impressed in week one with a 69-0 win over Franklin Pierce.  Saturday's game in Doylestown is one of only two Division III games featuring a pair of top-25 teams, and the only game of such stature in the east region.

DelVal and Wesley have met 11 times on the gridiron with Wesley holding a slight 6-5 edge in victories. This is the fourth consecutive year the two squads will meet, and each season has been a battle of top-25 teams. DelVal claimed upset victories in 2016 and 2017, the first of which was a 21-14 win in Dover followed the next year by a 24-19 triumph at home. Last season, Wesley came out on top in a 34-10 rain-soaked affair that also included 85 minutes of weather delays.

After that game, the Wolverines stumbled through the rest of the 2018 season and finished 7-4 overall and 5-4 in the New Jersey Athletic Conference (NJAC). They placed sixth in the conference and faced Westminster in the ECAC Clayton Chapman Bowl where they came out on top, 42-14.

The Aggies went the opposite way after last season's defeat. They went on to win nine straight games including eight Middle Atlantic Conference (MAC) games to win their second straight conference championship and get into the NCAA Playoffs. DelVal hosted Muhlenberg in round one and dropped a close contest, 20-13.
 
SCOUTING THE AGGIES

Last Friday at Kean, the defense got the night started as sophomore defensive end Michael Nobile, fresh off his 2018 All-American campaign got into the backfield and recorded a safety to put DelVal up, 2-0. After the ensuing punt, senior quarterback Anthony Fontana hit his full back Nate Pauls down the middle of the field for a 50-yard score. The Aggies scored two more times in the first half and tacked on another pair of touchdowns in the second half before the Cougars finally got on the board in the waning minutes of regulation to spoil the shutout, 37-7.

The defense allowed just 126 yards of total offense including -9 yards rushing on 23 attempts. The unit features 10 returning starts from a year ago and transfer corner back Justin Harris who recorded an interception and a 44-yard return at Kean. Leading the way up front are the Nobile twins, Anthony and Michael, along with senior nose guard Kenyonn Jones. Michael was named the MAC Defensive Player of the Year and an All-American after recording 33.5 tackles for loss and a school record 15.5 sacks. Last week, he led the team in tackles with eight and 6.5 came behind the line of scrimmage. The linebacker corps features three seniors and a junior, two of which, Vincent DiLeo and Anthony Tedesco, were all-conference performers in 2018.

Offensively, Fontana has taken the reigns at quarterback after backing up all-conference quarterback Dashawn Darden for two seasons. Fontana was stellar in his first career start as he completed 6-of-8 passes for 205 yards and three touchdown passes. He also ran for one score and led the team with 90 rushing yards on 10 carries.

Two of Fontana's touchdowns were hauled in by returning All-American tight end Dan Allen. The senior caught three passes on Friday night for 97 yards including touchdowns of 22 and 59 yards.

Senior Juwan Manigo and junior Aaron Nelson are the outside receivers. Nelson suffered a season-ending injury in week four last season and hauled in a 31 yard reception at Kean. Manigo had a strong junior campaign and recorded two catches for 56 yards in the opener.

DelVal returns its backfield trio of seniors Mario Nigro and Quadir Strothers, and junior Donte Simmons that combined for 227 carries, over 400 yards apiece, and eight touchdowns in 2018. Nigro got the bulk of the carries at Kean with 11 attempts and he found pay dirt once despite just 24 yards in the game. Strothers rushed for 28 yards on six carries and Simmons got three carries for 16 yards.

A win on Saturday would be the 50^th in the career of sixth-year Head Coach Duke Greco who currently owns a 49-9 overall mark and is 17 wins away from becoming the program's all-time leader in wins.

SCOUTING THE WOLVERINES

Wesley started its 2019 campaign much like the Aggies did with a safety as its first scoring play of the year. From there, the Wolverines found the end zone on each of its next seven possessions to take a 51-0 lead at halftime.

On the defense, 29 different players recorded at least one tackle in the opener led by five from junior linebacker Dante Daniel. Sophomore linebacker Tommy Tanner notched 2.5 tackles for loss including 1.5 sacks as the Wolverines got to the quarterback for four sacks in total. Senior safety Coray Williams, who had eight tackles against DelVal last season, had the lone takeaway in the game with an interception.

Junior quarterback David Marrocco leads the offense this year and he played well in his first start for the Wolverines in week one. He threw for four touchdowns and completed 13-of-16 passes for 166 yards.

Senior tailback E.J. Lee returns this season and is coming off a 73-yard performance on 12 carries in the opener. Five different players scored rushing touchdowns in week one including junior running back Abe Mansaray who finished with 58 yards on nine carries.

The receiving corps is led by returning wide out Ruhann Peele. The senior caught 12 passes for 134 yards and three scores last week.