DOYLESTOWN (Pa.) – The Delaware Valley University football team will make its sixth-straight appearance in the NCAA Division III Playoffs when it hosts Union College in the opening round on Saturday, September 18. Kickoff at Robert A. Lipinski Field in Doylestown is set for 12 p.m.
For those heading to the game, tickets will be $10 for adults and $5 for students with college ID while parking for all vehicles is $5. All payments at DelVal are cash only. All tickets must be purchased at the ticket booth on game day.
If you cannot make it, you can catch the game live on MACtv with Gordon Mann on the call. Or you can follow along on live stats.
This is the first ever meeting between the Aggies and the Garnet Chargers in any sport.
DelVal football reached the playoffs for the 12th time in program history by way of the Middle Atlantic Conference's automatic bid as the champion of the league for the sixth year in a row and the 15th time overall. The Aggies finished the 2023 regular season 9-1 overall and a perfect 9-0 in conference play, extending their win-streak against MAC teams to 53 straight. The streak is the longest in the 70-year history of MAC football and dates back to the 2016 season.
The Aggies are 14-11 all-time in NCAA Playoff games and 12-8 when those games are played at home.
Union College is making its 13th NCAA Tournament appearance and its first since 2019. The Garnet Chargers are 10-12 all-time in NCAA Playoff games and have won at least one game in seven of their 12 previous trips. Union has twice reached the Stagg Bowl in 1983 and 1989 and made the national semifinals in 1984.
The winner of this game will advance to the round of 16 and face the winner of Johns Hopkins and Western Connecticut.
SCOUTING THE AGGIES
The Aggies enter the playoffs ranked 25th in Division III in the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA) Coaches' Poll and the D3football.com top 25.
DelVal football placed 14 players at 15 different positions on the all-MAC team and took home three of the four major awards. Head coach Duke Greco won his fourth Coach of the Year award, senior linebacker Anthony Puntolillo was named Defensive Player of the Year and sophomore running back Jack Fallon earned Rookie of the Year.
Greco and his staff own a 91-14 overall record including a 7-5 mark in NCAA Playoff games.
Nick Brady is the team's defensive coordinator; his unit ranks third in the nation in total defense and will primarily operate out of a 3-4 set. They allow just 197.1 yards per game with 25.2 points per game against and 14 touchdowns surrendered. Teams have run for just 67 yards per showing and have completed 50-percent of pass attempts for 130.2 yards per game through the air. DelVal has given up eight rushing scores and six passing touchdowns this season.
Out of 238 NCAA Division III football programs, DelVal's defense ranks inside the top 25 in 13 different categories:
CATEGORY NATIONAL RANK VALUE
Total Defense (238 ranked) 3rd 197.1 yards per game
Scoring Defense (238 ranked) 12th 11.3 points per game
Rushing Defense (238 ranked) 17th 66.9 yards per game
Passing Yards Allowed (238 ranked) 7th 130.2 yards per game
Team Passing Efficiency Defense (238 ranked) 17th 97.57
Passing Yards per Completion 10th 16.10 yards per comp.
Team Sacks (238 ranked) 2nd 3.9 sacks per game
Team Tackles for Loss (238 ranked) 23rd 8.0 TFL per game
Red Zone Defense (238 ranked) 11th 0.556 opp. pct.
Frist Downs Allowed 18th 136
3rd Down Conversion Pct Defense (238 ranked) 6th 0.248 opp. pct.
4th Down Conversion Pct Defense (238 ranked) 19th 0.292 opp. pct.
Blocked Punts (58 ranked) 5th 4
In last week's 23-6 win over Widener, the Aggies got to the quarterback for seven sacks and held the pride to -42 yards rushing. DelVal also held the Pride to just 123 yards through the air.
Puntolillo led the team last week with eight tackles, three tackles for loss and two sacks. For the season, the Defensive Player of the Year has 73 tackles, 11.5 tackles for loss, 8.5 sacks, two interceptions and two forced fumbles.
Fellow senior linebacker Nick Chapman paces the defense with 82 tackles to go with 13.5 tackles for loss and three sacks. Another senior linebacker, Ahmad Jones has 54 tackles, 6.5 tackles for loss, three sacks, an interception, and a forced fumble.
Junior Jacquez Mabin has terrorized the backfield all season and ranks tied-fourth in the nation with 12.5 sacks and tied-fifth with 20.5 tackles for loss. One of his sacks last week went for a safety. Junior Shaun Balkcom joins Mabin on the line and has 11 tackles for loss, 6.5 sacks and two forced fumbles of his own.
The defensive backfield is highlighted by safety Darius Nichols and cornerback Micah Bootman who each have touchdowns to their credit this year. Nichols had a scoop and score at home against King's and Bootman recovered his own blocked punt in the end zone. Bootman grabbed his team-best third interception last week and has six pass breakups this season.
Bootman, Chapman, Jones, Mabin and Puntolillo all earned first team all-MAC honors while Balkcom and Nichols earned second team nods.
On the offensive side of the ball, Greco calls the plays out of a pro-set offense. The team has racked up over 2,200 yard rushing this season with 197.5 yards per game and 4.6 yards per attempt. Of their 36 touchdowns this season, 24 have come on the ground.
Fullback Jordan Collazo, offensive lineman Will Brandes and Dave Casas, and running back Jack Fallon all earned first team all-MAC honors.
Fallon has 735 yards rushing and 11 touchdowns, averaging 4.8 yards per carry. He has also caught 10 passes out of the backfield and averages 9.2 yards per catch.
Junior quarterback Louie Barrios IV has nearly 500 rushing yards this season with 4.4 yards per attempt and three rushing touchdowns on 112 carries. In the passing game he has seven touchdowns to seven interceptions and 1,013 yards on 65 completions. The Aggies average 117.5 yards per game through the air with 10 touchdowns.
Luan Avdijaj, a second team all-MAC receiver and punt returner, has caught 12 passes for 247 yards and three touchdowns with an average of 20.6 yards per reception. He will also get touches in the run game as he averages 11 yards per game and has three touchdowns. Senior wide out Ryan Loughlin has a team-high 16 receptions for 235 yards and a touchdown while Dillon Shamanow and Jasiah Davis have each caught six passes with one for a touchdown.
Junior Nick Arcaroli has taken the reigns in the punting game and is coming off MAC Special Teams Player of the Week honors. Last Saturday, he punted nine times and pinned Widener inside its own 20-yard line seven times, including five times when he backed the Pride up inside their own 10-yard line. One punt that was downed at the seven-yard line led to a safety on the very next play. For the season he averages 35.7 yards per punt with 17 downed inside the 20.
SCOUTING THE GARNET CHARGERS
Union College football is making its 13 NCAA tournament appearance and its first since 2019. Like DelVal, the Garnet Chargers finished the regular season 9-1 overall but they did not win their conference. They went 5-1 in the Liberty League with their lone loss coming against 15th ranked Ithaca, on the road, 17-9. The Ithaca Bombers won the Liberty League and earned the automatic bid while Union earned one of four Pool C, or at-large, bids in Division III as selected by the national committee.
Head coach John Poppe is in his first season at the helm of the program after spending five years as secondary and special teams coach at Harvard University. Poppe became the first coach in the program's history to win nine games in his first season.
Union got off to a hot start to the season with six straight wins by a combined score of 260-31. In the first two games of the season, the Garnet Chargers scored over 60 points and shutout their opponents. They allowed just 14 points in their first five games. In week six, they narrowly defeated Rochester, 21-17, before losing at Ithaca and falling to 6-1. Their best win of the season came in a non-conference contest in week three when they rolled over nationally ranked Springfield at home, 34-7. Union is receiving votes in the national polls but is not ranked.
Union placed 15 players on the All-Liberty League team including four first team honorees.
Union's offense is fueled by a run game that they go to 64.6-percent of the time and ranks 10th in the nation with 258.5 yards per game. First team all-conference running back Michael Fiore eclipsed 1,000 yards rushing and is averaging over 100 yards per game with a team-best 15 touchdowns. He has five 100-yard rushing games this season including each of the last three appearances. Junior Jonathan Anderson is a similar back and goes for 6.5 yards per carry on 133 attempts this year with five touchdowns. Anderson is averaging 85.9 yards per game and has four 100-yard rushing game this year and one game with over 200 yards.
Senior quarterback Donovan Pacatte was a second-team all-conference honoree and has completed 148-of-256 passes for 191.3 yards per game over 10 games with 11 touchdowns to four interceptions. He is a threat to run near the goal line as he has six rushing scores but only averages 27.6 yards per game with his legs. He has five receivers with 10 or more receptions this season including second team all-conference wide out Landers Green who has 34 catches and three touchdowns while going for 61.4 yards per game. Junior wide receivers Tommy Leonard and Robbie Tolbert each have three touchdowns this year. Tolber has 29 receptions for 39.6 yards per game and Leonard has 19 catches for 29.8 yards per game. Senior Kevin Rabacs is another player to watch as he has 21 receptions this year for 2.8 yards per game.
Defensively the Garnet Chargers are the third best team in the country with just 8.2 yards per game allowed and fifth in total defense with 204.7 yards per game against. They rank sixth against the rush with 57 yards per game permitted and 16th against the pass with 147.7 yards per game allowed. They are only getting to the quarterback for 1.7 sacks per game which ranks 140th in Division III. Their turnover margin of 21 turnovers gained to 8 lost ranks 44th.
Senior linebacker Spencer Goldstein was a first team all-conference selection and leads the team with 54 tackles to go with three interceptions, five pass breakups, and a forced fumble. Along the defensive line, Ethan VanderBrink paces the squad with 11 tackles for loss to go with a team-best 3.5 sacks. Senior defensive back Nathan Sullivan has four interceptions this year with 35 tackles. Another senior linebacker, Cole DaSilva, has 53 tackles and 10 tackles for loss this season.
On special teams, Max Gluck is 13-for-18 on field goal attempts with a long of 40 yards. He's missed three times between 30-39 yards and missed one from less than 30 yards. On PAT kicks he is 38-for-44. Andrew Lau has 40 punts this season and averages 36.98 yards per boot with a long of 62 yards and eight inside the opponents 20. They are susceptible in the return game, having allowed one kick return touchdown and one punt return touchdown.
