LaSalle Explorers vs. The College of New Jersey Lions

Saturday, September 18, 2004—McCarthy Stadium, Philadelphia, PA

FINAL SCORE: TCNJ 6, LaSalle 0

Records after the Game: TCNJ (2-0), LaSalle (0-3)

Box Score

Schoonover’s Special Teams Play Lifts TCNJ to 6-0 Win over LaSalle

Philadelphia, PA…The College of New Jersey’s sophomore Cory Schoonover (Toms River, NJ/Manchester) scored the only points of the game as the Lions defeated Division I-AA LaSalle on Saturday in McCarthy Stadium. With the win, the Lions are now 2-0 and LaSalle drops to 0-3.

            Schoonover  blocked a punt on the LaSalle 30 yard line and returned it 30 yards for the only score of the first half at 12:25 in the second quarter as the two squads exchanged plays in the extremely muddy conditions.  Junior kicker Blake Abbot (Rumson, NJ/Rumson-Fair Haven) missed the point after try as it was short and to the right in the driving rain.

TCNJ would hold the Explorers to just three first downs and a total of 29 yards on 47 plays, while managing 146 yards of total offense on 64 plays.

The game’s leading rusher was junior running back Gregg Silvesti (Hammonton, NJ/Hammonton) as he finished the contest with 89 yards on 27 carries with a long of 12 yards in the very sloppy conditions. Silvesti had 89 of the team’s 95 total rushing yards.

Senior running back Ken Triboletti (Moorestown, NJ/Moorestown) netted 57 yards for LaSalle on 17 carries with a long of 16 yards.

Freshman quarterback Jeff Struble (Toms River, NJ/Manchester) would come in the game off the bench and finish with a 3-for-10 effort with 38 yards passing for TCNJ in the win. Senior quarterback Vernard Abrams (Philadelphia, PA/Cardinal Dougherty) was 4-for -11 with just 13 passing yards on the afternoon.

On defense, the Lions were led by senior lineman Justin Mannick (Phillipsburg, NJ/Phillipsburg) with eight stops, including four tackles for a loss (-7 yards). Senior Steve Vogt (Oakhurst, NJ/Ocean Township) recorded six stops for the Lions, while junior back Miles Shanklin (Wall, NJ/Wall) had a big afternoon with six tackles, a tackle for a loss, a pass break-up and an interception late in the fourth quarter to squelch an Explorer drive.

LaSalle’s freshman Jon Williams (Pleasantville, NJ/Pleasantville) led the LaSalle defensive unit with his nine tackles including 2.5 tackles for a loss (-8 yards). Sophomore Nick DePinto (Cream Ridge, NJ/New Egypt) added nine stops as well with a sack for -5 yards.

Saturday’s contest marks the second straight year these two squads faced weather issues as a results of a Hurricane. A year ago, a power outage on TCNJ’s campus that sent the campus into darkness the entire day after high winds from Hurricane Isabel moved through the area and moved the game to the next day. That marked the second time the Lions have had a Friday night football contest effected by a hurricane, the last in 1999 as Floyd changed the game date as the Lions faced William Paterson.

TCNJ will be in action again next week facing the University of Southern Virginia (Buena Vista, VA) in a home game on September 25. LaSalle travels to St. Peters for a MAAC contest on September 23.

                               Box Score (Final)

   The College of NJ vs LaSalle University (Sep 18, 2004 at Philadelphia, PA)

  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score

  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----

  The College of NJ...  0  6  0  0  -  6       Record: (2-0,1-0)

  LaSalle University..  0  0  0  0  -  0       Record: (0-3)

Scoring Summary:

2nd 12:25 TCNJ - Cory Schoonover 30 yd blocked punt return (Blake Abbot kick failed), TCNJ 6 - LASALLE 0

                                     TCNJ  LASALLE

  FIRST DOWNS...................        7        3

  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............    50-95    33-57

  PASSING YDS (NET).............       51      -28

  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........   14-5-0   14-5-1

  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   64-146    47-29

  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0

  Punt Returns-Yards............     5-53     5-69

  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     1-46     2-12

  Interception Returns-Yards....      1-0      0-0

  Punts (Number-Avg)............   7-31.4   8-31.9

  Fumbles-Lost..................      2-1      3-1

  Penalties-Yards...............     5-44     5-45

  Possession Time...............    33:38    25:34

  Third-Down Conversions........  1 of 17  0 of 12

  Fourth-Down Conversions.......   3 of 6   0 of 4

  Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      0-3      0-0

  Sacks By: Number-Yards........      2-8     3-27

  RUSHING: The College of NJ-Gregg Silvesti 27-89; Leeaire Brown 2-8; Jeff Struble 15-5; Jim Dabrowski 1-2; Cory Schoonover 3-1; TEAM 1-minus 1; Nick D'Aconti 1-minus 9. LaSalle University-TRIBOLETTI, Ken 17-57; BRUMFIELD, Josh 3-11; RUSSO, Lou 1-minus 4; ABRAMS, Vernard 12-minus 7.

  PASSING: The College of NJ-Jeff Struble 3-10-0-38; Nick D'Aconti 1-3-0-4;

  Joe Bergondo 1-1-0-9. LaSalle University-ABRAMS, Vernard 4-11-0-13; JUMP,

  Michael 0-2-1-0; PELOSO, Jeff 1-1-0-minus 41.

  RECEIVING: The College of NJ-Cory Schoonover 1-18; Mike Boroult 1-16; Tony

  Sorrentino 1-9; Gregg Silvesti 1-4; Jeff Lebb 1-4. LaSalle University-TRIBOLETTI, Ken 3-0; ZABEL, John 1-13; MORACA, Mark 1-minus 41.

  INTERCEPTIONS: The College of NJ-Miles Shanklin 1-0. LaSalle University-None.

  FUMBLES: The College of NJ-Jeff Struble 2-1. LaSalle University-ABRAMS,

  Vernard 3-1.

  Stadium: McCarthy Stadium      Attendance: 1201

  Kickoff time: 1:05      End of Game: 3:32 pm   Total elapsed time: 2:27

  Officials: Scorer: Meagh. Schulte;

  Temperature: 64        Wind: mild      Weather: Damp, heavy rain at

  The College of NJ vs LaSalle University (Sep 18, 2004 at Philadelphia, PA)

  SACKS (UA-A): The College of NJ-B. Mulholland 1-0; Justin Mannick 1-0.

  LaSalle University-DePINTO, Nick 1-0; MOSS, Nate 1-0; REITER, Chris 1-0.

  TACKLES (UA-A): The College of NJ-Justin Mannick 6-2; Steve Vogt 5-1; Miles

  Shanklin 5-1; Ray Bateman 3-3; B. Mulholland 5-0; Josh Baker 1-2; Nick

  Tranchina 1-1; Jeff Bower 1-0; John Sher 1-0; Jim Dabrowski 1-0; Joe Ward

  1-0; Joe Bergondo 1-0; Maurice Carter 0-1; Jeff Lebb 0-1; Pat Mahan 0-1;

  Sean Fusco 0-1. LaSalle University-WILLIAMS, Jon 7-2; DePINTO, Nick 6-3;

  TWARDY, Chris 3-5; LAURI, Taylour 5-1; FARRELL, Patric 4-2; HAMM, Joseph

  3-1; FLETCHER, Jeff 3-1; PALMIERI, Mario 3-1; CANDALERIO, Joe 2-2; REITER,

  Chris 2-1; MERHK, Robert 0-3; MOSS, Nate 2-0; JEFFERSON, Jame 1-0; JACKSON,

  AJ 1-0; PELOSO, Jeff 1-0; GORHAM, Todd 1-0.