Visiting Team Guide

MANSFIELD – The Mansfield University sprint football team will be making the program's first-ever visit to West Point this Friday when the Mountaineers take on the Black Knights of Army at Shea Stadium on the campus of the United States Military Academy.

Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. with live stats and live audio by ESPN Radio Williamsport available at GoMounties.com.

“Army is a darn good football program and we believe we're an improving football team,” said head coach Dan Davis. “We know they are going to put the ball in the air a lot and we also know we have to be able to move the ball against them.”

Mansfield head coach Dan Davis is in his fourth season at the helm of the Mounties since starting the sprint program in 2008. Lt. Col. Mark West is in his third year at the helm of the Cadets. He missed all of the 2010 season while serving a tour of duty in Iraq.

It marks the first away contest for the Mountaineers this season and the first Friday night game. Mansfield enters the Army game with a 1-1 overall and conference mark after posting a 40-2 win over Princeton at Karl Van Norman Field last Saturday. Mansfield lost the season opener 37-23 to Cornell when the Big Red rallied to score 17 points over the final eight minutes of the game.

Army, which tied for the CSFL Championship last season with Pennsylvania, is 0-1 on the season after dropping a 38-20 decision to Navy in the Alliance Bowl in Saratoga Springs two weeks ago. The Cadets had a bye last weekend.

The two programs have met two times since Mansfield became a full-member of the CSFL in 2009. Army has won both games posting a 57-8 win at Mansfield last season and defeating the Mountaineers 42-0 in the 2009 Allegiance.

Mansfield, which has fielded a football program since 1891, set 11 sprint football school records in last week's win over Princeton. Eleven different Mountaineer rushers ran for a school record 322-yards on the ground over a muddy track and also set a record for total offense with 390 yards on 70 offensive plays.

The Mountaineer defense had another solid week against the run, limiting the Tigers to just 57-yards on the ground on 40 attempts. Mansfield ranks first in the CSFL in defending the run allowing an average of 39.0 yards per game. 

The 40 points in the win over Princeton are the most scored by a Mountaineer team since joining the CSFL with freshman running back Josh Harrison bullying his way in with scoring runs of 5 and 14-yards. Freshman quarterback Mike Maniscalco also scored on a 1-yard run while fellow freshman Chao Porch produced a 24-yard TD run.

Backup quarterback sophomore Brandon Ammon scored the game's final touchdown on a 16-yard gallop early in the fourth quarter while freshman Shawn Green pulled in a 19-yard scoring pass from Maniscalco.
Harrison rushed for 89-yards on 12 carries against Princeton while Porch added 65-yards on eight carries. Maniscalco only threw the ball seven times but completed five of them for 58-yard and a touchdown. He also gained 28-yards on the ground. Green had two catches for 29-yards including the touchdown.

Harrison has 111-yards rushing over his first two collegiate game while Porch is averaging 7.7 yards per carry. Maniscalco has completed 12-of-63 passes for 138 yards with touchdowns while being intercepted three times. Pat Mackewicz has been the leading receiver with four catches for 47 yards and a TD.

The offensive line of senior center Jordan Clark along with juniors tackle Matt Maciejewski and guard Tony Rubino and sophomores tackle Blaine Wainwright and guard Josh Stone has allowed just two sacks for a loss of four yards over the first two games of the season.

Led by its senior defensive line of Paul Houseknecht, Cody Croasdale, Justin DiMatteo and Glen Jenkins, the Mountaineer defense gave up just 109-yards in total offense to Princeton while pressuring the Tigers quarterback into throwing four interceptions.  Junior Troy Taylor recorded a school-record three of those interceptions to earn CSFL Defensive Player of the Week honors with Brandon Couse also recording his first pick of the season.

Houseknecht had a monster game for the Mountaineers with nine tackles including six solo's and a sack. He also was credited with a pass breakup. Sophomore linebacker Jake Myers was in on nine tackles while Croasdale had eight stops and a sack. DiMatteo had seven tackles and a sack as 30 Mountaineers were credited with tackles.

Mansfield's defense will need to be ready for Army's air raid offense.

The Black Knights threw for a 405 yards against Army in their season opener with junior quarterback Javier Sustaita completing a remarkable 42-of-81 passes for 405 yards and three touchdowns. He was intercepted and sacked just once. Thomas Jeffers was the recipient of 18 of those passes for 178-yards while John Herina caught 10 balls for 83 yards.

The Army defense was led by junior Noah Currie who recorded a game-high 13 tackles against Navy.

Mansfield will return home to Karl Van Norman Field on Oct. 8 to host Navy for Homecoming.