Mansfield Host Army in 12th Annual Josh Palmer Pigskin Classic

Home opener part of Mansfield's 1890s Celebration and Parents & Family Day

The air should be full of footballs this Saturday when undefeated Mansfield and Army square off at Karl Van Norman Field for the 12th annual Josh Palmer Pigskin Classic.

Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. with the game broadcast live via the internet by Ian Catherine of ESPN Radio Williamsport. The pregame show is slated to start at 12:50 p.m. and can be heard, along with live stats at GoMounties.com.

The game is one of the highlights of the greater Mansfield area Fabulous 1890s Weekend which celebrates Mansfield place in history of the birthplace of night football. On Sept. 28, 1892 Mansfield hosted Wyoming Seminary in Smythe Park in what would be the world's first night football game.

The Josh Palmer Pigskin Classic has been held since 2000 to help support the Josh Palmer Fund. Palmer was a former Mountaineer football player who overcame cancer to return to the gridiron and along the way established a fund for area youth afflicted by cancer which has raised hundreds of thousands of dollars since its inception.

Both Mansfield and Army bring perfect records into Karl Van Norman Field with the Mountaineers opening the season with a 23-16 win at Princeton before enjoying a bye this past weekend. Army opened the season with a non-league 42-0 win over Maritime before knocking off Post 63-28 in the Allegiance Bowl at Saratoga Springs, NY last Saturday.

1st-year head coach Graham Johnsen saw plenty of potential at Princeton and also saw lots of room for improvement.

Mansfield returns 11 starters from last season's 2-5 team including sophomore quarterback Mike Maniscalco who completed 3-of-7 passes for 58 yards while playing in just the first half during the win over Princeton. Freshman Ben Pepper played the second half completing 1-of-7 passes and running for 19-yards on six carries.

Junior David Wallace was the leading receiver catching three balls for 58 yards while freshman John Brockington picked up 85-yards on 13 carries including a 1-yard TD plunge. Sophomore Jeremy Estremera accounted for 39-yards on 15 carries with a touchdown.

The offensive line features three starters from last season in tackles Matt Maciejewski and Blaine Wainwright. Junior Josh Stone returns at guard after starting every game last season and is joined by senior Nick Rutherfourd. Freshman Jonathan Rizk starts at center.

Junior linebacker Jake Myers was named the CSFL Defensive Player of the Week for the first week of the season after his 67-yard pick-six late in the game was the margin over victory against Princeton. Senior defensive lineman Justin DiMatto recorded a game-high 11 tackles at Princeton and recorded a sack with fellow linemen Tim Carr and Cody Croasdale combined for 17 tackles. Croasdale also had three sacks. Senior defensive backs Mike Wang and Troy Taylor each had seven stops as did sophomore linebacker Jared Shipos.

In the Allegiance Bowl, Army was held to 89 offensive yards in the first half and held a 21-14 halftime lead over Post before exploding for 42-points in the second half in a 63-28 win.

Army amassed 472 yards in total offense in the game while holding Post to 269 yards. Senior quarterback Javier Sustaita completed 31-of-48 passes for 318 yards and four touchdowns in the win while Marquis Morris rushed for 88-yards on 16 carries. Sustaita also rushed for 27-yards and four touchdowns.

Tom Jeffers led eight different Army receivers with nine catches for 80-yards while Cody Nyp also had 80 receiving yards on six catches and a touchdown. Cody Ross pulled in three touchdown passes on just four catches.

Mansfield travels to historic Franklin Field to square off against Penn next Friday night.