Posted: Sep 13, 2018
ADRIAN, Mich. -- The Siena Heights football team (2-0, 1-0 MSFA) is set to host the Eagles of Robert Morris (Ill.) University (0-3) on Saturday, September 15. This game is the Saints home opener for 2018.
This will be the fifth match-up between Siena Heights and Robert Morris (Ill.) in football. The Saints lead the all-time series 4-0 including a 31-29 victory last season in Chicago. This year's matchup is the third time these teams have met at O'Laughlin Stadium. The Saints earned their highest margin of victory over the Eagles the last time the two teams met in Adrian when SHU rolled to a 31-14 victory.
The Eagles enter 0-3 after a tough three-game stretch where they faced the defending national champion and current No. 1 ranked St. Francis (Ind.), NCAA DII Davenport, and the No. 6 team in the nation Marian (Ind.).
RMU is led on offense by running back Edward Clark who has 36 carries for 104 yards in two appearances. Ezekiel Tulloch has totaled 25 rushes for 100 yards and a long 52 yards. The Eagles have played two quarterbacks this season, Kody Steele and Jake Vincent. Steele has completed 20 of his 47 pass attempts for 182 yards. Vincent is 13-39 for 131 yards and two touchdowns. Both passers have three interceptions on the year.
Defensively, Robert Morris is led by Kenny Kirkland with 29 tackles. He has also forced a fumble and has tallied a half sack. Thomas Jackson and Keyon Lansdown each have 22 tackles for RMU. Jackson has also recorded 1.5 tackles for loss and a half sack. Lansdown has three pass breakups.
Kicker, Donnie Young is 1-3 in field goals with a long of 39 yards for the Eagles. Tyler Haase has 17 punts for 650 yards with a long of 55 yards.
Siena Heights is led offensively by fifth-year senior running back D'aires Davis. Davis has accumulated 250 all-purpose yards, 238 of which were on the ground. Jared Jordan has also been a contributor in the Saints' running game with 106 yards on 23 carries and a touchdown so far this season.
Fifth-year senior wideout Damon Wright Jr. leads SHU through the air with 11 receptions for 91 yards and two touchdown catches. Distributing the ball for the Saints is redshirt-freshman quarterback Tyler Knecht who has completed 22 of his 36 pass attempts for 252 yards. Both of his touchdown passes were caught by Wright.
The league-leading Siena Heights defense (1st in total defense and tied for 1st in scoring defense) is led by linebackers Nick Stalworth (11 tackles), Logan Smith (10 tackles, 2 pass breakups), and Griffen Sobol (10 tackles, 1.5 TFL, 1 Int, 2 pass breakups). The defensive line is anchored by Malik Edwards (9 tackles, 4.5 TFL, 3.5 sacks) and Izayah Newsom (8 tackles, 1.5 sacks, 3.5 TFL). Trevon Claybourne (8 tackles, 1 TFL, 1 INT, 1 pass breakup) leads the Saint secondary.
On special teams, SHU is led by senior kicker Brady Tanguay. Tanguay is a perfect 3/3 in field goals this season. All three kicks took place in the 16-7 win last week against Olivet Nazarene in which Tanguay outscored both offenses with 10 total points in the game.
The game is set for a 1:00 p.m., EDT, kickoff. Those that cannot make it to the game on Saturday can follow along with live stats by clicking here, tuning into the Siena Heights Sports Network stream here, or going to WLEN.com and clicking on the listen now link to find the live radio broadcast of the game or tuning into 96.5 FM on Saturday afternoon.
