Football Reunites Series with Allegheny Saturday at Gesling Stadium

Sept. 19 – (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University football team will take the field Saturday, September 22 after a 27-26 setback at Hobart College last week.  The Tartans will look to get back on the winning track when they take their nationally sixth ranked rushing offense on the field to host Allegheny College for a 7:00 p.m. kick at Gesling Stadium.  This will mark the first time in twelve years that Carnegie Mellon (2-1) and Allegheny (1-1) will meet on the gridiron, when the Gators handed the Tartans a 34-7 loss in 1995.  

The Tartans enter the contest against the Gators for the 47th time as Carnegie Mellon leads the series 28-16-2.  The first meeting between the two schools was in 1906 when then Carnegie Tech defeated Allegheny by the score of 5-0.  They have combined for 19 shutouts, including a 0-0 tie in 1917 and the Tartans hold the shutout advantage with 14.

Starting in 1971 the teams exchanged victories for six years with the home team coming away victorious before the Tartans won eight straight spanning from 1977-1986. In 1987, the two teams played to a 7-7 tie marking the second deadlock battle of the series.  After a three year halt in the series, Allegheny answered with five straight victories over the Tartans including the victory in ’95 with the margin of victory to be an average of 16 points.

“It is cool to be playing Allegheny again,” added Head Coach Rich Lackner.  “It was always a local rivalry.  There is an added interest in this game personally because Allegheny’s Head Coach Mark Matlak and I played against each other in high school and in college.  It is a nice rivalry to get started again.”

The loss to Hobart last week ended Carnegie Mellon’s twelve game regular season winning streak. The Tartans running back core of seniors Robert Gimson (Palm Beach Gardens., Fla./The Benjamin School) and Travis Sivek (Traverse City, Mich./St. Francis) accounted for 275 of Carnegie Mellon’s 329 yards in the loss. Both backs had 26 carries apiece, as Gimson had 170 yards and a score, while Sivek registered 105 yards and three touchdowns.  

The Tartans out gained the Statesmen 308-134 on the ground, but Hobart held the edge in total offense 381-329.  Senior corner Jon Scholl (Coraopolis, Pa./Pittsburgh Central Catholic) recorded a career-high 20 tackles, 11 solo and sophomore Stanley Onyimba (Columbia, Md./Altholto) added nine tackles including two for a loss totaling negative 11 yards.

“We are going to see what kind of chemistry and leadership we have as a team heading into this week’s game,” commented Lackner.  “It was not only a loss against Hobart it was a tough loss.  We will see if we can rise to the occasion when we take the field against Allegheny and I am confident enough in our kids that they will do just that.”

Allegheny scored 17 points in the first quarter before holding on for a 20-7 victory over the Terriers of Hiram College last Saturday. Junior Devin Raynor and sophomore Rodney Still each rushed for 81 yards, as Raynor added a touchdown in the victory.  Sophomore quarterback T.J. Salopek completed 11 of 18 passes for 113 yards, with four of his completions going to senior Jim Lieb for 48 yards.

The Gators out gained the Terriers 296-220 in total offense, while holding them to 98 yards on the ground.  Leading the defense for Allegheny was senior inside linebacker Mateo Villa who had a team-high 14 tackles.   

“Allegheny is very well coached.  They have a big strong physical offensive line and a fine young quarterback as well as their running backs.  They have a nice mixture as far as running and passing,” said Lackner.  “Defensively they play hard, they run to the football and they are physical and they have a very sound kicking game.”