Football Seeks Fourth Straight Win
Nov. 7 – (PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – When the Carnegie Mellon University football team takes the field against the Generals of Washington and Lee University Saturday, November 10, they will be looking to win their fourth straight game and keep their hopes alive for an ECAC Bowl bid. Kick is slated for 1:00 p.m. at Gesling Stadium on the campus of Carnegie Mellon University.
The Tartans (5-4) enter the contest against the Generals (6-2) for the third time with the series tied at 1-1. The schools met on the gridiron for the first time in 1959 and then again the following year. Then Carnegie Tech won the first meeting 20-16 before Washington and Lee shutout Tech the following season 6-0. Both teams have won on the opponent’s home turf.
Carnegie Mellon is coming off an impressive 42-19 victory against Bethany College. The senior running back duo of
Robert Gimson (Palm Beach Gardens., Fla./The Benjamin School) and
Travis Sivek (Traverse City, Mich./St. Francis) each rushed for over 100 yards for the fourth time this season, as Gimson finished with 140 and one score and Sivek totaled 131 with three touchdowns. The tandem has ranked the Cardinal and Gray eleventh nationally, as the Tartans are averaging 280.3 yards per contest from the ground.
Sivek enters Saturday needing 24 yards to reach the 4,000 yard milestone for his career and 92 yards for his second straight 1,000 yard season. Gimson needs 154 yards for 1,000 yards and to join Sivek as the first backs in school history to rush for 1,000 yards in back-to-back seasons.
With Sivek’s three touchdowns last week he now has 58 for his career giving him 348 points. His 348 points ranks 20th on the NCAA Division III scoring list and is two points shy of moving into 19th, four for 18th, eight for 17th and twelve for 16th. He averages 8.7 points per game for his career.
The Tartan defense over the stretch of their three game winning streak have forced ten turnovers, including eight interceptions. Senior linebacker
Jonathan Bodnar (Cheswick, Pa./Deer Lakes) has accounted for three of those interceptions, one in each of the wins while returning one 40 yards for a touchdown against Bethany.
Special teams has played a huge part in the Tartans success over the past three games, as they have recorded three blocked kicks, one in each game. Besides the impressive rush on kicks, senior punter
Matt Adams (Dublin, Ohio/Dublin Scioto) has been stellar giving the Tartans great field position. Adams has placed four of his punts inside the opponents 20 and has averaged 42.1 yards per punt the last three games. For the season, he has landed 17 of his 45 punts inside the opponents 20 and ranks 32nd nationally with an average of 39.5 yards per punt. He has five punts of more than 50 yards including a school record 70-yard punt.
Sophomore quarterback R.J. Varner heads the Generals offense. Varner has 13 touchdown passes and has completed 117-of-222 passes this season for 1,555 yards. Varner’s main target is senior split end Jack Martin. Martin has been on the end of 42 of Varner’s completions and six scoring strikes. Junior Stuart Sitterson is the Generals second leading receiver with 29 catches for 194 yards and two scores. Sitterson is also the team’s second leading rusher with 428 yards on the ground and four touchdowns. In front of Sitterson in Washington and Lee’s ground attack is junior Tom Pacicco who has rushed for 749 yards on 181 carries and has found the end zone eight times.
Washington and Lee’s defense enters the contest giving up 151 yards per game on the ground and are ranked 53rd in total defense allowing a total of 292.5 yards per game. The Generals strong safety Kyle Luby leads the team with 73 tackles, 43 solo stops. Senior linebacker Bryant Fulk is second on the team with 60 stops, while leading the defense with ten tackles for a loss including six sacks.
