RELEASE DATE: 10/29/05

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: POOHBEAR RUNS GAINS 210 YARDS IN TOTAL OFFENSE IN 31-14 LOSS AT MILLERSVILLE – HENGEHOLD PASSES FOR 264 YARDS

MILLERSVILLE – Poohbear McNeal scored twice and piled up 210 yards in total offense, but Mansfield could not overcome a 203 yard rushing day by Juan Jones in a 31-14 PSAC East setback at Millersville’s Chryst Field Saturday afternoon.

The Mountaineers played one of their best games of the season, out gaining Millersville 388-314 in total offense, but in the end could not overcome Jones, a blitzing Millersville defense and mental mistakes.

Mansfield scored the games first points late in the first quarter capping off a seven play, 80-yard drive when Poohbear McNeal pulled in a pass from John Hengehold and ran it into the end zone for a 24-yard touchdown. The extra point attempt was blocked, giving the Mountaineers a 6-0 lead.

Millersville would answered on their next possess when Omar Sanders took a slant pass from quarterback an Csencsitz and outraced his defender for a 49-yard TD. The extra point attempt was good for a 7-6 Millersville lead.

Millersville would score again 34 seconds later after recovering the ball on a pouched kickoff at the Mansfield 33 yard line. Two plays later, Sanders again caught a slant pass from Csencsitz, this one for three yards with 1:12 to play in the first quarter.

The Mountaineers threatened to tie the score late in the first half, driving to within the Millersville one-yard line. After moving back to the six yard line, Hengehold found Ozzie Mathis in the end zone for an apparent touchdown, but the Mountaineers were flagged for offensive interference negating the touchdown and moving the ball back to the 20 yard line where the drive stalled with :13 remaining in the half.

Millersville’s Andrew Siggins would score what would prove to be the game winning touchdown when he returned the second half opening kickoff for an 80-yard touchdown.

Juan Jones scored on a seven yard run four minutes later to give Millersville a 28-6 lead.

But the Mountaineers did not give up, mounting a seven-play, 80 yard touchdown driving on their next possession capped off by a six yard run by McNeal. Keith Slezak caught a two-point conversion pass from Hengehold to cut the score to 28-14 at the 8:05 mark of the third quarter.

The Mountaineer defense stopped Millersville on their next possession, forcing a punt after five plays. Mansfield then drove from their own 13 to the Millersville four yard line, before turning the ball over on downs after three incomplete passes to the end zone.

Millersville score the games final points on a 22-yard field goal by Doug Ruhl.

Despite being sacked a season high five times by a blitzing Millersville defense, Hengehold completed 20-of-40 passes for 264 yards and a touchdown. The freshman becomes just the fourth quarterback to pass for more than 2,000 yards in a season 2,021 yards with two games remaining. Bryan Woodworth holds the school record with 2,719 passing yards in 1994 with Travis Motley passing for 2383 in 2002. Bill Bair surpassed the 2,000 mark three straight years (2307 – 1992; 2253 – 1991; 2370 – 1990).

McNeal  rushed for 126 yards on 21 carries and caught five passes for 84 yards and a score. Tyrone Robinson had six catches for 59 yards while Rodney Davis pulling in five passes for 68 yards. He has now rushed for 100 or more yards in a game 18 times in his career and has rushed for 954 yards on the season and 3, 461 in his career. McNeal now has scored 30 touchdowns.

Defensive linemen Wes Bair and Keith Slezak led the rejuvenated defense with 10 and eight tackles respectively. Slezak also had a sack. Ronnie Montgomery, playing in his first game in more than a month, had seven tackles and forced and recovered a fumble. Rob Smiley, who just returned last week, was credited with six tackles.

The Mountaineers fall to 1-8 overall and 1-4 in the PSAC East. They travel to East Stroudsburg next Saturday.

                               Box Score (Final)

            Mansfield vs Millersville (Oct 29, 2005 at Millersville, Pa.)

  Score by Quarters     1  2  3  4   Score

  -----------------    -- -- -- --   -----

  Mansfield..........   6  0  8  0  - 14       Record: (1-8,1-4)

  Millersville........ 14  0 14  3  - 31       Record: (5-5,3-2)

  Scoring Summary:

  1st 03:28 MANS - Poohbear McNeal 24 yd pass from John Hengehold (Sean Hair kick blockd), 7-80 2:13, MANS 6 - MILL 0

01:46 MILL - Omar Sanders 49 yd pass from Dan Csencsitz (Doug Ruhl kick), 3-65 1:41, MANS 6 - MILL 7

01:12 MILL - Omar Sanders 3 yd pass from Dan Csencsitz (Doug Ruhl kick), 2-33 0:32, MANS 6 - MILL 14

3rd 14:43 MILL - Andrew Siggins 80 yd kickoff return (Doug Ruhl kick), , MANS 6 - MILL 21

      10:42 MILL - Juan Jones 7 yd run (Doug Ruhl kick), 2-16 0:47, MANS 6 - MILL 28

      08:05 MANS - Poohbear McNeal 6 yd run (Keith Slezak pass), 7-80 2:29, MANS 14 - MILL 28

  4th 07:32 MILL - Doug Ruhl 22 yd field goal, 4-5 2:09, MANS 14 - MILL 31

                                     MANS     MILL

  FIRST DOWNS...................       23       19

  RUSHES-YARDS (NET)............   34-124   47-223

  PASSING YDS (NET).............      264       91

  Passes Att-Comp-Int...........  40-20-1   11-5-0

  TOTAL OFFENSE PLAYS-YARDS.....   74-388   58-314

  Fumble Returns-Yards..........      0-0      0-0

  Punt Returns-Yards............      0-0     4-83

  Kickoff Returns-Yards.........     6-53     3-87

  Interception Returns-Yards....      0-0     1-47

  Punts (Number-Avg)............   6-39.3   4-38.0

  Fumbles-Lost..................      3-2      2-2

  Penalties-Yards...............    9-117     7-72

  Possession Time...............    27:49    32:11

  Third-Down Conversions........  5 of 15  2 of 10

  Fourth-Down Conversions.......   1 of 3   1 of 3

  Red-Zone Scores-Chances.......      1-3      3-5

  Sacks By: Number-Yards........     2-12     5-27

  RUSHING: MANS-Poohbear McNeal 21-126; John Hengehold 13-minus 2.

  Millersville-Juan Jones 35-203; Taurean Filmore 5-22; Omar Sanders 1-5;

  Derek DeShields 1-3; TEAM 1-minus 1; Dan Csencsitz 4-minus 9.

  PASSING: MANS-John Hengehold 20-40-1-264. Millersville-Dan Csencsitz

  5-11-0-91.

  RECEIVING: MANS-Tyrone Robinson 6-59; Poohbear McNeal 5-84; Rodney Davis

  5-68; Ozzie Mathis 2-29; Jeff Tanner 2-24. Millersville-Omar Sanders 2-52;

  R. Eggleton 2-34; Taurean Filmore 1-5.

  INTERCEPTIONS: MANS-None. Millersville-Brandon Shelton 1-47.

  FUMBLES: MANS-Tyrone Robinson 1-0; John Hengehold 1-1; Jeff Tanner 1-1.

  Millersville-Juan Jones 1-1; R. Eggleton 1-1.

  Stadium: Chryst Field          Attendance: 4900

  Kickoff time: 1:30 pm   End of Game: 4:25 pm   Total elapsed time: 2:55

  Officials: Referee: Chris Bloh; Umpire: Patrick Scullen;

  Linesman: D. Kruttschnitt; Line judge: Joe Falcone; Back judge: Gerald Evans;

  Field judge: Richard Bui; Side judge: Tom Demaria; Scorer: Greg Wright;

  Temperature: 50        Wind: N/10-15   Weather: DRY! Partly Cloudy