Game #10: Saturday, Nov. 15, 11 a.m. CDT
Valpo (2-7, 1-5 PFL)
at Campbell (1-8, 0-6 PFL)
CU Football Stadium (5,000 - FieldTurf) - Buies Creek, N.C.

This Week in Crusader Football: Valparaiso heads out on the road for the final time Saturday afternoon as the Crusaders travel to Buies Creek, N.C. to take on Campbell, the Pioneer Football League’s newest member.  The Fighting Camels are playing collegiate football for the first time since the 1950 season, when Campbell played as a junior college program.  Valpo is looking for its first victory of the season away from Brown Field while Campbell is looking for its first home win since reintroducing football.

On the Air: For the fourth straight season, the Valpo Sports Radio Network will be home to all 11 Crusader football games in 2008.  The Valpo Sports Radio Network consists of WVUR (95.1-FM, Valparaiso), WAKE (1500-AM, Valparaiso), and WE-FM (95.9-FM, Michigan City).  Todd Ickow will handle all the play-by-play with David Schroeder adding the color commentary.  The game can also be heard online at www.valpoathletics.com.

Series Notes: Valparaiso and Campbell are meeting on the gridiron for the first time ever.

Scouting Campbell: The Fighting Camels are still looking for their first PFL victory and are coming off of a bye week last Saturday.  In their last appearance on the gridiron, Campbell was shutout 49-0 at home against Davidson on November 1.  C.J. Oates leads the Campbell rushing attack with 279 yards on the season while Kelvin Murphy has caught 17 passes for 204 yards.  Matt Vollono is 75-of-151 passing for 793 yards on the season under center.  Defensively, Milton Brown has a team-high 69 tackles, including five for loss and three interceptions while Donte’ Washington has five interceptions.

Wrapping Up Jacksonville: Valparaiso outgained the Dolphins 358 yards to 351 last Saturday at Brown Field but Rudell Small rushed for three touchdowns and Geavon Tribble caught two scoring passes from Josh McGregor as Jacksonville defeated the Crusaders 40-24.  Ross Wiemer had a 47-yard touchdown run for Valpo while Sean McCarty had a 38-yard touchdown reception from Matt Upshaw.  JaVon Welch returned a punt 24 yards for a touchdown and David Hamaker added a 33-yard field goal for the Brown and Gold’s other scores.

Rundh Repeats as Academic All-District Selection: For the second straight season Adam Rundh has been named to the ESPN The Magazine’s All-District V First Team as selected by CoSIDA.  The junior defensive end has 34 tackles this season, including 4.5 for loss.

Curry Shares League Lead in Interceptions: Anthony Curry continues to share the interception lead in the PFL with Donte’ Washington of Campbell.  He has five total picks in 2008.

Offense Comes Out of the Gates Quick: Valparaiso has scored on its first drive of the game in six of the nine contests this season.  On five occasions the Crusaders have found the end zone, while settling for a field goal on the sixth. 

First Career Return Goes for Six: JaVon Welch picked up his first career punt last Saturday against Jacksonville, and with no one around, returned it 24 yards for a touchdown.  The redshirt-freshman took advantage of the two-yard punt that the Dolphins were going to just roll dead and turned it into his first collegiate score.

Upshaw Takes Advantage of Opportunity: Redshirt-freshman Matt  Upshaw made the most of his opportunity to take snaps under center last week, completing 13-of-29 passes for 159 yards.  Upshaw threw his first collegiate touchdown pass as well, connecting with Sean McCarty for a 38-yard score.

Wiemer Among League Rushing Leaders for PFL’s Top Ground Team: Ross Wiemer ranks second in the Pioneer Football League in rushing averaging 72.8 yards per game this season to help lead the Crusaders.  As a team, Valpo leads the PFL with 167.3 yards per game on the ground.  Wiemer has 655 net yards on the ground.  He has found the end zone nine times this season, and has 14 career touchdowns.

Myers Hauls in Eight: Ryan Myers caught a career-high eight passes for 82 yards last week against Jacksonville.  The redshirt-freshman had just 12 receptions entering the game, but took over the team lead for the year. He now has 20 grabs for 229 yards and one touchdown.

Arnold Seventh in Total Offense: Senior quarterback Warren Arnold has moved past Rob Rayl (1990-1993) into fifth place on Valpo’s total offense list for a career.  Arnold now has 4,153 yards combined rushing and passing.  Dave Lass (1962-1964) is fourth all-time with 4,416 yards, 263 in front of Arnold.

Ogden Fourth All-Time in Receiving: Steve Ogden has moved into fourth place on Valpo’s career receiving list with 2,339 yards, passing Kevin Knutson’s (2001-2004) fourth place total of 2,308 for a career.   He is still nearly 500 yards shy of Dan Bogar’s (1981-1984) third place total of 2,816 yards.

Kozey an ARA Sportsmanship Award Finalist: Senior Ryan Kozey is one of 10 finalists nationally for the ARA Sportsmanship Award that recognizes an athlete’s character and leadership as it translates to sportsmanship.  Kozey, an offensive tackle and team captain, is a civil engineering major on the Dean’s list who has helped with fund-raising for diabetes, AIDS, and cancer.  The award recipient will be announced in December.

PFL Weekly Honors: Valparaiso was the recipient of all three Pioneer Football League Player of the Week honors following the Davidson game on October 11.  Ross Wiemer earned Offensive accolades while Anthony Curry was the Defensive Player of the Week.  David Hamaker grabbed the Special Teams award after accounting for 11 points.

Arnold Moves Into Eight All-Time in Passing: Warren Arnold sits in eighth place all-time passing at Valparaiso with 2,958 yards.  Most recently he moved past Noel Schlegelmilch (1957-1960) and Cortie Wilson (1977-1979) on the all-time list.  Arnold is 605 yards shy of Gordon Helms (1953-1955) seventh place mark of 3,563 yards.

Valpo Picked to Finish Seventh in Preseason Poll: The Crusaders were selected to finish in a tie for seventh place in the Pioneer Football League according to the head coaches.  San Diego was selected to win the league.