The Moravian College Greyhounds’ football team has its homecoming game on Oct. 20 against the Juniata College Eagles. Juniata has had a rough go with it so far this season as they enter the game winless. Nonetheless, the Greyhounds need to be at their best if they want to win another conference game.

The Greyhounds enter on a two-game winning streak and a 4-2 record overall, with a 3-2 Centennial Conference record. The streak has stemmed from incredible offensive play. In both games, the Greyhounds put up 80 points.

In their two most recent games, the Greyhounds have used the talents of quarterback Christopher Mills ‘22, who has definitely given the offense new life. Mills has had his first two career starts during this winning streak, and in those games he has been fantastic.

The freshman is 33 of 46 in passing attempts, for 541 yards, six touchdowns and one interception. Mills also set a school record in the game against Gettysburg, where he tossed five passing touchdowns in the first half.

Another player who has been the recipient of a lot of attention has been wide receiver Nick Petros ‘21.  Petros has been the most used option in the passing game so far this season. In total, Petros has 33 receptions, for 636 yards and seven touchdowns. He has recorded a large majority of those stats in the last three games in which  he has had 24 receptions for 517 yards and six touchdowns. Petros also set a school record in the Gettysburg game, setting a school record with 241 receiving yards and four receiving touchdowns.

The Hounds offense has also been successful with the running game. The rushing attack lead by the trio of running back Roberto Diez ’20,  running back Eli Redmond ’19, and quarterback Doug Erney ’21, has accumulated 158 rushing yards per game and a total of five touchdowns so far this season.  Redmond and Diez are two backs who could very easily be every down runners, but their talents are much better used as a two running back tandem. With both backs taking up 70 plus attempts this season and combining for over 600 yards on the ground, they have been crucial factors in  Moravian’s success.

Erney led the Greyhounds to a 2-2 start this season and played very well in those games. The eye-catching speed of Erney is what really makes him stand out, with his ability to escape the pocket and bust out for large gains on plays that should be sacks. Erney has one touchdown and 167 total yards to his name this season. He allows Coach Pukszyn to be very flexible in his play calling for the offense.

Moravian has been far from a one dimensional team on their 2018 campaign.  

As impressive as the offense has been, the defense has been equally as powerful.  The defense has allowed fewer than 20 points per game. Jackson Buskirk ’21, has led the team with a total of 43 tackles.  He also has broken up five passes and deflected five passes, while also recovering once fumble.

Another player making a big impact is defensive lineman Nick Tone ‘19.  He has had a total of 38 tackles this year, with 6.5 of them being for a loss of a combined 27 yards. He also has 3.5 sacks for a loss of 22 yards. The defense has held opponents under 10 points two times this season.  

All these players have been bright spots for the Greyhounds in this bounce-back season.   If these players continue their great play, the Moravian Greyhounds will close the season on a very strong note.