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The Capital University football team hopes to kick off the 2012 season on the right note Saturday at Bernlohr Stadium in a non-conference showdown against Wittenberg at 1:30 p.m.
The Crusaders, who enter the year with 11 straight seasons of five wins or more and 10 of their last 11 with an above-.500 record in Ohio Athletic Conference play, started preseason camp on Aug. 11 and will open the season against the Tigers for the second straight campaign.
In the contest between the two teams last season, Wittenberg raced out to a 21-0 advantage and Capital was unable to recover, falling 45-28 in Springfield.
In a game that was suspended on Saturday due to inclement weather and finished on Sunday, the Crusaders racked up over 360 yards of total offense but surrendered 556 on the other side of the ball. Quarterback Ryan Kremchek (Sylvania, Ohio), who is slated to start this Saturday, completed 24-of-47 passes for 223 yards and two touchdowns. Defensive back Domenic Hebebrand (Hinckley, Ohio), an eventual honorable mention All-OAC selection, led the defense with 10 tackles.
"We came out slow in that game," Capital coach Henry Stanford said. "We started to play good football as the game went on, but when we were delayed until Sunday, that was a tough scenario. We had to come all the way back to Columbus, then back to Springfield the next day."
The Tigers, who were ranked 20th by D3football.com at the time, finished their season at 8-2 and missed out on a North Coast Athletic Conference championship three-peat by just one game. Expectations remain high for Wittenberg, which has proven to be one of the most consistent programs in Ohio over the last decade.
The Tigers return 44 letterwinners and 14 starters, including nine on defense, where the team has a trio of All-NCAC selections. Wittenberg will have to replace several key players on offense, including its top two wide receivers, top two running backs and two offensive linemen.
"They've always had a great product on the field," said Stanford, who enters his third year as head coach. "They've always been a physical team and they've always been athletic. I expect the same from them Saturday … they're a team that's going to give us a great challenge."
Junior quarterback Reed Florence looks to lead the Tigers' offense. Florence has shown the ability to both run and pass, finishing with 161 yards on the ground and 141 through the air in 2012. He ran for seven touchdowns and threw for seven scores.
Senior defensive end Jon Daniels and senior defensive back Jamaal Everett, a pair of second-team all-conference selections, lead the Wittenberg defense. Daniels tallied 70 tackles and a team-high 6.5 sacks last season, while Everett broke up 11 passes and totaled 48 tackles, including 5.0 for a loss.
Offensively, the Crusaders return seven starters to a unit that led the league in passing yardage in 2011. The offensive line, spearheaded by senior center Matt DeMore (Twinsburg, Ohio), should be the strength of the offense.
"We need to have a consistent, balanced offense that can run the ball and pass the ball," Stanford said. "We need to continue to control the tempo and the emotion of the game.
"I've always believed that the line leads the way. Any time you have an experienced offensive line, it makes the players around them better. That's what we have this year, with almost everyone intact."
Kremchek appeared in five games last season, throwing for 527 yards and a pair of scores. He is flanked by a pair of returning starters in senior wide receiver Mike Epstein (Toledo, Ohio) and junior wide receiver Alex Coleman (Columbus, Ohio), as well as a pair of new starters in juniors Jacob Batcho (Massillon, Ohio) and Justin Bubar (Strongsville, Ohio).
Freshman Bo Hardy (Galloway, Ohio) has earned the starting nod at running back, while sophomore Nolan Gill (Hilliard, Ohio), who played in six games last season, also looks to play a number of snaps. Senior Casey Meridieth (Toledo, Ohio) looks to be used in short-yardage situations.
Capital returns eight defensive starters to a unit looking to improve its consistency in 2011. Last season, the Crusaders allowed 12 points or less three times but allowed 37 or more points four times.
Experience on the defensive line figure to be strength of the defense. Eight seniors – including 2011 all-conference pick Nate Nasrallah (Norton, Ohio) – are in this week's rotation in the defensive line. Nasrallah, Seth Nelson (Columbus, Ohio), Aaron Rittgers (Pickerington, Ohio) and Aaron Knisley (Bexley, Ohio) are listed as the starters.
"As with the offense, it all starts up front," Stanford said. "We're looking for those guys to be dominant … and to be strong and disciplined in what they do. If they do the things we expect them to do up front, it frees up our linebackers and defensive backfield to be freer and more comfortable."
Senior Tyler Dugan (Columbus, Ohio) will be joined by junior Kyle Shaeffer (Pickerington, Ohio) and sophomore T.J. Langermeier (West Jefferson, Ohio) in the starting linebacker corps. Dugan is the team's top returning tackler after making 58 stops, including 40 solo, in 2011.
In the secondary, Hebebrand is joined by senior Ryan Neuberger (Milan, Ohio) at safety. Sophomore Anthony Cicione (Akron, Ohio) and junior Brian Mazzaro (Cincinnati, Ohio) are slated to start at the corner positions.
Sophomore Joseph Riley (Twinsburg, Ohio) returns as the team's primary punter after averaging 40.0 yards per punt last season. Sophomore Travis Bosanac (Strongsville, Ohio), who played for the men's soccer team last season, won the starting kicking spot during camp.
While it's a new Crusader team, expectations to compete for the OAC title and reach the NCAA Division III Playoffs remain the same in 2012.
The journey to those goals begins Saturday.
"I told the guys in the first meeting we had during the preseason that we have to be a team that wins the turnover battle," Stanford said. "We have to win the special teams battle, and we have to play with a lot of emotion and energy.
"If we do those things, it puts us in position to do all the things we wanted to do coming into preseason camp."
