BRIDGEWATER, Va. - The Bridgewater College football team is set to make the trip to Sellinsgrove, Pa. to battle No. 12 Susquehanna on Friday night under the lights. 

When: Friday, September 2, 2023
Where: Sellinsgrove, Pa.
Stadium: Amos Alonzo Stagg Field at Doug Arthur Stadium
Kickoff: 7:00 pm
Gameday Forecast: 
    Temperature: 71F; Rain: 5%
Series Record: Susquehanna lead 2-1 (Last meeting 2023)

SCOUTING THE RIVER HAWKS: Susquehanna is coming off of a 10-1 campaign a year ago where the River Hawks made the NCAA Tournament for the second consecutive season. SU Returns multiple key pieces from a season ago including the 10th 1,000 yard rusher in program history in Tommy Gabowski. Susquehanna also returns starting quarterback Josh Elrich along with his favorite target Kyle Howes at the wide receiver position. Defensively Drew Robinson comes in as the River Hawks top tackling leader from 2023 along eight different seniors or graduate students. 

SUSQUEHANNA HEAD COACH:  Tom Perkovich enters his 10th season as the head coach at Suquehanna. Under Perkovich, SU has finished .500 or better in every season of his tenure, including a 39-5 record in the last four seasons. The River Hawks have been ranked for 40 weeks in the D3Football.com Top 25 while under Perkovich including a stay in the top-10 last season. Perkovich's .753 win percentage puts him 17th among all active coaches with six or more seasons of experience.
ALL-TIME SERIES: The Eagles and River Hawks have clashed three times in the history of the two programs. SU leads the head-to-head 2-1 with the 51-19 victory last season serving as the tiebreaker in the series so far. The two sides split a pair of meetings in 1956 and 1957 with each side picking up a 27-0 win on their home field. 

STREAKS ON THE LINE: Susquehanna enters Saturday's matchup riding a 21-game winning streak in regular season games dating back to November of 2021. Over that same time span the River Hawks have won nine-straight regular season games at home and have not lost consecutive games. The last time SU fell in back-to-back games was on Oct. 30 to No. 20 Johns Hopkins and Nov. 6 of that same 2021 season to No. 16 Muhlenberg. To see the last time Susquehanna lost to an unranked opponent at home during the regular season, you would have to go all the way back to Oct. 6, 2018 where the River Hawks fell at the hands of Moravian 21-18 by virtue of a touchdown in the game's final minute. 

ALL-PURPOSE BACK: Bridgewater's Brendan Robinson returns to BC after ranking second on the team and third in the ODAC in all-purpose yards a season ago. Robinson earned D3football.com All-Region honors along with a third team all-conference selection in 2023 for his efforts as one of the most explosive playmarkers in Division III. The junior took two kickoffs back to the house last season to move is career total to three and had the team's longest run from scrimmage in 2023 with a 94-yard touchdown against N.C. Wesleyan in week three.

WELCOME TO THE DARKSIDE: Peyton Allen takes over the signal calling for the Bridgewater defense in his first season with the program. The Eagles are coming off a 2023 season where the defense ranked 26th nationally in 3rd Down Defense, limiting opponents to a 30.1% conversion rate. The BC "Dark Side" brings back deep experience all over the field with nine starters from a year go making a return. Most importantly BC returns four strong members from the secondary in All-ODAC picks Aaron Moore and Noah Hines along with Donald Brooks II and Amari Presley.

THE KEYSTONE STATE: Bridgewater has had limited trips to the Keystone State over its recent program history, but historically, the team finds ways to win nearly every time it crosses the Pennsylvania border. Over the last 25 seasons, the Eagles are 9-3 when playing in the state of PA. Two of the loses came at the hands of perennial powerhouse Washington and Jefferson in 2004, which advanced to the national semifinals, and the Landmark's Lycoming. BC's last win in the state came in 2022 as the Eagles left with a 29-14 win at Gettysburg following a second-half comeback. The Eagles also have wins over St. Vincent and a victory at Thiel in the 2005 NCAA postseason.


BIRD ON BIRD CRIME: Susquehanna is the only school the Bridgewater football program has faced off against in the last five seasons to have a bird as a mascot. To find the last time the Eagles defeated another feathered foe you would have to go back to the end of the 2016 season when Bridgewater took down the Cardinals of Catholic in the nation's capital.