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Staten Island, NY - The 2014 Wagner football team makes its long-awaited home debut on Saturday at 6:00 pm when the Seahawks host Alderson Broaddus University under the lights in a 6:00 pm start at Hameline Field.Describing the play-by-play on the free live webstream will be Pete Mundo (@PeteMundo) of WFAN Sports Radio 66 AM, WCBS Newsradio 880, CBS Sports Radio Network and Bloomberg Radio. The color analyst is Staten Island's own John Jastremski, host of the "JJ After Dark Show" on WFAN Sports Radio 66 AM.

The Wagner-Alderson-Broaddus game marks the second night game to ever be played at Hamelin Field. The lights, thanks to the generosity of a host of Seahawk supporters, became a reality last season and the first night game was held on September 6, 2013 vs. Merrimack.

This is ithe first time that Wagner has ever opened a season with four consecuitve road games, The Seahawks have opened several seasons with three three straight on the road, most recently in 1992. The October 4 home opener is the latest on the calendar for Wagner since October 5, 1974 when Wagner hosted Upsala. That season's home lid-lifter was the second game of the 1974 season.

Last Time Out:
Seahawks Drop Hard-Fought 35-23 Decision at Lafayette
Easton, PA - Wagner scored on its very first play from scrimmage on a 46-yard pass from senior quarterback Brian Gehring to sophomore running back Brandon Peoples but the Seahawks wound up on the short end of a hard-fought and physical 35-23 decision on Saturday night.

Gehring Throws Career-High Three TD Passes at Lafayette
Brian Gehring completed touchdown passes of 46 yards to Brandon Peoples in the first quarter, 18 yards to junior tight end Ryan Owens in the third-quarter and found fifth-year tight end Bryant Watts on a 25-yard fourth-quarter connection in recording the first first 3-TD passing game of his career. Overall, he went 11-of-31 passing for 179 yards vs. the Leopards without an interception.

Up With Peoples
For Sophomore running back Brandon Peoples (Abington Township, PA/Archbishop Wood), his first-quarter 46-yard touchdown reception at Lafayette was a career first while his 68 rushing yards (on 12 carries) were a career high.

Seahawks Special Teams Just That
The Wagner special teams units have been special virtually across the board through the first four games. The Green & White are No. 1 in the NEC in kickoff coverage with a 41.5-yard average. Individually, senior A.J. Firestone, the reigning Special Teams Player of the Week, is No. 1 in the NEC with a 40.5 average, junior Otis Wright tops the league with a 29.7-yard kickoff return average while senior Steve Rene is the NEC's No. 2 punt returner with a 6.9-yard average.

Head Coach Walt Hameline
In his 34th season as head coach at Wagner, Walt Hameline owns a 217-138-2 (.614) record and is one of just seven active FCS coaches with 200 or more career wins. November 6, 2010 was another historic day in Hameline's career, another that also involved Monmouth, as the Seahawks' 31-20 win over the Hawks' that was career victory number 200.

About Alderson Broaddus University
Alderson Broaddus University — informally known as AB — is a private, four-year liberal arts university, located in Philippi, WV. with an enrollment of 1,100. Nicknames the Battlers, AB competed athletically within NCAA Division II as a member of the Great Midwest Athletic Conference (G-MAC).

The school was formed in 1932 as Alderson–Broaddus College by the union of two Baptist institutions: Alderson Academy (founded 1901) and Broaddus College (founded 1871; moved to Philippi, 1901). The school adopted its current name in 2013.

Noted for its health science, natural science, education and music programs, the college offers a variety of majors in five academic divisions: Education and Special Programs, Health Sciences, Humanities, Natural Sciences and Social Sciences. Two institutions were united in 1932 to form Alderson Broaddus University. Each of the institutions passed on a rich Christian heritage. The older of the two, Broaddus University, was founded in Winchester, Virginia in 1871 by Edward Jefferson Willis, a Baptist minister who named the new college after Rev. William Francis Ferguson Broaddus, a prominent Baptist minister at the time of the Civil War. In response to economic hard times, Broaddus University was moved across the Alleghenies to Clarksburg, West Virginia, in 1876. The college was moved again to the small town of Philippi, West Virginia in 1901.

The other institution, Alderson Academy and Junior College, was founded in Alderson, West Virginia in 1901 by Emma Alderson, a committed Baptist laywoman. As the years passed, Broaddus became a junior college, then a senior college, and Alderson Academy added junior college status. Financial hardship in the late 1920's led to the decision to merge the two colleges, both of which shared a common identity as Baptist and liberal arts institutions.

DID YOU KNOW?: ALDERSON BROADDUS IS THE FIRST FOOTBALL OPPONENT THAT WAGNER HAS EVER FACED THAT HAILS FROM THE STATE OF WEST VIRIGINA

Alderson Broaddus Head Coach/Athletic Director Dennis Creehan
Dennis Creehan is beginning his third year as athletic director at Alderson Broaddus and also serves as the head football coach. He oversees the largest athletic department in the state of West Virginia and has directed the expansion of athletic programs and development of new athletic facilities, including the 2,000-seat Multi-Sport Performance Stadium the home of Battler football, soccer and lacrosse. Creehan has 42 years of football coaching experience with nine different collegiate programs at the Division I and Division II levels. He led the Battlers in their first season of competition since 1930 in 2012. AB traveled to face regional junior varsity teams, including a midseason trip to Annapolis, Md., to face Navy, in preparation for varsity competition in 2013. Creehan and his staff led a Battler team composed almost entirely of freshman to a 9-2 overall mark. He came to AB after spending the 2009-10 seasons as head coach at rival West Virginia Wesleyan College. While at WVWC, he guided the Bobcats to a 9-2 record after a 2-8 mark the previous season and earned West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference Coach of the Year honors in 2010. The seven-win improvement in his second year with the Bobcats was the best of any WVIAC football team. Prior to his time at WVWC, Creehan spent five years coaching in the Canadian Football League, including stints as linebacker coach and defensive coordinator for the Calgary Stampeders and the Hamilton Tiger Cats. During his time with the Stampeders and Tiger Cats, his defenses were ranked among the best in the league and he coached 2005 CFL MVP linebacker John Grace.

A.J. Firestone Named NEC Special Teams Player of the Week
Somerset, NJ – Fifth-Year senior punter A.J. Firestone (Mercersburg Academy/Mercersburg) has been named the Northeast Conference (NEC) Special Teams Player of the Week for his efforts vs. Lafayette on Saturday night, the league office announced today.

Firestone had one of the finest performances by a NEC punter this season during the Seahawks' trup trip to Easton, PA as the 6-1, 210-pound Firestone averaged 41.5 net yards under the lights vs. the defending Patriot League champions at Fisher Stadium.

Firestone punted six times in the 35-23 setback, and the Leopards did not return any of the kicks, while pinning Lafayette inside its own 20-yard line on four occasions. His first kick traveled 47 yards and went out of bounds at the Leopard10-yard line. His next punt, a 42-yarder, pinned the Leopards at their own eight-yard line. He also booted a 47-yarder that was fair caught at the 12-yard line as well as a 41-yarder that was downed at the 14.

For the season, Firestone is averaging an NEC-best 40.5-yard average, having totaled 973 yards on 24 punts, with a career-high 57-yard effort coming at FIU on September 6. One of four team captains for the Seahawks this season, Firestone is a 2014 Preseason All-NEC selection and is coming off of a 2013 campaign where he was named First-Team All-NEC.

First Starts at Lafayette
*Junior Eddie Garcia (Miami, FL / Christopher Columbus) made his first career start against Lafayette, gaining the nod and playing the entire game at left guard.

* Also making his first career start was senior defensive end John Aubel (Islip, NY / Islip/Nassau CC/Buffalo) and the 6-4, 230-pounder made the most of his opportunity by recording a career-high four tackles, which included three tackles for loss (minus 11 yards), highlighted by a four-yard sack.

Owens Finds Paydirt
The 18-yard third-quarter touchdown reception by junior tight end Ryan Owens (Gainesville, NY / Letchworth) was the first TD catch of his career.

Wagner now 0-3 vs. Lafayette, 13-9 All-Time vs. Patriot League
Following the 35-23 loss at Lafayette, the Seahawks are now 0-3 all-time vs. Lafayette and 13-9 vs. teams that currently comprise the Patriot Football League, which includes the 21-3 season-opening win at Georgetown on August 30. Of the seven current members of the Patriot League, the Seahawks have played five.

The most noteworthy win over a Patriot League opponent came on November 24, 2012 when NEC Champion Wagner hosted Patriot League Champion Colgate in the first round of the NCAA FCS Playoffs. History was made that day, as Wagner came away with a 31-20 triumph in becoming the first NEC team to ever win an NCAA FCS Playoff game.

Two weeks earlier, the Seahawks posted a thrilling 31-30 come-from-behind win over Holy Cross in the first-ever meeting between the schools.


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