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        THROGGS NECK, N.Y. (Sept. 11, 2013) – After a bye week in the opening weekend of the year, the Maritime football team will open the 2013 season in the Sixth Annual Chowder Bowl Game against rival Mass. Maritime. Game time is scheduled for 7 p.m. at the Buccaneers' Clean Harbors Stadium in Buzzards Bay, Mass.
 
Live Stats And Video Available Courtesy Of Mass. Maritime Athletics
        If you can't make the trip up to Bay State for Thursday's season-opener, the Mass. Maritime Athletic Department offers both live stats and live video links so you can follow along with all the action as its happening on the gridiron. For the live stats link, click here. The live video feed can be accessed by following this link.
 
Privateers Own The Advantage In Chowder Bowl Games
        The Privateers have topped the Bucs and brought home the Chowder Bowl Trophy each of the five previous times the two teams met. The teams last met in the 2012 season opener on Sept. 7 at Reinhart Field, with SUNY Maritime coming out on top, 20-14.
 
Breaking Down The Privateers
        Maritime enters off of a 3-6 season, with four of those loses by one touchdown or fewer. Under ninth-year head coach Clayton Kendrick-Holmes the team looks to improve on its record from a season ago and compete for the Eastern Collegiate Football Conference crown at the end of the season. The team returns 39 players and also brings in 36 freshmen for a roster total of 75 players.
 
        The Privateer offense averaged 306.1 yards per game last season for 24 touchdowns, while the defense has held opponents to 300.9 yards per game and allowed 21 touchdowns.
 
        Amongst the leading returners offensively is junior Paul Briggs (Shrub Oak, N.Y./Lakeland) (Shrub Oak, N.Y./Lakeland), who rushed for 312 yards as a sophomore out of the fullback position. The quarterback and wide receivers corps will feature a new look in 2013 as well when signal-caller Zachary Chilcott (Ulster Park, N.Y./Kingston) (Ulster Park, N.Y./Kingston) will take the snaps and his primary targets will include classmate Andrew Short (Covington, La./St. Paul's) (Covington, La./St. Paul's) and senior Sean Belsky (West Islip, N.Y./St. John the Baptist ) (West Islip, N.Y./St. John the Baptist).
 
        Seniors captains Andrew Cosby (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon) (Babylon, N.Y./Babylon), Robert Marziliano (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville) (Staten Island, N.Y./Tottenville), as well as senior Noah Collins (Satellite Beach, Fla./Satellite) (Satellite Beach, Fla./Satellite) and junior Casey Boos (West Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) (West Sayville, N.Y./Sayville) also return for another season on the offensive line as the unit returns four of its five starters from a season ago.
 
        Defensively, Maritime returns defensive back and senior captain Chris Klass (Nanuet, N.Y./Nanuet ) (Nanuet, N.Y./Nanuet), who led the team with three picks in 2012 while picking up 36 tackles as a junior. Also, junior defensive end Hugh O'Brien (Westbury, N.Y./Westbury) (Westbury, N.Y./Westbury) returns as the leading tackler with 56 wrap-ups and followed closely by classmate Duke Alvora (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) (Harrison, N.Y./Harrison) with 48 tackles.
 
        Alvora will also be featured on special teams after amassing just under 1,300 yards on 34 boots a year ago. Sophomore Diogo Dietrich (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil/DePaul Catholic) handled kickoffs last year with 1,730 yards on 32 kickoffs. Punt and kickoff returns were handled by Klass last season and the senior will look to handle them once again.
 
Scouting The Mass. Maritime Buccaneers
        Saturday's game will also be the first of the 2013 season for Mass. Maritime, as they are coming off a 5-4 season last year that included a 4-3 record in the New England Football Conference. This year, the Bucs are leaving the NEFC for the MASCAC, which will sponsor football for the first time in conference history. Head coach Jeremy Cameron returns to lead Mass. Maritime into the new MESCAC era.
 
        The Bucs recorded an average of 520.7 yards of offense per game last season and scored 41 touchdowns (20 rushing and 21 passing), while the defense allowed 429.3 yards per game and 33 TDs (17 rushing, 16 passing).
 
        The top offensive returner is senior quarterback Mike Stanton, who finished the 2012 season with 2,449 passing yards on 183-for-287 completions (63.8%) and threw 16 touchdown passes. The team's leading rusher from last year also returns, senior Stefan Gustafson, who had 701 yards on the ground and found the end zone five times. The top receiver also returns for his junior campaign, as E.J. Bennett is coming off a 2012 season that saw him catch 59 passes for 857 yards and a team-high seven touchdowns.
 
        Mass. Maritime's defense returns its top tackler from 2012, junior linebacker Reynard Ortiz. He had 53.0 total tackles (45 solo and 16 assisted), including 2.5 for combined losses of six yards with one sack, one forced fumble and three passes broken up. Junior defensive back Kevin Stanton was the team's third-best defender, registering 46.0 total tackles (42 solo, 8 assisted).
 
        Senior kicker Brandon Rodrigues returns after hitting 2-of-4 field goals and 31-of-36 PATs and in 2012. Junior punter John Trudel is back after averaging 35.3 yards per punt in 2012 with a season-long of 72 yards, four touchbacks, three punts of 50 yards or more and three within the opponents' 20-yard line. Sophomore kicker Michael Messersmith averaged 46.5 yards per kickoff last season and had one touchback. The team lost its top kick returner in Evan Sheridan and punt returner in Eddy Ramos, but will look to fill the void with junior Jonathan Wright for punts and junior Bobby Rosano on kickoffs.
 
A Closer Look At Thursday's Matchup
2012 Records:
Mass. Maritime: 5-4 (4-3 NEFC)
Maritime: 3-9 (2-4 ECFC)
 
Rosters: Mass. Maritime – Maritime
 
Schedules: Mass. Maritime – Maritime
 
2012 Statistics: Mass. Maritime – Maritime
 
Receive Maritime Football News To Your E-mail
        If you would like to receive the most up-to-date news and information about the Maritime football team, including all press releases, please send an e-mail to Joe Guster at jguster@sunymaritime.edu with the subject "Football E-mails."
 
Follow Maritime Athletics On Facebook, Twitter And YouTube!
        Alumni, fans, family and friends now have more ways to keep up with the latest Maritime sports news – Twitter, Facebook and YouTube! Privateer supporters can log on to the Internet and receive the latest updates on every Maritime sports team, either online or via their mobile phone. Just visit www.twitter.com/MtimePrivateers, www.facebook.com/MaritimePrivateers and www.youtube.com/MaritimeAthletics to start following today!