Crimson Hawks travel to Edinboro for PSAC West matchup

The Hawks (5-1, 2-1) travel to Edinboro this week after a Homecoming victory against rival Slippery Rock. 

Senior runningback Harvie Tuck passed Amir Dew for third all-time in school history for career rushing yards with 3,690. In that game, Tuck had 36 carries for 240 yards and one touchdown. Tuck was joined by De’Antwan Williams, who had 16 carries for 158 yards and two touchdowns. 

The running game could have another successful game going against an Edinboro running defense that ranks among the bottom half of the PSAC in rushing defense. They allow 168 yards rushing per game. That’s good news for the Hawks, who rank second in the PSAC in rushing yards per game at 309 yards per game.

Even with a good matchup defensively, the Hawks will still have to deal with one of the best quarterbacks in the conference in Cody Harris. 

“He’s the center of the offense,” Head Coach Curt Cignetti said. “He’s a good decision maker, he makes them go.”

Harris is fourth in the PSAC in passing yards with 1452 and has 10 touchdowns with only two interceptions.

“He’s really effective when he can break out of the pocket,” Cignetti said. “When he goes into the second phase of the play, say the first phase breaks down and you don’t contain him and he gets out of the pocket. 

“He does a nice job keeping his eyes down field.”

Last week against Gannon, Harris threw for 312 yards with two touchdowns. He had only six incompletions, while throwing 34 passes. 

Harris is one of the reasons that the Fighting Scots have won three games in a row against Gannon, Lock Haven and Long Island University Post.  With those three wins the Fighting Scots are now 3-2.

If the Hawks do come out on top against Edinboro, it would mark the first victory of the season against a team with a winning record. The only other game they had against a team with a winning record came early in the season when they lost to California 26-24. 

In that loss, the Hawks had an outstanding performance by Tuck, who had 256 yards and two touchdowns on 43 carries. That was the game that propelled him to the top of the PSAC rushing lead. He’s now leading the PSAC in rushing yards with 995 yards and also leads the league in rushing touchdowns with 10. 

Tuck will be the driving force behind an offense that faltered last week in the passing game.

In his second start, Mike Box could not put together the kind of performance that was seen the week before against Millersville. In that game, he had more than 200 yards passing; last week against Slippery Rock, he didn’t surpass 100 yards, finishing 8-23 for 98 yards with an interception. 

Box will try to rebound this week against a passing defense that ranks sixth in the PSAC in passing yards allowed per game at 220.