April 22, 2003
A September 20th game at defending Ivy League champion Penn highlights the 2003 Duquesne University football schedule released today. The game at Penn - in addition to being the Dukes' first ever against an Ivy League opponent - is one of five night games on the '03 slate.
The Dukes, who have won six of the last eight Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference Football League championships - including the last four in a row, return 15 starters from last year's 11-1 ECAC Bowl squad. DU finished last season ranked No. 2 nationally in The Sports Network Mid-Major Poll.
Duquesne opens the season on the road under the lights at Bucknell on August 30 - marking the sixth time in the last seven seasons the Dukes and Patriot League's Bison will face each other. Last year DU snapped a four-game series losing streak with a 35-14 win at Rooney Field.
Following an off week, the Dukes open the home season vs. Butler of the Pioneer Football League on Sept. 13 at 7:00 p.m. The next week, DU travels to Philadelphia to face Penn at historic Franklin Field. Penn, who won its third Ivy League title in five years last season, returns 15 starters and 12 all-league players from last year's 9-1 squad.
DU puts its 24-game MAAC Football League win streak on the line in its conference opener vs. La Salle on Sept. 27 at Rooney Field. The La Salle game, the first of four in a row versus MAAC opponents, is followed by a home game vs. Siena and a road game at Iona on Oct. 11. The Homecoming game vs. Saint Peter's on Oct. 18 completes the four-game stretch.
The month of November begins with a trip to Morehead, Ky. to face Morehead State on Nov. 1. Morehead, the defending champion of the Pioneer Football League's South Division, finished last season with a 9-3 record.
Duquesne stays on the road to face Marist in its conference finale at Poughkeepsie, N.Y. on Nov. 8 before concluding the season with a home game against crosstown rival Robert Morris on Nov. 15 at 7:00 p.m..
Leading the way for the 2003 Dukes is first team All-MAAC quarterback and All-America candidate Niel Loebig (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette). Loebig, who has thrown for 4,797 yards and 51 touchdowns in just two seasons, enters his junior year with a 19-4-0 record as a starter. Senior running back Mike Hilliard (Homer Center, Pa./Homer Center), who rushed for 1,310 yards and a school record-tying 14 touchdowns last season, returns to anchor the running game, while receiver Yardon Brantley (Reading, Pa./Reading Central Catholic) brings 1,795 yards, 17 TDs and a 16.3 yards per catch average into his senior campaign.
Defensively, senior lineman Philip Polony (Whitehall, Pa./Whitehall) returns to anchor a unit that ranked No. 1 nationally in total and scoring defense last season. Polony, a first-team All-MAAC performer in '02, will be joined by five other returning starters on the defensive side of the ball including 2002 MAAC Defensive Rookie of the Year middle linebacker Harry Carter (Lanham, Md./Eleanor Roosevelt) and defensive end Ben Bailey (Philadelphia, Pa./La Salle College). In addition, starting safeties Tim Pichette (Boardman, Ohio/Cardinal Mooney) and Joe Pavlick (Canton, Ohio/St. Thomas Aquinas) and cornerback Armar Watson (Forrestville, Md./Suitland) return from a secondary that ranked second nationally in pass and pass efficiency defense last season.
Eleventh-year head football coach Greg Gattuso (82-26-0) will open DU's preseason camp on Monday, August 11 at Rooney Field.
2003 Duquesne Dukes Football Schedule
Date Opponent TimeAug. 30 at Bucknell 7:00 p.m.Sept. 13 BUTLER 7:00 p.m.Sept. 20 at Penn 6:00 p.m.Sept. 27 LA SALLE* 7:00 p.m.Oct. 4 SIENA* 1:35 p.m.Oct. 11 at Iona* 1:00 p.m.Oct. 18 SAINT PETER'S* (HC) 1:35 p.m.Nov. 1 at Morehead State 1:00 p.m.Nov. 8 at Marist* 1:00 p.m.Nov. 15 ROBERT MORRIS 7:00 p.m.
* - Denotes MAAC Football League games HC - Indicates Homecoming Game vs. Saint Peter's
Home games are played at Arthur J. Rooney Athletic Field on the Duquesne campus
For tickets call 412-232-DUKE (3853)
