Winner of R-MC, Hampden-Sydney Earns ODAC Crown

SALEM, Va. --- The ODAC has made a change in its football video webcast schedule for this coming weekend.  With the help of Penn Atlantic and the dedicated information technology and athletic staffs at Randolph-Macon College, the ODAC will be video webcasting Saturday's match-up between Hampden-Sydney College and Randolph-Macon from Ashland.  Kick-off is set for 1:00 p.m.

Saturday marks the 113^th meeting of "The Game" between Hampden-Sydney and Randolph-Macon.  Hampden-Sydney has won the last six contests between the two long-time rivals, including last season's clash, 46-21.  The Yellow Jackets enter the contest 8-1 overall and 5-0 in the ODAC with hopes of maintaining its undefeated conference mark through Saturday's outing.  The Tigers travel to Ashland with a 7-2, 5-1 résumé.  The winner of the game earns the ODAC title and the league's automatic qualifier into the NCAA tournament.

The highlight of the match-up will fall upon each team's running game.  The majority of Randolph-Macon's offense runs through sophomore back, Zak Thornton.  Each of the last two weeks he has eclipsed the 200-yard mark (262 yds, 4 TD's vs. Guilford; 238 yds, 2 TD's vs. Bridgewater).  He leads the league in rushing with 1,457 yards on an ever-growing ODAC-record 318 carries.  He averages 161.9 yards per game.  In the opposing uniform, junior Josh Simpson missed the first three games of the season, but hasn't missed in beat in the past six contests as he scored an ODAC-high 24 touchdowns (19 rushing).  Also adept at catching the ball out of the backfield, Simpson adds 46 receptions and 558 receiving yards to 845 yards via the ground (140.8 yards rushing per game).

The difference in the outcome could come down to Hampden-Sydney's high-octane passing offense versus Randolph-Macon's stout defense.  Quarterback Corey Sedlar sits just 92 yards short of the 3,000-yard passing mark this season, having also thrown 21 touchdown passes.  Both numbers are second in the conference.  Drew Smith is his favorite target and will graduate as one of the ODAC's all-time best receivers.  Smith has caught 90 passes for 1,353 yards and eight touchdowns this season.  He currently sits in fifth in ODAC history with 251 career catches, second with 3,981 career receiving yards, and second with 37 career receiving touchdowns.  Should he cross the 4,000-yard mark against R-MC, he'd be only the second receiver to do so in ODAC history (Nick Bublavi, CUA '05; 4,485 yards).

Randolph-Macon's defense is the toughest to score on in the conference, surrendering only 15.8 points per game (142 total).  The Yellow Jackets are even stingier in the red zone, allowing the opponent to score only 66.7-percent (22-of-33) of the time once inside the R-MC 20-yard line.  Ray Johnson leads a strong front-seven with 72 total tackles and 2.5 sacks.  Gamal Alwan (38 tackles, 8.0 TFL's, 3.0 sacks) and Kyle Wiggins (60 tackles, 8.0 TFL's, 3.0 sacks) make their way into the opponent's backfield several times throughout a game, allowing R-MC linebackers like Chris Collins (46 tackles, 2 INT's, 1.5 sacks) and defensive backs like Hassan Shonekan (70 tackles, 3 INT's) to makes plays on the ball.  Nine different players have intercepted passes for the Jackets.

To access the game, visit the ODAC on the Internet at www.odaconline.com or either of the two participating schools' websites (www.rmc.edu or www.hsc.edu).  You can also select the game from Penn Atlantic's schedule at www.pennatlantic.com.  Links will be posted to these websites once they become available.  There is a $3.50 charge to view the game.

In order to view the broadcast, you will have to be using a cable or DSL high-speed Internet connection (preferably above 600 kbps download speed).  Strong high-speed wireless feeds are also capable of showing the game.  You can test your speed (bandwidth) directly from the Penn Atlantic website.  The feed will not work with a dial-up set up.  You will also need Windows Media Player 9.0 or 10.0.

For AOL users, you will not be able to access the Penn Atlantic website via the AOL browser (due to firewall).  If you use Internet Explorer (installed on every Windows-based PC) instead, you will have no problems viewing the game.

Macintosh users should view the "FAQ" section of the Penn Atlantic website to learn about how you can view the game.  Scroll down near the bottom of that section to the "Can I watch a game on my Macintosh?" question to learn how to view the game.