TCNJ GAMEDAY

WHO: The College of New Jersey (2-6, 2-5 NJAC) at Christopher Newport (5-3, 4-3 NJAC)

WHEN: Saturday at 1 p.m. Pomoco Stadium, Newport News, VA. COACHES: TCNJ’s Casey Goff (1st season, 2-6) and Art Link (1st season, 5-3)

SERIES: CNU leads the series, 2-0, including a 17-0 win in 2016. LAST WEEK: TCNJ defeated William Paterson, 20-0 and Christopher Newport lost to Kean, 27-7. TCNJ SCOUTING REPORT: The Lions are coming off a nice win over William Paterson and head to Virginia hoping to build on the victory. The bright spot for TCNJ was the running game and it’ll be key this week as both teams love to throw the ball. A good running game will open the passing lanes. Trevor Osler has had a great season at quarterback and given time he could keep the Lions in this one. Thomas Koenig, Vincent Guckin and a sound tight end in Chase Vena give the Lions ample targets. The offensive line, which is allowing 5.6 sacks a game needs to limit the pressure on Osler. The defense coming off the shutout needs to get pressure on CNU quarterback. But, the key should be in the defensive secondary where the Lions are yielding a league worst 221.5 yards passing a game. CNU SCOUTING REPORT: Despite having lost 2-of-3, the Captains are a very good football team and in some ways very like the Lions as they love to throw the ball. Quarterback K.J. Kearney has completed 68.2 percent of his passes and he’ll test the TCNJ secondary. Their secondary is strong with Justin Drakeford (5 interceptions) and Tyrell Noel with an NJAC best six picks. They will look to put pressure on the Lions quarterbacks. The number that is most impressive for the Captains is they are plus 12 in the turnover department. It could be a shootout or it could be a sack-fest for CNU. KEY MATCHUP: TCNJ secondary against CNU passing game. EXTRA POINTS: Qua’dir Bryant (Atlantic City) and Gavin Liepe (Holy Spirit) are the only Jersey residents on the CNU roster. …Max Busca leads TCNJ with 62 tackles, Rancocas Valley’s Xavier Santos has 44, including a team high 28 solo stops. Santos and Shane Kelley lead with six tackles for a loss. …TCNJ’s Zack Warcola, Special Teams Player of the Week is the only punter in the conference averaging over 40 yards a punt. …The Lions were a season best 4-for-5 in the red zone last week. PREDICTION: Christopher Newport 24, TCNJ 13.