It took over 15 years, but East Stroudsburg University football is back in the top 25.
The Warriors are ranked No. 24 in the Week 8 edition of the Division II AFCA Coaches Poll after their 31-7 win over Shepherd. It is the first time inside the top 25 since the program was ranked No. 25 in 2010, and it is the first time ESU is ranked under head coach Jimmy Terwilliger.
ESU has flirted with being ranked for the last several years. After winning five consecutive games by an average margin of 32.6 points per game, the Warriors cross the threshold ahead of their matchup with another nationally-ranked program, the No. 3 Kutztown Golden Bears.
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Being ranked in itself isn't a bad thing, but Terwilliger wants to ensure his players are focused on the right things, calling the fanfare about being ranked "rat poison." If East Stroudsburg is going to defeat Kutztown, something the Warriors haven't done since 2013, it cannot afford to be infested with rat poison.
"That stuff to me is an external factor that we can't really control," Terwilliger said. "My message to everybody will be, 'Don't look at the scoreboard. That thing will lie to you. Rankings don't tell stories.' [Football's] played and coached by people on the field.
"Let's control what we can control: being very disciplined inside the line of scrimmage, being able to play penalty free, dictating the atmosphere up front, controlling what we do schematically, knowing our alignments and assignments, and being able to play as one unit. Everything else at this point, you know, is just an external factor, and we need to, you know, put a blinder to that stuff."'
Terwilliger has no plans to discuss the ranking with his players, instead focusing on the "day-to-day operations."
East Stroudsburg football faces Kutztown this Saturday, Oct. 31 at 1:05 p.m. inside Eiler-Martin Stadium.
This article originally appeared on Pocono Record: East Stroudsburg football ranked in AFCA poll for first time in 16 years