ANNVILLE, Pa. – Nick Nocar (Baltimore, MD/Gilman) accounted for 206 yards from scrimmage and Derek Landi (Vineland, NJ/Vineland South) passed for 214 yards in his first collegiate start as Gettysburg scored 21 unanswered points in the second half to down Lebanon Valley 31-10 in non-conference football action on Saturday.

Nocar, a converted split end starting in place of injured leading rusher Mike Lublanecki (Long Valley, NJ/West Morris Central), carried 13 times for a career-high 155 yards and scored on an electrifying 80-yard run in the second quarter. For good measure, Nocar also caught three passes for 51 yards and tossed a 44-yard halfback option to Tom McEvoy (Laurel, MD/St. John's College) as the Bullets (1-0) won back-to-back season openers for the first time since 1992-93.

Landi completed 13 of 23 passes for 214 yards and connected with Darnell Jenkins (Washington, DC/Crossland) on the program's first touchdown pass since the final game of the 2000 season.

As a unit, the Gettysburg offense rolled up 579 total yards on the afternoon, a marked improvement from its average of 239 total yards per game in 2001.

Mike Schwalb (Bernardsville, NJ/Pingry School) also chipped in with 12 carries for 63 yards and his first collegiate touchdown, a one-yard plunge that put the Bullets ahead to stay at 17-10 in the opening minutes of the third quarter.

Mike Schmidt (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman) led Gettysburg with nine total tackles in his first collegiate game while Cliff Mason (Greenville, PA/Greenville) returned an interception 32 yards for a touchdown in the closing minutes to seal the win.

Lebanon Valley's Pete Henning carried 12 times for a team-high 59 yards and also caught four passes for 44 yards on the day. The Flying Dutchmen were held to 11 first downs and 195 yards of total offense.

Quarterback Dallas Noll completed 15 of 40 passes for 143 yards along with one touchdown and two interceptions.

Tied 10-10 at halftime despite nearly 300 yards of total offense, the Bullets broke through with touchdowns on two of their first three possessions after the break.

With Gettysburg facing third-and 5 at its own 40 on the third play of the second half, Nocar swept right and fired an option pass to McEvoy at the Lebanon Valley 16. Two plays later, Nocar dashed 11 yards to the 1 and Schwalb hit the end zone on the next snap to give the Bullets a 17-10 lead with 12:27 left in the third quarter.

Another big play set up Gettysburg's next touchdown midway through the third.

On second-and-8 from the Bullet 17, Landi found A.J. Sutsko (Boothwyn, PA/Archmere Acad. ([DE]) open in the middle of the field and the junior tight end rumbled all the way to the goalline for an apparent touchdown.

An illegal blocking penalty limited Sutsko to a 62-yard reception and brought the play back to the Dutchmen 31, but Nocar immediately provided an 11-yard rush and an 11-yard reception to move his squad inside the 5. Another penalty pushed the Bullets back five yards, but Landi found Jenkins on the next play for a 24-10 cushion with 4:38 remaining in the third.

Lebanon Valley drove to the Gettysburg 12 in the final seconds of the quarter, but Chris Hrynczyszyn (Bensalem, PA/Conwell-Egan Catholic) stopped Chris Bowers on fourth-and-2 to halt the threat.

Mason clinched the win by returning a Noll pass 32 yards down the left sideline with 4:18 remaining, the senior captain's first career collegiate touchdown.

Each team's traded field goals through the first quarter-and-a-half before exchanging touchdowns in the final six minutes before halftime.

With the game tied at 3, Nocar swept around right end and galloped 80 yards untouched to give the Bullets a 10-3 lead with 5:55 left.

Undeterred, the Dutchmen answered with an 11-play, 76-yard drive to knot the game at 10. Noll kept the drive alive on third-and-9 from the LVC 25 with a 16-yard strike to Henning before a pass interference call gave Lebanon Valley a first-and-10 from the Gettysburg 40.

Noll's 22-yard completion to Scott Marek moved the Dutchmen to the 8 and, two plays later, Bernie Skaudis scored on a flat pass from five yards out to make it 10-10.

Nocar's previous career rushing high was a 141-yard performance against St. Lawrence on Oct. 27, 2001. Mark Johnson (Corona, CA/Acad. of the New Church [PA]) also recorded his first interception of the season.

Marek led Lebanon Valley with six catches for 63 yards.

Gettysburg returns to action on Saturday at home against Hampden-Sydney. Game time is 1 p.m.

-30-