Box Score
GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Junior Ryan Newman
came off the bench and threw two second-half touchdown passes
to Kodi Shay while Matt Bernardo
carried for 226 yards and one score to lead Muhlenberg past
Gettysburg 26-15 in Centennial Conference (CC) football action
on Saturday.
On in relief of starter Tom Kelleher,
Newman hit Shay on a 41-yard touchdown strike midway through
the third quarter, then found Shay again on a 35-yard scoring
toss to put the Mules (5-2, 5-1 CC) ahead to stay early in
the fourth. Bernardo, the CC’s all-time touchdown leader,
notched his 63rd career TD on one of his 42 carries, helping
Muhlenberg clinch a share of its third straight CC championship.
Joe Gossweiler (Florham Park, NJ/Hanover
Park) and Nick Nocar (Baltimore, MD/Gilman)
scored touchdowns for the Bullets, who were eliminated from
the conference title picture while suffering their first loss
in four home games this season. Mike Schwalb (Bernardsville,
NJ/Pingry School) paced Gettysburg (5-3, 2-2 CC) with
98 rushing yards while Grant Acker (Howell, NJ/Peddie),
the CC’s leading tackler, set a new career high with 19 tackles
(16 solo, 2.5 for loss).
With a second conference loss certain
to eliminate one of Saturday’s teams from the CC title chase,
the Mules rallied behind the trio of Newman, Bernardo and
Shay to claim the victory.
Muhlenberg trailed 12-6 early in the
second half before Newman marched the offense 80 yards on
10 plays to take its first lead of the day. On third-and-3
from his team’s 47, Bernardo went 14 yards on a screen pass
to break into Bullet territory. After a two-yard loss on first
down, Newman fired to Shay on a crossing route and the senior
wideout raced to the end zone for a 13-12 Mule lead with 8:51
left in the third quarter.
Gettysburg answered when John Edgar
(Gettysburg, PA/Gettysburg) connected on a 30-yard
field goal to make it 15-13 with 45 ticks left in the third
quarter.
Shay started the Mules on their go-ahead
drive with a 37-yard kickoff return off a reverse to the Bullet
46. With his squad stalled on the Gettysburg 35 and facing
fourth-and-11, Newman hit a leaping Shay in the end zone for
the go-ahead touchdown. A failed two-point conversion kept
the Muhlenberg lead at 19-15 with 12:34 remaining.
The Bullets failed to reach Mule territory
and were forced to punt on its next two possessions before
Muhlenberg sealed the win with an 11-play, 59-yard touchdown
march. Bernardo ripped off a 29-yard run to the Gettysburg
29, then scampered 10 yards to the Bullet 1 to set up a first-and-goal.
The Bullet defense turned Muhlenberg
away on three straight rushing attempts, but linebacker-turned-fullback
Tony Briscilla barreled in on fourth-and-goal
from the 1 to make it 26-15 with 5:04 left.
After falling to the Mules 41-0 in each
of the past three seasons, Gettysburg needed one series to
insure that history would not repeat itself.
Keyed by a 39-yard pass from Gossweiler
to A.J. Sutsko (Boothwyn, PA/Archmere Acad. [DE])
on the game’s first play from scrimmage, the Bullets drove
76 yards on seven plays to take a 6-0 lead on Nocar’s eight-yard
sweep just 2:56 into the contest.
Muhlenberg responded with an 11-play,
78-yard scoring drive to tie the game at 6. Bernardo’s apparent
24-yard touchdown run was wiped out on a holding call, but
Kelleher immediately hit Kyle Douglass on a
15-yard pass to make it third-and-2 on the Gettysburg 19.
Bernardo then ripped off runs of 8 and 10 yards to the Bullet
1, before finishing the drive himself to make it 6-6.
Gettysburg cashed in a failed onsides-kick
attempt on the ensuing kickoff for its second touchdown. Starting
from the Mule 44, Gossweiler rushed for a 10-yard touchdown
on the Bullets’ sixth consecutive carry of the drive to make
it 12-6 with 9:52 left until halftime.
Following a Joe Getz interception
in the final seconds of the second quarter, Newman replaced
Kelleher and heaved a 36-yard pass to Ben Phillips
at the Gettysburg 2 as time expired in the first half, providing
a preview of his second-half heroics.
With his 19 tackles, Acker reached double
digits in that category for the seventh consecutive week and
increased his team-leading total to 104, a single-season career
high. Mark Johnson (Corona, CA/Acad. of the New Church
[PA]) snagged his team-leading fifth interception
of the season in the losing effort.
In addition to his game-sealing touchdown,
Briscilla made a team-high nine tackles for Muhlenberg, which
needs a Johns Hopkins victory over McDaniel on Nov. 15 to
clinch its second straight berth in the NCAA tournament. The
Green Terror would earn the bid with a win over the Blue Jays.
Gettysburg returns to action on Saturday
at home against Dickinson. Game time is 1 p.m.
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