Box Score

 Ryan McGarry (Cliffside Park, NJ/Cliffside Park), Grant Acker (Howell, NJ/Peddie School) and Matt Pinkney (Bowie, MD/Bowie) returned picks for scores of 43, 41 and 48 yards, respectively, helping the Bullets (1-0) build a 38-7 halftime lead and become the 14th NCAA Division III program with 500 wins. Gettysburg is in its 111th year of football.

 Offensively, sophomore Matt Cardillo (Yorktown Heights, NY/Yorktown) rushed for a career-high 142 yards in his first collegiate start as the Bullets finished with 398 rushing yards despite possessing the ball for only 9 minutes, 50 seconds in the first half. Gentris Bryant (Wilmington, DE/Archmere Acad.) scored three touchdowns on the afternoon, finding the end zone on a 19-yard pass from Joe Gossweiler (Florham Park, NJ/Hanover Park) and also scoring on runs of 4 and 18 yards.

 Gettysburg’s special teams got into the act when Nathan Smith (Milford, NY/Cooperstown Central) went the distance on an 87-yard kickoff return midway through the first quarter, putting the Bullets on the scoreboard and touching off a run of 52 unanswered points.

 In addition to the 500-win milestone, the game was also the first played on Musselman Stadium’s brand-new AstroTurf surface. The field, newly dubbed Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium, will be officially dedicated in pregame ceremonies on Sept. 20.

 Lebanon Valley’s Scott Marek caught four passes for 67 yards and a touchdown while Pete Henning carried 14 times for a team-best 51 yards. The Flying Dutchmen managed only 224 yards of total offense – including 32 in the second half – while dropping their season opener to Gettysburg for the third consecutive season.

 Halfway to its 500th all-time victory, Gettysburg had seven first downs, 143 total yards, less than 10 minutes of possession time – and a 38-7 lead thanks to big plays on defense and special teams.

 Lebanon Valley opened the scoring when Zach Buffington connected on a 17-yard toss to Marek with 8:43 left, but starting with the ensuing kickoff, the rest of the day belonged to the home squad.

 Smith fielded Kevin Keller’s kick at his own 13 and needed only 12 seconds to notch his second career kickoff-return touchdown and pull the Bullets within 7-6. Smith, who also finished with eight solo tackles in his first collegiate start at outside linebacker, went end zone-to-end zone on a 100-yard return in Gettysburg’s victory over Averett last season, also returning a punt 62 yards for a score in that game.

 On the Flying Dutchmen’s next play from scrimmage, McGarry stepped in front of a Buffington pass at the LVC 43 and went the distance for his first collegiate touchdown and a 12-7 Bullet lead.

 On the ensuing kickoff, Henning nearly answered Smith’s feat, ripping off a 79-yard return to the Gettysburg 15. Jay Cage’s (Magnolia, NJ/Sterling) touchdown-saving tackle proved all the more important when Craig Casagrande (Beachwood, NJ/Toms River South) knocked down a pass on fourth-and-2 to halt the Dutchmen’s drive at the 7.

 With time running down in the first quarter, Acker become the second Gettysburg defender to find the end zone, snagging a Buffington toss at the Flying Dutchmen 41 and finding paydirt to make it 19-7.

 The Bullets finally scored from scrimmage on their first possession of the second quarter. A bad snap on a Lebanon Valley punt deep in LVC territory set up Gettysburg with a first-and-goal at the 6. After a Cardillo two-yard run, Bryant raced in from four yards out to push the lead to 26-7 with 12:41 left in the half.

 Pinkney got into the scoring act on the Dutchmen’s next possession. On first-and-10 at the Bullet 44, the senior captain jumped into the left flat, snagged his own tipped pass out of midair and raced 48 yards untouched for his team’s third defensive touchdown of the half and a 32-7 lead.

 Bryant hauled in a 19-yard pass to complete a 7-play, 56-yard drive with 15 seconds left in the half to make it 38-7 at the break.

 Bryant and freshman Jerry Jones (Mt. Laurel, NJ/Lenape) added touchdown runs in the second half, as Gettysburg rolled up 296 of its 398 rushing yards to seal the win. Backup fullback Joe Fricchione (Branchville, NJ/High Point Reg.) carried nine times for 93 yards in his first collegiate action while Cardillo rushed for 82 yards on the last 13 of his 20 carries in the second half.

 Buffington completed 10 of 19 passes for 110 yards before being replaced late in the first half by Garrett Mowery, a sophomore transfer who spent the 2002 season at Gettysburg. Mowery went 6-for-13 for 35 yards on Saturday.

 Pat Hagner (Owings, MD/Northern) paced the Bullets with nine tackles, including eight solo stops and one sack. In addition to his touchdown return, Pinkney recovered a fumble and recorded 1.5 sacks.

 Adam Frantz led Lebanon Valley with seven tackles.

 Gettysburg returns to action on Saturday at 20th-ranked Hampden-Sydney. Game time is 1 p.m.