Box Score

 Harner connected with Derek Boyce and Robert Donofrio through the air and also found the end zone on a 14-yard keeper to help the Diplomats (7-3, 4-2 CC) earn a share of the 2004 CC championship. No fewer than five teams in the seven-team league tied for the championship with identical conference records of 4-2.

 F&M senior Scott Stephen added 162 rushing yards and a 24-yard touchdown run in the win, the Diplomats’ third straight over the Bullets (1-9, 1-5 CC). Donofrio finished with a team-best four receptions for 92 yards, including a 49-yard touchdown catch to give the Diplomats a 24-7 lead midway through the third quarter.

 Joe Fricchione (Branchville, NJ/High Point Regional), Mike Schwalb (Bernardsville, NJ/Pingry School) and Joe Gossweiler (Florham Park, NJ/Hanover Park) contributed rushing touchdowns as Gettysburg matched a single-season program record with nine losses. Gossweiler closed his collegiate career with a 161-yard passing effort, completing 16 of 38 passes to finish fifth in program history with 2,523 career passing yards.

 Fellow senior Grant Acker (Howell, NJ/Peddie) recorded 14 tackles in the final game of his decorated career, giving him 112 for the season and 333 in his four years, good for third on the Bullets’ all-time list.

 The Diplomats, who never trailed after Dan Eggertsson’s 26-yard field goal made it 10-7 with 12:16 left in the second quarter, broke the game open with three straight second-half touchdowns.

 Stephen carried seven times for 61 yards on F&M’s first scoring drive of the second half, capping the 8-play, 63-yard march with a 24-yard touchdown run to make it 17-7. On the Diplomats’ next possession, Harner found Donofrio deep down the middle on a 49-yard touchdown strike for a 24-7 lead with 8:08 left in the third quarter.

 Gettysburg moved to the F&M 35 on its next drive before stalling on fourth-and-12. The Diplomats responded with an eight-play, 65-yard scoring drive, keyed by an 18-yard pass from Harner to Donofrio and finished by Harner’s 14-yard keeper on the first play of the fourth quarter, pushing the lead to 31-7.

  The Bullets battled back to within 31-20 with a pair of scores in the final eight minutes. Gossweiler scored the last of his 12 career rushing touchdowns on a 16-yard scamper with 7:27 remaining. Schwalb then found the end zone from one yard out with 1:19 left to finish a 12-play, 91-yard drive.

 F&M’s John Weber closed the scoring on a nine-yard touchdown run in the game’s final minute.

 Boyce, who entered the day with a conference-leading 740 receiving yards, put the Diplomats on the scoreboard with a 17-yard touchdown catch midway through the first quarter. Fricchione answered with a career-long 31-yard run for his first collegiate touchdown to knot the game at 7.

 Franklin & Marshall converted a Gettysburg fumble in Bullet territory into a 26-yard Eggertsson field goal early in the second quarter, going ahead to stay at 10-7.

 Harner finished 11-of-20 for 141 yards and two touchdowns on the day. George Farrell and Matt Capone keyed the defense with seven tackles apiece.

 The Diplomats will share the 2004 CC championship with Johns Hopkins, Muhlenberg, Dickinson and McDaniel, all of whom went 4-2 in conference play. The title is F&M’s first since 1995.

 Michael Schmidt (Huntington Station, NY/Walt Whitman) recorded a game-high 15 tackles for Gettysburg. Adam Fulmer (Halifax, PA/Halifax) recorded his first collegiate interception.

 Schwalb carried nine times for 30 yards on the day, finishing ninth on the Bullets’ all-time list with 1,853 career rushing yards.