Box Score

BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Sophomore Aden Twer broke a 47-year-old receiving record and the Gettysburg College football team made the most of a freak October snowstorm, defeating Moravian College 22-14 at Rocco Calvo Field Saturday afternoon in Centennial Conference action.

Twer caught two touchdown passes and his second gave him 12 for the season, one more than
Ken Snyder '65 posted in 1964. Twer finished the game with five catches for 84 yards while junior tailback Ted Delia rushed for 115 yards, with 76 coming on a first-half touchdown run.

Gettysburg (5-3, 5-2 CC), which outscored Moravian 22-6 in the first half, now finds itself in a three-way tie with Ursinus and Muhlenberg for second place in the Centennial standings. Johns Hopkins defeated Ursinus on Saturday while Muhlenberg defeated Dickinson.

The game started with a blanket of snow already covering the field, and persistent precipitation added up to several inches on the artificial surface by the end of the day.

Bullet head coach Barry Streeter noted that it was the first game he had ever coached in such conditions, but was happy with the play of his team.

“I liked how we took charge of the game,” said Streeter. “They scored early, but we got ourselves on track after that. The conditions hampered a lot of things – we couldn't do some things we wanted to do. But I thought we played tough given the situation.”

Junior quarterback Kody Smith hit Twer on both of his touchdowns and finished with 113 yards on 8-of-10 passing. He shared time with senior Kyle Whitmoyer, who attempted just four passes.

The Bullets held the Greyhounds (1-7, 1-6 CC) to 154 yards - the fewest by a Gettysburg opponent since Averett had 135 in a 23-7 Bullet victory in 2003. Junior linebacker Larry DelViscio and junior defensive tackle Robert Swierkowski made eight tackles apiece, with Swierkowski posting a career-high, and senior linebacker Marc Graziano added seven stops. Senior defensive lineman Chad Bucur made a career-high 2.0 sacks, and junior defensive end Joe Ventresca tied a career-best with 1.5 sacks, increasing his team-leading total to 6.5.

Quarterback Robbie Moyer was the leading rusher for Moravian, finishing with 52 yards and a touchdown on six carries.

Twer needed just eight games to break the oldest major single-season offensive record at Gettysburg.

“Coming into the season I never thought I would be able to break it” said Twer, who did not have a reception last season. “I'm excited, but I'm more excited about the win. Obviously it's an outstanding record – I'm sure [Snyder] was a great player. He was inducted into the Hall of Honor, and it's cool to be associated with his name among others.”

Twer is also just eight yards shy of becoming only the second player in school history to have 1,000 yards receiving in a season.

“I think a lot of it has to do with my speed,” said Twer, on his success this season. “I've been able to run by people. I've also been well-coached – my technique coming off the ball and my route-running precision has improved. I've also got two quarterbacks that put the ball right there, which is key.”

Moravian received the opening kickoff and needed just three plays to move 67 yards, with Moyer faking a handing and turning it into a 41-touchdown run with 13:37 on the clock. The extra point failed as the Greyhounds took an early 6-0 lead.

Gettysburg's defense would dig in, however, forcing Moravian to punt on its final six possessions of the half. The 'Hounds would manage only two first downs during the stretch, one of which came on a personal-foul penalty.

The Bullets punted on their first two possessions, but answered with 22 unanswered points to end the half. Gettysburg took over at the Moravian-42 following a punt, and three plays later Smith hit Twer on a play-action post pattern, finding the receiver wide-open for a record-tying 38-yard touchdown pass. The Bullets also missed the point-after and it was a 6-6 game with 1:36 left in the opening quarter.

Gettysburg took the lead for good on the ensuing drive, with Smith engineering a 10-play, 65-yard drive culminating with his 27-yard, record-breaking TD strike to Twer. With the Bullets running a bootleg, Twer broke free on a vertical route downfield, then slid under a well-thrown ball from Smith in the end zone. The Bullets elected to go for two, and Smith connected with freshman wing Freddy Caruso to make it 14-6 with 10:11 showing in the opening half.

The Bullets were forced to punt on their next possession, but with the defense holding steady, Gettysburg received the ball right back three minutes later. On the second play of the drive, Delia broke to the outside, took a hit and managed to stay inbounds before racing 76 yards to paydirt. It was his second touchdown run of 75+ yards this season, as he also had an 83-yard scamper against Susquehanna. Whitmoyer ran in the two-point conversion to give the Bullets their 22-6 advantage with 2:52 showing, and it held up as the halftime score.

With the snow piling up and field conditions deteriorating, neither side was able to muster much offense in the second half, when Moravian outgained Gettysburg 82-20. The Bullets moved 34 yards to the Moravian-33 on the opening drive of the second half, but turned it over on downs. It would turn out to be the team's longest drive the rest of the way, as Gettysburg's final six drives ended in four punts and a pair of fumbles.

After coming up empty on its first six possessions of the second half, Moravian made it interesting with 1:18 left. The Greyhounds took over at the Bullet-37 after Gettysburg punted the ball into its own line, and quarterback Matt Johnson went on to score on a 1-yard run before hitting Mike Zanoni with a two-point conversion pass. However, with Moravian out of timeouts Gettysburg was able to run out the remainder of the clock.

Ryan Hartzell led all players with 15 tackles for Moravian while Allen Petros had 12 tackles, including 4.0 for loss.

Gettysburg plays its home finale next Saturday, when it takes on Dickinson College at 1 p.m. on Senior Day.

Notes: The Bullets have tied the 1953 team's school record for single-season touchdown passes (20)...Smith has now thrown 17 touchdowns  – tied for fourth in school history – and just three interceptions this season…He has also climbed into eighth in program history in career touchdown passes with 21…Twer is now tied for sixth all-time at Gettysburg in career touchdown receptions…Senior James Kane made his first collegiate start, stepping in at center for senior Tom Piccirillo…Senior right guard Walter Ackermann also sat out, and junior Jim Bennett made his second career start in his place.