GETTYSBURG, Pa. --- Sophomore running Chris Negron caught a pair of touchdown passes, and he ran for another score to help lead the Moravian College football team to a 34-14 victory at Gettysburg College in Centennial Conference action Saturday at Shirk Field and Musselman Stadium.
The Greyhounds evened their overall record at 4-4 and improved to 3-4 in Centennial action with the victory, the program's first win in six trips to Gettysburg. Saturday's game was the first this season that Moravian held an advantage in time of possession, holding onto the ball for 37:16. The Hounds also ran 80 plays for 445 yards including 240 on the ground on 50 attempts.
"I think today was a day where the guys came out with a lot of energy and enthusiasm, and I think something to prove," stated Head Coach Jeff Pukszyn. "They had a lot of discipline and execution, and we did it for four quarters which was great to see."
Negron carried the ball a team-high 24 times for 96 yards with one touchdown, and he is now just eight yards shy of moving into 10th in school history in career yardage with 1,792 yards in 18 games. Freshman running back Eli Redmond had his second 100-yard game of the season with 113 yards on 18 carries with one touchdown.
"I think during the week coach Tim McGorry and the coaching staff did a great job getting the guys prepared," commented Pukszyn. "I also think they played with a lot more confidence. Even though we have a few guys banged up on the offensive line, that group had a great week of practice and came out and performed today. Eli and Chris as well as the rest of the running backs went extremely hard in practice this week, and I think that helped the offensive line feel more confident. I think all 11 guys on offense, no matter who was on the field, did a great job in execution of our play calling today."
Sophomore quarterback Mike Hayes ran for 28 yards on six carries, and he also completed 20-of-30 passes for 205 yards and three scores.
"Mike did a great job throwing the ball this afternoon after a real good week of practice," Pukszynexplained. "He is still a first-year starter that is continually getting better. He does a real good job managing the game, and he threw the ball well today.
Hayes' 20 completions went to six different receivers with sophomore wideout Jalen Snyder-Scipio catching a career-high nine passes for 89 yards.
"Jalen came up big today, and it showed going down the stretch in one series when he had a bunch of catches," Pukszyn said. "We were able to take advantage of one the coverage he was getting and two the physical match-up he had against the defensive back. He makes plays, and Jalen makes everyone around him better as well, which is great to see."
Negron pulled in three passes for 56 yards and two touchdowns while junior wide receiver Will McLaughlin also grabbed three passes for 34 yards and freshman wide receiver Aaron Hudson had three receptions for 21 yards.
The game started with Moravian winning the coin toss and receiving the opening kickoff. The Hounds would pick up one first down before punting into the wind. In fact, the first two drives for both squads would end with punts.
Moravian's third drive of the game would start at its own 20-yard line after a touchback. The Hounds put together a 15-play, 80-yard drive that finished with the first points of the game. On the fourth play of the third quarter, Hayes threw a flare pass out to Negron on the right side, andNegron raced inside the right pylon for the score. Sophomore Gonzalo Hurtado kicked his first extra-point of the season to put the Hounds up 7-0 with 13:33 to play in the second quarter.
The Greyhounds' defense would force the Bullets into another punt. Moravian took over at its own 18-yard line, and the Hounds put together another long drive, this time covering the 82 yards to the end zone in 12 plays. Hayes connected with sophomore wide receiver Liam Nolan on a 10-yard slant on the left side for the score. Hurtado's extra-point extended Moravian's lead to 14-0 with 7:08 left before the intermission.
The next three possessions would end in punts with the Hounds eventually taking over at the Gettysburg 45-yard line. On the third play of the drive on a third-and-eight play, Hayes foundNegron running out to the left side, and Negron caught pass, raced to the far sideline and outran everyone to the end zone for a 43-yard score. Hurtado's kick would put the Hounds up 21-0 with 1:11 before halftime.
The Bullets drove right down the field and had a third-and-goal at the one-yard line with less than 10 seconds on the clock. Junior defensive lineman Dan Bracken got a hand on the third down pass and knocked it offline and into the hands of junior defensive back Anthony Orlando for an interception to end the scoring threat.
Both Gettysburg and the Greyhounds would go three-and-out on their opening possessions of the second half. The Bullets would break onto the scoreboard on their next drive, covering 47 yards in five plays to cut the Hounds' lead to 21-7.
After punts by each squad, Moravian took over at its own 21-yard line but had its only turnover of the game when Hayes and Negron were unable to make a handoff. However, the Greyhounds' defense would force the Bullets to turn the ball over on downs at the 16-yard line after four plays.
Moravian picked up two first downs before Redmond flipped the field with a 40-yard run, his ninth run of the year of more than 20 yards. Four plays later, Redmond capped off the nine-play, 86-yard drive with a five yard touchdown run. Hurtado split the uprights for a 28-7 lead with 1:56 to play in the third quarter.
Gettysburg threatened again on its next possession but for the third time in the game, the Hounds' defense held inside the red zone, stopping the Bullets on downs at the Moravian nine-yard line.
The Greyhounds' ended up punting after three plays, and Gettysburg would turn a short field into its second score of the game with 8:26 to play to cut the Moravian lead to 28-14.
The Hounds answered right back with a 12-play, 75-yard drive. Negron carried the ball on the final seven plays including a one-yard score with 2:37 to go, sealing the victory. Hurtado's extra-point was blocked to set the score at 34-14.
The Bullets ran four plays and turned the ball over on downs with sophomore cornerback Noah Miller knocking the pass away, one of his two pass break-ups today. The Greyhounds totaled seven pass break-ups in the contest. The Greyhounds ran out the clock on three carries byNegron after Miller's fourth down play.
Orlando, who made his first start since week three at Johns Hopkins University as he works back from an injury, had a team-high 13 tackles for the Moravian defense.
"I think Anthony is back to as close to 100 percent healthy which is good to see, and we used him as a nickel linebacker today based on Gettysburg's offensive scheme, and Anthony responded with a number of big plays," stated Pukszyn. "That interception at the end of the half was huge because that could have been a big momentum swing with Gettysburg getting the opening kickoff of the second half. That was a heads up play, and he did a great job all day today."
Senior linebacker Ed Buoye added eight tackles while senior defensive lineman Andrew Richmond made seven stops including the Greyhounds' only sack of the game. Senior linebackerRichard Kugel had six stops with one and a half tackles for loss while senior defensive back Chris McGrath had four tackles. Richmond, Kugel and McGrath each picked up their 100th career tackles in the game to give the defense six seniors that have recorded over 100 career stops.
Bracken, senior defensive back Ricky Sinnigand junior linebacker Brendan Downey each had five tackles in the game while junior defensive back Jimmy McCarthy had four tackles and a game-high four pass break-ups. McCarthy also punted six times for an average of 30.3 yards while returning one punt for five yards and two kickoffs for 37 yards.
"We'll take a look at the film to see if Jimmy's last break-up was an interception because it was really close to the sideline but he played really well today," Pukszyn said. "We had him matched up one-on-one on the backside of some formations today, and he really answered the bell. Games like this bring out the best in Jimmy. Overall, I think the defensive backfield played great today."
Moravian is slated to return to action on Saturday, November 8 in the squad's final road game of the season with a trip to Juniata College. Kickoff at Knox Stadium in Huntingdon is set for 12:00 p.m.