The Muhlenberg football team hit on all cylinders, setting a multitude of records in defeating Dickinson, 72-7, for its fourth win in a row.
Among the highlights:
• The Mules (7-1, 6-1) set a school and Centennial Conference record for points in a quarter, scoring 35 in the first. The 72 points were their most since an 82-0 win against Drexel in 1920.
• Combined with last week's 56-17 win against Juniata, Muhlenberg set a school record with 128 points in back-to-back games. The old mark of 120 was set in 1947.
• The team also tied a CC mark with 48 points in the first half.
• Senior quarterback Nick Palladino passed for 130 yards and rushed for 18 to become the Centennial Conference all-time leader with 10,783 career yards of total offense.
• Junior running back Nick Savant set a school record with five rushing touchdowns, covering 54, 8, 67, 2 and 5 yards. He finished with 166 yards on only 11 carries for his seventh consecutive 100-yard game
• Senior wide receiver Nick Lamb caught seven passes to become the program's all-time leader with 174 career receptions. He also became the third player in team history to return two kickoffs for touchdowns in a season, bringing back the opening kick of the second half 95 yards.
• Freshman Todd Spirt was a perfect 9-for-9 on PATs and 3-for-3 on field goals, tying the school record of 18 points by a kicker.
Muhlenberg forced four turnovers, blocked two punts and outgained the Red Devils (0-8, 0-7) by a 445-111 margin. Dickinson did not get a first down until the final five minutes of the game, when it recorded three on its lone touchdown drive against the Mules' reserves.
Muhlenberg went three-and-out on its first drive but scored touchdowns on four of its next six offensive plays. After freshman Max Kirin blocked the Red Devils' second punt, Palladino hit Delaney for a 20-yard touchdown on the next play.
John Feaster picked off a pass on the second play of Dickinson's next drive, and on the next play Palladino and Delaney hooked up again, this time from 27 yards out, for the Mules' second touchdown in 31 seconds.
On the first play from scrimmage after another Red Devil three-and-out, Savant sped 54 yards down the right sideline for a touchdown on his first carry of the day.
Another punt and a 17-yard return by Delaney set Muhlenberg up on the Dickinson 40, and two rushes by Savant and one by Palladino produced another score.
The Mules started their next drive deep in their territory following a long Dickinson kickoff return, but it took them only three plays to cover 87 yards, with Savant running for the final 67 to make it 35-0.
At the time, Muhlenberg had run 12 offensive plays and scored touchdowns on five of them. The old record for points in a quarter was 34, set against Swarthmore in 1968, while the old CC mark of 34 was set by Dickinson against Juniata in 2008.
Feaster blocked a punt in the second quarter to set up the Mules' sixth touchdown, and Spirt booted his second field goal of the quarter at the horn to make it 48-0 at halftime.
Lamb's kickoff return and Savant's record-breaking fifth TD made it 62-0 after three. Spirt added a third field goal in the fourth quarter, and freshman Matt Gibbon capped the Muhlenberg scoring with a 4-yard run for his first career touchdown.
The Mules held four Dickinson quarterbacks to 34 yards on 7-of-21 passing, with junior George DiFiore picking off a pass and adding two breakups. Senior Gerard Grimes and junior Marco Blasco each recovered a fumble for Muhlenberg.
Red Devil freshman Sam Peck broke up the shutout bid by scoring on a 3-yard run with 1:57 left in the fourth.