BETHLEHEM, Pa. – Junior Justin Geisel (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Country Day School) tied a career high with three field goals and sophomore Mike Welsh (Medford, N.J./Shawnee) scored a pair of rushing touchdowns for Gettysburg College in a 59-23 setback at Moravian College at Rocco Calvo Field Saturday afternoon.
Gettysburg (0-5, 0-4 CC) recorded a season-high 381 yards of offense, including 197 on the ground, but the Bullets turned the ball over six times in the game. Moravian (3-2, 2-2 CC) leaped out to a 45-0 lead at halftime and finished with 568 total yards.
Geisel tied his personal best with three field goals covering 26, 37, and 38 yards in the second half. The junior kicker also moved into third place on Gettysburg's career list with 20 made field goals. Welsh threw for 184 yards and gained 57 yards rushing. Senior Nick Rella(Denville, N.J./Morristown-Beard) set personal bests with 18 carries for 85 yards, while junior Andrew Howard(Swansea, Mass./Moses Brown School) tallied career highs for rush attempts (13), rush yards (45), receptions (7), receiving yards (92), and all-purpose yards (137).
Freshman Linwood Nicolas, Jr. (Baltimore, Md./Franklin) led the defense with seven tackles. Sophomore Jack Humphries (Lutherville, Md./Calvert Hall) recorded five tackles, a forced fumble, and two fumble recoveries, while senior Logan Aikey (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg) posted two tackles for a loss, running his season total to a Centennial Conference-leading 10.5.
Chris Mills completed 12-of-13 passes for 336 yards and five touchdowns in the opening half for Moravian. Most of his looks went to Nick Petros, who turned four of his six catches into touchdowns and posted 241 receiving yards. Gerald Grube led the Greyhound rushing attack with 104 yards and a touchdown. Jalen Richardson and Dallas Owen each picked off a pair of passes with Owen returning one of his interceptions for a touchdown. Noah Breidinger led the Moravian defense with eight tackles.
The Bullets opened the day in strong position to take the lead as junior Ryan Greene (Easton, Pa./Easton) knocked the ball loose on Moravian's first offensive play. Gettysburg came up with the recovery deep in Greyhound territory, but the ensuing drive came up empty when the team was unable to convert on fourth-and-one.
Moravian came right back with Mills finding Petros for a 69-yard reception for the opening touchdown. Gettysburg posted four interceptions in the opening half with the Greyhounds scoring on three of those turnovers. Petros was the primary beneficiary, hauling in touchdown passes of 78, 34, and 33 yards from Mills.
Early in the third quarter, Owen snagged a tipped pass and ran it back 59 yards to push the host's lead to 52-0. Geisel put the Bullets on the board with a 26-yard field goal with 7:16 to go in the third quarter.
Gettysburg out-scored Moravian 20-0 in the final period. Welsh polished off the longest drive of the day covering nine plays and 90 yards with a 24-yard rush into the end zone. Geisel added a 36-yard field goal on the team's next possession, while a blocked punt set up Gettysburg's next scoring play. Junior Jordan Mason (Horsham, Pa./Hatboro-Horsham) knocked the attempted kick out of the air and Welsh dove into the end zone the from three yards out on the following possession.
Geisel put the finishing touches on Gettysburg's final drive with a 38-yard field goal through the uprights with just over a minute to go. The junior joined Jim Flynn '86 (37 field goals) and Josh Huson '09 (28 field goals) as the only Bullets to hit at least 20 field goals in a career.
Gettysburg hosts Juniata College (0-5, 0-4 CC) next Saturday at 1 p.m.
Geisel Hits Three Field Goals at Moravian
/seasons/2018/boxscores/20180929_tes0.xml
2018
Gettysburg
23
Moravian
59
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gettysburg (0-5) | 0 | 0 | 3 | 20 | 23 |
| Moravian (3-2) | 21 | 24 | 14 | 0 | 59 |
Sep 29, 2018