BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- Trailing by 32 points just 14 seconds into the second half, the Moravian College football team put together a second half rally that ended up short as the Greyhounds fell to Ursinus College, 52-44, in Centennial Conference action Saturday at Rocco Calvo Field.
The Greyhounds celebrated Homecoming with the highest combined scoring game, 96 points, in school history, and Moravian had 440 yards of total offense, the most since a 401-yard game at Juniata College in 2010. The Greyhounds picked up 327 of those yards on the ground, the most since 388 at McDaniel College in 2008.
"I think our kids were prepared to play," stated head coach Jeff Pukszyn. "I think they had some great preparation during the week but we put ourselves in a bind against any team, especially one that comes in at 4-0, you can't do that and expect to win. But, when you look at the whole game, our kids fought their tails off, and I couldn't be more proud of the way they fought back until the last second of the game today."
Moravian had two players with over 100 yards rushing with freshman tailback Chris Negron going over 100 yards for the first time in his career at 164 yards and two touchdowns including one of 50 yards on just nine carries, and Negron caught one pass for 54 yards. Senior quarterback Robbie Moyer added 120 yards and his fifth touchdown of the season on 20 carries, the third game Moyer has run for over 100 yards this season. Moyer also completed 7-of-14 passes for 113 yards with a touchdown and an interception. Freshman running back Larry Spann rounded out the Moravian rushing attack with 70 yards and a touchdown on ten carries.
"Robbie did a great job managing the game again today," Pukszyn said. "I think Chris and Larry really grew up today and played with a lot of confidence. That is what we saw in them when we recruited them, and after today I think the best is yet to come with Chris and Larry. As we started rolling today, the offensive line had more confidence and allowed those guys to run with confidence as well and it snowballed for a positive way for us. I also think the whole offensive line played great today and was able to adjust to some of the things Ursinus tried to do in the game, and they made the difference."
The Bears, who are 5-0 and 4-0 in Centennial Conference action, jumped out to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter on a short touchdown run by senior running back Jason Golderer and long touchdown passes from junior quarterback Kevin Monahan, making the start due to an injury. Monahan was 25-for-35 for 383 yards with four touchdowns and two interceptions. One of the long touchdowns was to junior wide receiver Darius Jones, who caught four passes for 101 yards, and the other was a 75-yarder to junior wide receiver Josh Williams, who had four catches for 92 yards.
The Greyhounds would get on the scoreboard with 4:23 to go in the first quarter when Spann scored his first collegiate touchdown on a 28-yard run.
The Bears answered with another Manahan touchdown pass on the opening play of the second quarter before Moravian sophomore kicker David Fiumara connected on his first career field goal of 24 yards for the Greyhounds on the next possession to cut the Ursinus lead to 28-10 with 12:31 remaining in the first half.
Ursinus added one more touchdown with 51 seconds before the intermission on another touchdown pass from Monahan to senior wide receiver Jerry Rahill, who caught 12 passes for 140 yards, and Ursinus needed just 14 seconds into the second half to extend the lead to 42-10 when freshman linebacker Tim Rafter fell on a fumble in the end zone as Moyer was unable to control the high snap on the opening play of the half.
From that point of the game, Moravian outscored Ursinus, 34-10.
Negron got the Greyhounds going in the second half with a 29-yard touchdown at the 11:51 mark. Three plays into the Bears' next possession, Moravian junior linebacker Richard Kugel stepped in front of a Monahan pass and took the interception 35 yards down the near sideline for the Greyhounds' first defensive touchdown of the season.
"That was a momentum changer, and we did a really good job there," Pukszyn said. "I think what it really comes down to is myself putting our guys in better positions on third down situations. (Ursinus was 12-for-18 on third downs in the game). The kids fought their tails off, but as a staff we need to have them better prepared, especially on third down."
Ursinus ran just four plays on its next drive before Greyhound junior linebacker Kevin Bracken intercepted Monahan again to set up the Moravian offense at the Ursinus 42-yard line. Eight plays later, Moyer ran off the right side of the line and dragged an Ursinus' tackler into the end zone. Moravian went for two points but Moyer's pass was short, keeping Ursinus ahead 42-30, with 5:13 remaining in the third quarter.
The Bears put together a 17-play, 79-yard drive to take a 49-30 lead on a 17-yard touchdown run by Golderer, who finished with 101 yards and two scores on 32 carries.
The Greyhounds needed just 1:36 to go 70 yards in five plays and find the end zone again. Moyer capped the drive with a 13-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Jimmy McCarthy, the second straight week the duo has connected for a touchdown pass. The catch was McCarthy's only reception of the afternoon, but he did return seven kickoffs for 119 yards to move into third in school history with 52 kickoff returns and becoming the fourth player in school history with over 1,000 kickoff return yards at 1,110.
After the teams traded punts, the Bears scored their final points of the game on a 38-yard field goal by sophomore Eric Boyer with 5:19 remaining. Boyer had missed a 37-yard attempt just wide left in the second quarter.
Moravian needed two plays to pull within a score. Moyer ran for 17 yards on the first play of the drive before Negron ran through the middle of the line and burst to the far sideline for a 50-yard touchdown.
The Greyhounds forced a punt on Ursinus' next possession. On the second play, Moyer connected with freshman wide receiver Jalen Snyder-Scipio to midfield, but Snyder-Scipio was hit by junior defensive back Matt Glowacki and lost control of the ball with 1:46 to go. The Bears would run out the clock to end the game.
Snyder-Scipio led the Greyhounds with three catches for 35 yards while Negron had 238 all-purpose yards with one kickoff return of 19 yards and a punt return for a yard to go with his 218 yards of offense.
Bracken, who missed part of the second half after leaving with an injury, led the Moravian defense with 15 tackles to go with his interception and a tackle for loss while junior linebacker Brendan Downey added 12 stops with two for loss.
"Kevin is a tough kid and has really become our vocal leader on defense," Pukszyn said. "He does a great job during the week not only preparing himself, but the guys around him to be in great position."
Junior defensive back Ricky Sinnig had eight tackles while sophomore linebacker A.J. Santiago, sophomore defensive lineman Ryan Pysher and freshman defensive back Noah Miller each made seven stops with Santiago collecting Moravian's only sack in the game.
"Noah fought back hard, and had some great special teams plays today," Pukszyn said. "I think John Snyder had a great game this afternoon. We're asking a lot from him as a freshman at nose guard, and he played really well today."
Senior defensive lineman Austin Fox and sophomore defensive back Kyle Adkins led the Bears' defense with eight tackles as Fox had one and a half tackles for loss and a sack while Adkins contributed a fumble recovery and a pass break-up.
Moravian has its bye week this coming Saturday, and the Greyhounds will return to action on Saturday, October 19 in a Centennial Conference game at Susquehanna University at 1:00 p.m. in Selinsgrove.
"I think that although we came up short on the scoreboard today, the team fought for 60 minutes, playing relentless football to gain a lot of confidence," Pukszyn finished. "For the coaches on this bye week, it is time for us to dissect the first half of the season, see what worked and what didn't as we prepare for the second half. For the players, it is a chance to get back to some fundamentals that you don't have a chance to practice during a game week prep, and it is also a time to get the players healthy."
