BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College football team finished out its 2014 season on Senior Day with a 37-7 loss to rival Muhlenberg College in Centennial Conference action at Rocco Calvo Field as the Greyhounds said goodbye to 23 seniors prior to the game.
The Hounds finish the season at 5-5 overall, the program's first .500 season since 2010, as Head Coach Jeff Pukszyn finished his fourth year leading the program. The seniors were the first group of players under Pukszyn's leadership and showed improvement throughout their career.
"You never want to lose your last game, and for the seniors it is the last game of their careers so that makes it tough," stated Pukszyn. "I think this senior class gave us a lot for four years. They are a group that I came into as a head coach, and I'm proud of the way that all 23 of them hung in there. They did a phenomenal job, and when you look back on it, righted the ship of the program. I'm excited about our future, and a lot of that goes to the leadership of this senior group."
After the game, senior defensive back Ricky Sinnig was honored as Moravian's Player of the Game as he had a game-high 12 tackles including eight solo stops to finish his career with 199 tackles, and Sinnig also had a pass break-up at the goal line in the second half.
"For Ricky personally, what a way to finish his career," commented Pukszyn. "He has been a leader and elected captain for two straight years. He is a tremendous worker with a high football IQ as well as being a tremendous student. Although he has had a successful career on the field, his future successes are going to be much better for him as he gets into med school. I couldn't be happier for Ricky today."
Moravian had 271 yards of offense in the game including 209 in the air as sophomore quarterback Mike Hayes completed 22-of-40 passes for 209 yards with one touchdown and three interceptions. Hayes' scoring pass, a six-yard strike to sophomore wide receiver Jalen Snyder-Scipio was his 13th touchdown pass of the season. Hayes' 22 completions are tied for the seventh most in a game in school history, and he finished the year completing 144-of-268 passes for 1,681 yards, tying for fifth in the record books for completions and finishing ninth in attempts and 10th in yards in a single season.
"I think Mike did a good job managing the game especially the pass game in the first half hitting some receivers and spreading the ball around," Pukszyn said. "For us, our game is based on us being able to run the football, and it puts a lot more on his shoulders when we're not able to do that. We didn't have those explosive bursts that open up the running game but overall I think the guys played hard."
Snyder-Scipio caught a team-high nine passes for 73 yards Saturday to move into 10th in career receptions at 86, and he will enter his junior season needing just five yards to become the 17th player in school history to reach 1,000 yards. This fall, 33 of Snyder-Scipio's 41 receptions either resulted in a first down or touchdown including six on Saturday. Sophomore wide receiver Liam Nolan added seven receptions for 107 yards, the first Hounds' wide receiver to have 100 yards receiving in a game since now defensive back Jimmy McCarthy had 118 yards against the Mules as a freshman in 2012.
Sophomore running back Chris Negron led the Greyhounds' ground attack with 41 yards on nine carries to finish the season at 858 yards on 206 attempts. Negron now has 1,910 yards on 375 carries, which are both ranked 10th in the Moravian record books. Freshman running back Eli Redmond added eight yards on five carries to finish the year with 727 yards, second in school history among freshman to Negron's 1,052 yards in 2013.
Senior running back Tom Froehlich had nine yards on eight carries in his final collegiate game while senior wide receiver Sam Boyer returned a pair of kickoffs for 16 yards on Senior Day.
McCarthy posted seven tackles for the Greyhounds while senior linebackers Richard Kugel and Kevin Bracken and junior linebacker Brendan Downey all had six stops. Kugel added a tackle for loss and finished with 108 career tackles while Bracken finished his career leading the graduating class with 248 tackles.
Senior linebackers Ed Buoye and Chris Souders and senior defensive back Chris McGrath all had five tackles with Bouye adding a sack against the Mules and making 126 career stops while McGrath had a half a tackle for loss in the game and 112 career tackles. Junior defensive back Anthony Orlando had the Greyhounds' other sack in the game while junior defensive lineman Ryan Pysher batted down three balls at the line of scrimmage.
The game opened with the Greyhounds picking up a first down on their opening series as Hayes found Snyder-Scipio for a 14-yard reception. However, the drive would end with Hayes punting on fourth down.
The Mules punted on their first possession as well before McCarthy punted for the first of four times in the game.
Muhlenberg would get on the scoreboard with 1:02 left in the first quarter when freshman running back Max Cepeda score the first of three rushing touchdowns on a five-yard run. The extra-point was wide right to keep the score at 6-0.
After another Moravian punt, the Mules extended the lead to 13-0 on a one-yard run by Cepeda and an extra-point from senior Connor Winter with 8:32 to go in the second quarter.
The Greyhounds would need just 2:08 to answer. On the second play of the drive, Hayes found Nolan with a 50-yard reception down the left sideline, and a roughing the passer penalty would set Moravian up with first-and-goal at the six-yard line. Facing third down, Hayes connected with Snyder-Scipio in the left corner of the end zone for the duo's fifth touchdown of the season. Junior Jerome Wachter connected on the extra-point to cut the deficit to 13-7 with 6:26 before the intermission.
Muhlenberg would tack on another score before halftime as sophomore quarterback Nick Palladino hit Cepeda with a 29-yard touchdown pass. The duo were named the Co-Bianco Award winners as Muhlenberg's Players of the Game. Palladino completed 27-of-31 passes for 243 yards with two touchdowns while Cepeda had 84 yards and three touchdowns on 25 carries and he caught three passes for 45 yards and another score.
Moravian moved into the red zone before the second quarter ended but Hayes was intercepted inside the five yard line on the last play of the first half.
On the opening possession of the second half, the Greyhounds stopped the Mules on a fourth down play at the Moravian 23-yard line, but Muhlenberg would get the ball right back as senior defensive back Chris Flynn ended the Hounds' second straight drive with an interception, this one on a tipped ball near midfield.
The Mules would extend the lead to 27-7 on a two-yard run by Cepeda with 8:28 left in the third quarter.
Moravian looked as if it would cut into the lead on the next possession, reaching the red zone for the third time in the game. However, Hayes was intercepted again inside the 10-yard line to thwart the scoring attempt.
The teams traded punts before the Mules pushed the lead to 30-7 on a 27-yard field goal by Winter with 9:02 to play.
The Greyhounds next possession ended when Hayes was sacked and had the ball knocked loose as he was going down. Muhlenberg turned the turnover into the final points of the game as Palladino connected on an 18-yard scoring catch and run on a crossing route to sophomore Ryan Delaney.
Muhlenberg had 363 yards on 69 plays in the game while holding onto the ball for 34:34 minutes of action.
While the Greyhounds graduate 23 players out of the program that made major contributions in their careers, coach Pukszyn should have nine starters returning on the offensive side of the ball and another eight on defense in 2015.
"I think this season provided confidence for the future," Pukszyn explained. "I think our guys developed a winning attitude, an understanding how to win and what it takes to win, and certainly not just on Saturdays but during the week. That is the main thing. I think our underclassman have a really bright future as they are understanding how to do the little things so the big things fall in place on Saturday afternoon. I'm really excited as to where we are headed as a football program and it started with these seniors."
