Junior quarterback Kody Smith threw a pair of touchdown passes and junior running back Ted Delia ran for a 76-yard score as the Gettysburg College football team posted a 22-14 Centennial Conference win over host Moravian College at snowy Rocco Calvo Field Saturday.
The Bullets improve to 5-3 overall and 5-2 in conference action while the Greyhounds fall to 1-7 on the year and 1-6 in Centennial Conference games. Moravian will close out its 2011 home season next Saturday, November 5 versus Juniata College at 1:00 p.m.
The Greyhounds received the opening kickoff and would take an early lead when sophomore quarterback Robbie Moyer ran for a 41-yard touchdown, his first rushing score of the season, off the right side on the third play of the game. A bad snap on the extra-point ended up in the hands of senior kicker Ian Heck, who attempted a pass but the ball was knocked down to keep Moravian's lead 6-0.
Gettysburg punted after three plays on its opening drive, and the squads traded punts over the next four possessions.
The Bullets took over on the Moravian 42-yard line for their third possession of the game, and facing a third-and-six, Smith tossed a 38-yard scoring strike to sophomore wide receiver Adam Twer, who tied the Gettysburg record with his 11th touchdown reception of the season. Senior Rob Penella pushed the extra-point to the left, leaving the game tied at 6-6 with 1:30 to go in the first quarter.
Moravian's next drive ended in the team's third punt of the game, and Gettysburg would start from its own 35-yard line. The Bullets put together a ten-play, 65 yard drive with Smith hitting Twer with a 27-yard touchdown pass. With the reception, Twer set the Gettysburg single season record with his 12th touchdown reception of the season. Gettysburg went for a two-point conversion with Smith connecting on a pass with freshman Freddy Caruso to push the Bullets' lead to 14-6 with 10:11 remaining in the first half.
The Greyhounds would punt twice more, and Gettysburg punted once before the Bullets would start at their own 26-yard line. On the second drive of the game, Delia bounced to the far side and avoided sliding out of bounds on the wet turf before running 76 yards for the touchdown. Senior quarterback Kyle Whitmore ran in the two-point conversion to push the Bullets' lead to 22-6 with 2:52 before halftime.
Moravian punted once more in the first before Gettysburg ran out the clock.
Gettysburg received the opening kickoff of the second half and would drive down to the Moravian 30-yard line before turning the ball over on downs. The Greyhounds answered with a drive to the Gettysburg 27-yard line before they turned the ball over on downs too. After a three-and-out by each squad, the Bullets moved out near midfield before punting.
On Moravian's next possession, junior quarterback Matt Johnson, who returned to action for the first time since suffering an injury in week four, fumbled in the backfield while attempting a pass and Gettysburg junior defensive end Ben Zepnick fell on the ball.
Gettysburg would only get two plays off before Smith fumbled a ball while dropping back, and Moravian senior Patrick Gordon recovered the loose ball. Moravian was unable to capitalize and punted the ball away.
The Bullets punted the ball away with 6:44 to go before Moravian turned the ball over on downs. Gettysburg's next drive looked like it would end with a punt but Greyhound junior wide receiver Rocco Del Priore mishandled the punt and Gettysburg recovered. However, the Bullets were unable to capitalize with a bad snap on the ensuing punt being recovered by Greyhound senior defensive back D.J. Wacker at the Gettysburg 37-yard line.
Moravian would move to the 22-yard line on a 15-yard pass from Johnson to sophomore wide receiver Vince Reed. On the next play, Johnson found sophomore wide receiver Julian Gentile at the one-yard line, and Johnson capped of the scoring drive with a one-yard touchdown run, his second rushing touchdown of the season. Johnson would also run in the two-point conversion to cut the Gettysburg lead to 22-14 with 1:18 remaining.
The Greyhounds attempted a short pop up kickoff but the Bullets recovered and would run out the clock.
Gettysburg's high-powered offense was limited to 234 yards on 66 plays in 30:19 with Smith completing eight of ten passes for 113 yards and two touchdowns. Delia had 115 yards on 33 carries with a score while Twer caught five passes for 84 yards and a touchdown.
Moravian had 154 yards on 59 plays in the contest. Johnson was five-for-13 for 48 yards, and he added 26 yards on 13 carries. Reed caught two passes for 24 yards while Moyer was two-for-three for 12 yards and ran for 52 yards and a touchdown on six carries. Junior running back Joe Tegan had 12 yards on nine attempts in the game while junior running back C.J. Billera had seven yards on 14 carries.
Junior linebacker Larry DelViscio and junior defensive lineman Robert Swierkowski each had eight tackles to lead the Gettysburg defense with DelViscio adding two tackles for loss. Senior linebacker Marc Graziano had seven tackles for the Bullets.
Senior linebacker Ryan Hartzell led the Moravian defense with 15 tackles while senior defensive lineman Allen Petros had 12 tackles including four for loss to raise his school record to 62 career tackles for loss, and one sack to move into second in school history with 26 and a half sacks. Senior linebacker Stephen Kircher had eight tackles with one and a half tackles for loss and a half a sack for the Greyhounds while senior defensive lineman Seth Payne had seven tackles with two tackles for loss and one sack. Junior linebacker Luke Trexler contributed six tackles with three and a half for loss while junior defensive back Travis King and sophomore defensive back Brandon Lesko each had six tackles as well.
