ALLENTOWN, Pa. --- Freshman running back Chris Negron became just the third player in Moravian College history to run for 1,000 yards in a season, and junior linebacker Kevin Bracken had a career-high 18 tackles with an interception and was named the Greyhounds' Most Valuable Player but it wasn't enough as Moravian fell to rival Muhlenberg College, 24-12, in Centennial Conference action Saturday at Scotty Wood Stadium.
"It was an emotional game as it always is with a rivalry game," stated Head Coach Jeff Pukszyn. "We were unable to capitalize on a few chances, especially in the first half. I think the overall effort was there on both sides of the football, and we definitely showed that in the second half and made some great adjustments."
Negron ran for 137 yards on 21 carries to finish the year with a Centennial Conference freshman record of 1,052 yards on 169 carries. Negron went over the milestone in the late in the third quarter when he burst up the middle for a 43-yard gain after the Greyhounds started a drive at their own 10-yard line. Negron is the first running back to reach 1,000 yards since Chris Jacoubs hit the mark for the third straight year in 2005 with 1,014 yards. Jacoubs also ran for 1,051 yards in 2003 and a school record 1,789 yards in 2004. Jim Joseph is the only other Greyhound to reach the 1,000-yard mark with 1,048 yards in 1985, Moravian's first 10-game season.
"Chris really came on around the Ursinus game at the midpoint of the season (his first 100-yard game of the year)," Pukszyn said. "He started to figure it out with all the repetitions in practice and getting comfortable being a college student. To get over a 1,000 yards is a great accomplishment, and I think our offensive line play has been tremendous, especially in the second half of the season. Chris and Robbie have worked really hard on the read-option stuff. Being just a freshman, we're excited to see Chris grow on the field and in Negron is Moravian's first 1,000-yard rusher to hit the mark in fewer than 200 rushing attempts in a season. Saturday's 139 yards at Muhlenberg marked the fifth time Negron had surpassed 100 yards in a game and fourth time in six contests.
Bracken led all players with his 18 tackles that included 12 solo stops. He also added two pass break-ups and his team-leading fourth interception of the season that Bracken returned 28 yards to stop Muhlenberg's first possession of the second half. Bracken's performance capped an outstanding junior year that saw him make a team-high 107 tackles to go with seven tackles for loss, four interceptions, 10 passes defended, a forced fumble and a fumble recovery.
"All year long Kevin has been our emotional leader, and he puts himself in great positions," Pukszyn stated. "He played his heart out today along with all of the guys on our team. Kevin really puts a lot of time in during the week and has been showcasing that on Saturdays. I'm glad we have him back for another year."
Senior quarterback Robbie Moyer helped account for both touchdowns the Greyhounds scored against the Mules. Moyer got the Greyhounds on the board with 1:50 left in the second quarter on a five-yard touchdown run, his team-leading eighth touchdown of the fall. Moyer then threw his final collegiate touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Will McLaughlin from 31 yards out on a fourth down play with 8:31 to play to set the final score. Moyer completed 7-of-20 passes for 118 yards in the game with one touchdown and one interception, he also ran for 81 yards and the score on 16 attempts. Moyer also punted four times in the game and averaged 42.5 yards per punt with one inside the 20-yard line.
"Robbie managed the game really well today and has persevered through his three years on campus," Pukszyn said. "He is a leader and will stay a leader throughout his life. Robbie is going to be very successful in life, and we're going to be better with Robbie having been our quarterback. He really clicked with Tim McGorry when we had him come in last spring as the offensive coordinator, and the pair has done a phenomenal job showing what our offense is capable of in the future."
Moyer completed 121-of-225 passes for 1,293 yards with 11 touchdowns and eight interceptions this fall, and he also led the Greyhounds with 193 rushing attempts for 799 yards and eight scores. Moyer finished his career with 1,041 rushing yards on 263 attempts.
McLaughlin had two catches for 50 yards and his touchdown in the game while freshman wide receiver Jalen Snyder-Scipio caught four passes for 68 yards.
"We saw in Will and Jalen today two guys that are 6-foot-4 receivers that are back for a bunch more years," Pukszyn said. "Will's touchdown catch was a great job of going after the ball and out-jumping the defensive back. We're looking forward to all the snaps these two still have left in their careers."
Junior defensive back Chris McGrath added 13 tackles for the Greyhounds while junior defensive back Ricky Sinnig had nine tackles. Junior linebacker Brendan Downey added eight tackles while sophomore defensive back Anthony Orlando contributed seven tackles with one tackle for loss and a sack.
Orlando finished his first year with the Greyhounds with 103 tackles, joining Bracken over the century mark, the first time Moravian has had two players record over 100 tackles since Steve DiRenzo (106) and Jason Goldan (102) did it in 1999. The last Moravian defensive player to record 100 tackles in a season was John Cupples in 2002 with 105 tackles.
"Chris has really come along this season, especially after we made the move to put Anthony in a nickel linebacker position and insert Chris into the starting lineup," Pukszyn explained. "His name was called, and he has been answering the bell. Again, Chris is another junior and Anthony being a sophomore, we're excited to have them in the program for another year. With Ricky and Noah Miller, who is just a freshman, we have a great group of guys, and I get to coach them personally as their position coach so I'm really looking forward to see what they can do next fall."
Senior running back Kevin Van Laar was won the Bianco Award as Muhlenberg's MVP of the game after running for 167 yards and a touchdown on 40 carries. Senior quarterback Joe Carlucci came in during the second half and completed 6-of-6 passes for 108 yards and two touchdowns to junior wide receiver Cody Geyer, who finished the game with 10 receptions for 138 yards. Freshman quarterback Nick Palladino completed 14-of-26 passes for 119 yards and one interception, and he ran for 28 yards on seven carries.
Sophomore defensive back Matt Pagano led the Mules with nine tackles while senior linebacker Tom Holland added seven tackles.
The Greyhounds had the opening possession of the game and picked up a first down before Moyer punted from the shotgun on fourth down to keep the ball away from Geyer. The Mules would drive into Moravian territory on their first possession but turned the ball over on downs.
After a Greyhound punt that Geyer returned 28 yards, Muhlenberg struck first with a two-yard scoring run by Van Laar to take a 7-0 lead with 1:37 left in the first quarter.
Freshman wide receiver Liam Nolan returned the ensuing kickoff 39 yards to set the Greyhound offense up at midfield but the drive ended with another Moyer punt downed at the five-yard line. After the teams traded punts, the Mules looked to extend their lead but junior Connor Winter's 29-yard field goal attempt was wide left.
Moravian used the momentum from the miss to drive 80 yards in eight plays to get on the scoreboard on Moyer's five-yard touchdown run. The extra-point failed when the snap bounced back to Moyer, and he covered the ball. Moyer set up the score with a 26-yard pass to Snyder-Scipio.
It looked as if the Greyhounds had stopped the Mules after three plays, but Muhlenberg pulled a fake punt on fourth-and-7 as senior tight end Joe Hogh took the short snap and ran 45 yards for a first down. Winter would connect on an 18-yard field goal with seven seconds left in the first half to send Muhlenberg to the locker room with a 10-6 lead.
"The fake punt got us but the defense was good enough to hold them to three points," Pukszyn stated.
The Mules had the ball to open the second half, and on the third play of the drive Bracken stepped in front of a Palladino pass for his fourth interception and returned it just past midfield. The Greyhounds' offense moved down to the eight-yard line before sending sophomore kicker David Fiumara on to attempt a 25-yard field goal. However, Mules junior tight end Michael Long blocked the attempt.
"We're going to have to look at the tape to see what went wrong on the blocked kick," Pukszyn stated.
The Greyhounds' defense forced another punt after just three plays but on Moravian's first offensive play, Muhlenberg Gene Blanco intercepted a Moyer pass. That drive would end in a punt for the Mules that was downed at the Moravian 10-yard line.
On the Greyhounds' first play, Negron ran up the middle for 43 yards and passed 1,000 yards for the season on the play. Three plays later, Moravian was in the red zone after a 13-yard run by Moyer. However, the Greyhounds ended up turning the ball over on downs at the Muhlenberg six-yard line.
"We weren't able to covert on fourth-and-short and those are momentum swings you can't have," Pukszyn said. "We just weren't able to overcome them today."
The Mules took that defensive stop and turned it into a 15-play, 94-yard drive capped by Carlucci's 19-yard touchdown pass to Geyer to extend the lead to 17-6 with 11:56 left in the game. Muhlenberg would pull an onside kick and recovered the ball. Two plays later, Carlucci found Geyer for the 45-yard scoring pass to push the Mules' lead to 24-6 with 11:24 remaining.
"The onside kick really hurt us," Pukszyn explained. "It was something that we worked on all week, and we didn't make the play when we needed to. That type of play can only happen once a game, and you have to be ready for it and we weren't."
Moravian would drive 74 yards on 10 plays on its next possession with Moyer hitting McLaughlin with the 31-yard touchdown strike down the far sideline on fourth-and-7. The Greyhounds attempted a two-point conversion with a trick play but junior wide receiver Terry Rodriguez's pass was too far for Snyder-Scipio to pull in leaving the score at 24-12 with 8:31 to play.
The teams would trade punts before the Mules ran out the clock to end the game. Muhlenberg controlled the ball for 40:18 of the game and ran 93 plays on offense.
Saturday marked the final game in the careers of Moravian's nine seniors – Moyer, defensive back Rees Judge, wide receiver Julian Gentile, defensive back Keith Hinds, running back Mike Corman, defensive lineman Fran Corbett, offensive lineman Julian DiGiacomo, offensive lineman Nick Fitzsimmons and tight end Chase Zimnik, who missed the game after being injured two weeks ago.
"When they say strength in numbers, we didn't have the numbers but we definitely had the strength with these nine guys," Pukszyn explained. "They did a phenomenal job leading this team through the tough times at the beginning of the season. They kept this team together when we weren't getting the wins. I'm very proud of this group, and it was the most fun group that I've been around in a very a long time and that is because of the seniors and their leadership abilities."
With the win, Muhlenberg picks up a point in the Annual Matte Award standings but the schools splitting results in cross country earlier in the day at the NCAA Division III Mideast Regional, Moravian holds a 5-4 lead after the fall season.
