BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian College football team jumped out to an early 7-0 just two and a half minutes into action but the Greyhounds ended up falling to No. 21 Susquehanna University, 31-7, in Centennial Conference action at Rocco Calvo Field as the Hounds hosted their annual Homecoming game.
The Blue and Grey had 238 yards in the game with 193 through the air as sophomore quarterback Christopher Mills completed 13-of-21 passes for 193 yards with a touchdown. That touchdown pass was on Moravian's first play of the game and covered 84 yards to sophomore wide receiver Eddie Olsen, who had three catches for 104 yards. Freshman running back Carrington Smith had three receptions for 18 yards to go with nine carries for 25 yards on the ground. Senior running back Roberto Diez had 40 yards on eight carries and caught two passes for 26 yards while senior wide receiver Andrew Lelie had two receptions for 22 yards. Freshman running back Sherwin Stewart added 19 yards on five carries while catching one pass for four years. Junior Trevor Cunningham caught one pass for 11 yards while senior fullback Sal Pagano had one reception for eight yards.
Junior defensive back Jackson Buskirk led the Moravian defense with nine tackles to go with one pass break-up while sophomore linebacker Nicholas Azpeitia made eight tackles in his first career start. Junior linebacker Tanner Barr, junior defensive lineman Shane Mastro and junior defensive lineman Austin Heisler all had seven tackles with Barr making one for loss. Junior defensive back Justin McRae added six stops with an interception and three passes defended while junior defensive back Renard Nicholson had five tackles. Junior defensive lineman PJ Weierbach contributed three tackles with a pass break-up and a fumble recovery while junior defensive lineman Brady Hornbaker forced a fumble.
Moravian's defense forced the River Hawks to punt after three plays on the game's opening drive but the Greyhounds would be pinned back at their own 16-yard line. On the Hounds' first play, Mills found Olsen behind the Susquehanna defense with about a 30-yard pass, and Olsen out-ran the River Hawks for the 84-yard touchdown. Freshman kicker Trevor Yacuboski split the uprights to give Moravian a 7-0 lead just 2:23 into the contest.
The River Hawks moved down into the red zone on their third possession of the afternoon before a fumbled exchange on a handoff ended up on the ground with Weierbach covering the fumble for the Greyhounds to give the Blue and Grey the ball at their own three-yard line.
Susquehanna would force Moravian to punt and would convert a short field into a 29-yard field goal early in the second quarter to cut the Greyhounds' lead to 7-3 with 11:54 until the intermission. The River Hawks scored their first touchdown of the afternoon on the next drive, the first of two touchdowns in 13 seconds, after a strip sack led to another score to give Susquehanna a 17-7 lead with 6:06 left in the second quarter. The River Hawks scored once more in the first half with nine seconds left in the half to take a 24-7 edge into the locker room.
The teams played a scoreless third quarter with McRae's interception ending a drive in the middle of the quarter. The fourth quarter saw the River Hawks score again with 4:29 remaining to finish off the scoring in the contest.
Moravian is scheduled to return to action on Saturday, October 26 in a Centennial Conference game at Juniata College beginning at 12:00 p.m. in Huntingdon.
