Posted: Oct 12, 2024
BETHLEHEM, Pa. --- The Moravian University football team scored four first half touchdowns on the way to a 34-14 victory over visiting The Catholic University of America in Landmark Conference action at Rocco Calvo Field Saturday afternoon.
How It Happened
- The Greyhounds took the opening kickoff and marched 75 yards on 14 plays to take an early lead. Senior quarterback Jared Jenkins was 6-for-6 on the drive, and he found senior wide receiver Diego Del Castillo for an 11-yard touchdown pass to get the Blue & Grey on the scoreboard. Freshman Ryan Child added the extra-point as Moravian led 7-0 with 6:06 left in the first quarter
- The Cardinals punted on their first two possessions while the Hounds punted once
- Catholic, which intercepted Jenkins on the last play of the first period, knotted the score at 7-7 on the opening play of the second quarter on a six-yard run
- Moravian answered right back with a quick five-play, 68-yard drive as Jenkins found Del Castillo again, this time for a 27-yard touchdown. The Blue & Grey were unable to get the hold down on the extra-point to keep the Greyhounds edge at 13-7 with 12:19 until halftime
- The Cardinals punted after three plays
- The Hounds put together another quick scoring drive as they covered the 70 yards to the end zone on just seven play. Jenkins tossed a 15-yard scoring strike to graduate student wide receiver Jordan Bingham for his third TD pass of the afternoon Child make the extra-point to push the edge to 20-7 with 7:09 until the intermission
- Catholic picked up one first down before punting once again
- Moravian had another long yardage drive, going 86 yards in eight plays. Jenkins and Del Castillo connected for third time in the first half, this time on a nine-yard touchdown pass. Child's extra-point extended the Greyhounds' advantage to 27-7 with 1:56 still to play in the first half
- The Blue & Grey got the ball back when sophomore defensive back Aidan Lane intercepted a pass. However, Moravian would end up punting as the teams headed to the locker room with the Hounds leading 27-7
- The second half began with both teams punting twice. Catholic put together a long drive into the red zone before the Greyhounds' defense made a stop at the one-yard line on fourth down to keep the Cardinals out of the end zone
- The Hounds were unable to capitalize on the defensive stop and would punt out of the end zone
- Catholic used the short field to get on the scoreboard on a seven-yard run to make it 27-14 with 9:46 left I the fourth quarter
- Moravian answered right back with an eight-play, 75-yard drive with Jenkins tossing another touchdown pass as he found freshman wide receiver Josh Ludlow with a 22-yard scoring strike. Child added one more extra-point to extend the lead to 34-14 with 5:08 to go
- The Cardinals turned the ball over on downs before the Hounds punted on their final possession
- Catholic had one more opportunity before the clock ran out
Inside the Numbers
- The Greyhounds racked up 401 yards of total offense on 69 plays while controlling the ball for nearly 35 minutes
- Jenkins completed 25-of-30 passes for 276 yards with five touchdowns, and he ran for 14 yards on seven carries. Jenkins threw for five scores against Catholic for the second straight fall, and he is now third in program history with 45 career touchdown passes
- Del Castillo caught eight passes for 91 yards and a career-high three touchdowns while Ludlow had five receptions for 69 yards and a score and one punt return for three yards
- Bingham pulled in four passes for 67 yards and a touchdown while freshman wide receiver Justin Wistuba caught his first career pass for 17 yards
- Sophomore wide receiver Nick Coffaro had one reception for 16 yards while junior running back Isiah Rico added one catch for seven yards and one carries for two yards and senior wide receiver Nick Weston recorded one reception for five yards
- Graduate student running back Joey Richmond ran for 64 yards on nine carries, and he also caught two passes for seven yards and had one kickoff return for 15 yards while sophomore running back Cole Maholtz added 22 yards on 14 carries
- Junior running back Camron Tinajero contributed 13 yards on three carries to go with two receptions while freshman running back Jed Bendekovits added ten yards on two carries and freshman quarterback Declan McCarthy had one carry for a yard
- Child was 4-for-4 on extra-points while freshman punter Jack Corrigan averaged 43.7 yards on six punts with a long of 66 yards, and he kicked off six times for an average of 55.7 yards and a pair of touchbacks
- Senior linebacker Chad Newhard led the Moravian defense with six tackles with one for loss while sophomore defensive back Cleveland Harding and junior linebacker Clay Basile each had five tackles with Harding breaking up a pass and Basile adding a half a tackle for loss
- Junior defensive back Shea Endean, freshman linebacker Malachi McNeil-Harrison, senior defensive lineman Jeremy McGuigan and graduate student linebacker Declan Coors all made four stops with Ending adding a pass break-up, McNeil-Harrison recording two and a half tackles for loss and a sack and McGuigan contributing one and a half tackles for loss and a sack
- Junior defensive lineman Nathan Carr had a sack for the Hounds while sophomore defensive back Antonio Bowen added a pair of pass break-ups
Up Next for the Greyhounds
- Saturday, October 26 vs. Juniata College, 1:30 p.m. – Homecoming
- Saturday, November 2 at Susquehanna University, 1:00 p.m.