Defense Leads Football to Road Win
After scoring at least 50 points in each of its last two games, the Muhlenberg football team leaned on its defense in a 34-6 win at McDaniel.
The Mules (3-2, 1-1) allowed only 132 total yards and nine first downs. The lone touchdown for the Green Terror (1-4, 0-2) came on a short field following a long kickoff return. Muhlenberg did not allow a drive of more than seven plays in the entire game nor a drive of longer than 23 yards until the fourth quarter.
Junior Peyton Elliott and sophomore CJ Newman led the defense with 6 tackles apiece, with Elliott recording a sack for a 12-yard loss. Freshman Ben Girard and senior Matt Papa also had sacks for double-digit losses in yards. Senior Isaiah Lobelo notched his first career interception to set up Muhlenberg'sĀ fourth touchdown.
On offense, the Mules scored five touchdowns to top the 30-point mark for the fifth consecutive game. It's the first time in their history that they've scored at least 30 points in each of their first five games of a season.
Muhlenberg scored on its second drive, converting one third-and-long and one fourth down before senior Joe Repetti hit seniorĀ Matt McKenna with a 7-yard touchdown pass.
After the Green Terror scored its lone touchdown to close to within a point, the Mules needed only seven plays to move 73 yards and score their second TD, with Repetti passing to McKenna for 17 yards to the McDaniel 15 and then running it in on the next play.
The score remained 14-6 until Muhlenberg put the game away by scoring on three straight drives in the fourth quarter. Junior Amari Dunn and senior Aaron Daniels sandwiched 1-yard touchdown runs around a 9-yard scoring catch by junior Caden Reph, who recorded his first career touchdown.
McKenna finished with seven receptions for 83 yards, while junior Matthew Manning led the Mules on the ground with 54 yards on 11 carries.
Sophomore Tommy Donnelly averaged 11.7 yards on three punt returns in his first action of the season, including a 17-yard runback.
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