Allentown, Pa. – Nick Palladino threw for a career-high 375 yards and broke two school records to lead the Muhlenberg College football team to a 41-27 win against Ursinus in its final home game of the regular season.
With their fifth straight win, the Mules (8-1, 7-1) clinched no worse than a second-place finish in the Centennial Conference for the fifth straight year. Muhlenberg can tie for the CC championship with a win against Moravian next week if Johns Hopkins loses to last-place McDaniel.
Palladino completed 32 of 44 passes with four touchdowns and no interceptions in becoming the first Mule quarter with three consecutive 300-yard games. He came into the game needing 16 completions to break the school record of 187 in a season and flew past that with ease, coming up one short of the school record for completions in a game.
Other Muhlenberg players to enjoy milestones were Connor Winter, who kicked four extra points to break the school record of 124 in a career; Cody Geyer (5 catches, 63 yards), who caught his 100th career pass; and Ian Gimbar, who broke the school record for career sacks (which he had tied earlier in the season).
Nick Lamb became the eighth different Mule to reach double digits in receptions in a game, hauling in 10 passes for 102 yards and a pair of scores.
Muhlenberg held Ursinus (6-3, 5-3) to 49 rushing yards and held possession for more than 40 minutes.
The Mules took a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter on a 34-yard field goal by Winter, capping a 12-play, 61-yard drive – one of three drives of at least 12 plays they had in the game. Muhlenberg's next possession was a 13-play, 71-yard march that ended with Palladino hitting Lamb for a 7-yard scoring strike that made it 10-0 with 12:13 left in the half.
The Bears scored their first touchdown before getting their first first down. Five minutes into the second quarter, Steve Ambs sacked Palladino, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Michael Moronese at the Muhlenberg 5. Three plays later, Corey Kelly pushed into the end zone from a yard out.
The next three possessions all ended in touchdown passes. Palladino hit Mike Harris for a 29-yard score before Ursinus answered with a 9-yard pass from Kevin Monahan to Darius Jones.
Muhlenberg took over with 2:12 left in the half and executed a two-minute drive that ended with Palladino's 9-yard TD pass to Michael Long (6 catches, 83 yards) with 25.7 seconds left.
Ursinus stopped Muhlenberg on third down on the opening drive of the second half, but a rare penalty for roughing the snapper gave the Mules a first down. Two plays later, Palladino hit Lamb from 36 yards out to make it 31-13.
After Winter's second field goal extended the lead to 34-13, the Bears closed to within two scores on Monahan's 2-yard pass to Safi Hasseeb with 10:11 left.
On the next drive, Moronese sacked Palladino on back-to-back plays to bring up fourth down, but Ursinus was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving Muhlenberg an automatic first down. Later in the drive, the Bears were given two unsportsmanlike penalties on the same play, and Max Cepeda capped the drive six plays later with a 1-yard run for the clinching TD.
Monahan finished 21-of-39 for 191 yards and three touchdowns for Ursinus. Ambs had two of the Bears' six sacks and forced two fumbles, while Moronese had three sacks. Kyle Adkins made a game-high 16 tackles.
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<B>Scoring summary</B>
Gettysburg (3-3, 3-2) 0 0 6 0 -- 6
Muhlenberg (5-1, 4-1) 7 17 20 3 -- 47
M-Max Cepeda 5 run (Connor Winter kick), 3:40
M-Cepeda 1 run (Winter kick), 13:14
M-Ryan Delaney 15 pass from Nick Palladino (Winter kick), 7:38
M-Winter 34 field goal, 0:00
M-Nick Lamb 33 pass from Palladino (Winter kick), 10:26
M-Cody Geyer 35 pass from Palladino (kick failed), 7:36
G-Fred Caruso 17 pass from Zach Miller (pass failed), 1:54
M-Khiry Hughes 50 interception return (Winter kick), 1:06
M-Winter 49 field goal, 8:02
<B>Team Stats</B>
G M
First downs 20 22
Rushes-yards 42-96 45-169
Passes comp-att-int 20-47-2 20-35-0
Passing yards 170 230
Total yards 266 399
Punts-avg 7-35.9 7-35.7
Penalties-yards 4-43 7-82
Fumbles-lost 2-0 1-1
Time of possession 28:16 31:44
Sacks by-yards 1-4 10-55
<B>Individual Leaders</B>
Rushing
G-Sam McDermott 5-42.
M-Max Cepeda 21-103.
Passing
G-Zach Miller 20-42-2--170.
M-Nick Palladino 20-34-0--230.
Receiving
G-Fred Caruso 5-34.
M-Cody Geyer 7-92.
Interceptions
M-Khiry Hughes 1-50, Greg DeLade 1-2.
</PRE></FONT>
<HR>
Muhlenberg 41, Ursinus 27
Allentown, Pa. – Nick Palladino threw for a career-high 375 yards and broke two school records to lead the Muhlenberg College football team to a 41-27 win against Ursinus in its final home game of the regular season.
With their fifth straight win, the Mules (8-1, 7-1) clinched no worse than a second-place finish in the Centennial Conference for the fifth straight year. Muhlenberg can tie for the CC championship with a win against Moravian next week if Johns Hopkins loses to last-place McDaniel.
Palladino completed 32 of 44 passes with four touchdowns and no interceptions in becoming the first Mule quarter with three consecutive 300-yard games. He came into the game needing 16 completions to break the school record of 187 in a season and flew past that with ease, coming up one short of the school record for completions in a game.
Other Muhlenberg players to enjoy milestones were Connor Winter, who kicked four extra points to break the school record of 124 in a career; Cody Geyer (5 catches, 63 yards), who caught his 100th career pass; and Ian Gimbar, who broke the school record for career sacks (which he had tied earlier in the season).
Nick Lamb became the eighth different Mule to reach double digits in receptions in a game, hauling in 10 passes for 102 yards and a pair of scores.
Muhlenberg held Ursinus (6-3, 5-3) to 49 rushing yards and held possession for more than 40 minutes.
The Mules took a 3-0 lead late in the first quarter on a 34-yard field goal by Winter, capping a 12-play, 61-yard drive – one of three drives of at least 12 plays they had in the game. Muhlenberg's next possession was a 13-play, 71-yard march that ended with Palladino hitting Lamb for a 7-yard scoring strike that made it 10-0 with 12:13 left in the half.
The Bears scored their first touchdown before getting their first first down. Five minutes into the second quarter, Steve Ambs sacked Palladino, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Michael Moronese at the Muhlenberg 5. Three plays later, Corey Kelly pushed into the end zone from a yard out.
The next three possessions all ended in touchdown passes. Palladino hit Mike Harris for a 29-yard score before Ursinus answered with a 9-yard pass from Kevin Monahan to Darius Jones.
Muhlenberg took over with 2:12 left in the half and executed a two-minute drive that ended with Palladino's 9-yard TD pass to Michael Long (6 catches, 83 yards) with 25.7 seconds left.
Ursinus stopped Muhlenberg on third down on the opening drive of the second half, but a rare penalty for roughing the snapper gave the Mules a first down. Two plays later, Palladino hit Lamb from 36 yards out to make it 31-13.
After Winter's second field goal extended the lead to 34-13, the Bears closed to within two scores on Monahan's 2-yard pass to Safi Hasseeb with 10:11 left.
On the next drive, Moronese sacked Palladino on back-to-back plays to bring up fourth down, but Ursinus was called for unsportsmanlike conduct, giving Muhlenberg an automatic first down. Later in the drive, the Bears were given two unsportsmanlike penalties on the same play, and Max Cepeda capped the drive six plays later with a 1-yard run for the clinching TD.
Monahan finished 21-of-39 for 191 yards and three touchdowns for Ursinus. Ambs had two of the Bears' six sacks and forced two fumbles, while Moronese had three sacks. Kyle Adkins made a game-high 16 tackles.