GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Senior Justin Davidov (Ossining, N.Y./Ossining) accounted for 296 yards of total offense, junior Nick Rella (Denville, N.J./Morristown-Beard) rushed for a pair of scores, and Gettysburg College held Moravian College scoreless in the second half on the way to a 28-14 victory in Centennial Conference football action at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.
Gettysburg (1-4, 1-3 CC) did not allow a score over the game's final 44 minutes. The Bullets held Moravian (0-5, 0-4 CC) to just 115 yards over the final two quarters and recovered a pair of fumbles, both scooped up by senior Glenn Benson (North Plainfield, N.J./North Plainfield). Junior Mike McKnight (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) accounted for a career-high five pass break-ups as Gettysburg held the Greyhounds to just 13 completions.
"Our game plan was to play a full 60 minutes from start-to-finish," said Davidov. "We had a great start and a great finish and that's what we were looking for."
Davidov opened with a 30-yard rush on the first play from scrimmage. After another 15-yard scamper by the senior quarterback later in the drive, senior Ryan Thompson (Oakland, N.J./Indian Hills) hauled in a 11-yard pass for the game's first score.
Moravian wasted no time answering as Doug Erney connected with Aaron Hudson on a 65-yard reception on the team's first offensive play.
After coming up empty on a drive into Greyhound territory, the Bullets converted later in the first quarter. A 19-yard pass from Davidov to Thompson set up a six-yard rush by Rella into the end zone to make it 14-7 with 4:58 left in the opening period.
Moravian ended a 15-play drive with a 19-yard touchdown pass from Erney to Alex Pierce to tie the game at the beginning of the second quarter. That would be the visitor's last score and Gettysburg came right back on the next possession to take the lead. Davidov lofted a pass up to freshman Cole Menas (Keedysville, Md./Saint James) who snatched the ball over the defender for his first career touchdown.
At the end of the third quarter, the Greyhounds began to march up the field. The visitors converted a first down on a fake punt and reached Gettysburg territory on a 15-yard rush by Erney. Moravian was poised on the door step, but a mishandled hand-off left the ball on the turf and Benson jumped on the recovery.
"Coaches put us in the right position every week," said Benson, who also recovered a muffed punt in the third quarter. "They've been doing that since week one. We were able to make the plays we needed to make this week and we came out with a win."
Later in the fourth quarter, Gettysburg converted five first downs during an 11-play, 80-yard scoring drive. Rella capped the possession with a 14-yard touchdown to lift the Bullets in front 28-14 with 5:40 remaining.
"Nick stepped up and had two huge touchdowns," said Davidov. "Our perimeter running game was huge, our perimeter blocking game was huge, and our offensive line played a full 60 minutes. It was awesome."
McKnight led the defensive stand on Moravian's final drive, swatting away the opening pass and then breaking up the final play on fourth down. The junior safety leads the conference with 11 pass break-ups this season, which is the most by a Bullet since Nathan Smith '05 had 11 in 2003.
"I'm just trying to do whatever I can do put my team in the best position to win," said McKnight. "When they throw it at me my job is to go make the play and that's what I was doing."
Davidov completed a season-high 20 passes to 10 different receivers, totaling 201 yards overall. He also rushed for 95 yards on 18 carries. Davidov surpassed 2,000 career passing yards and 1,000 career rushing yards in the game, becoming just the fourth Gettysburg quarterback to eclipse both of those milestones.
"It's a huge honor especially in this program which has had a lot of great players," noted Davidov. "I'm doing whatever I can to help the team win…ultimately I'm just trying to get us down the field and score points."
Junior Chase Fee (Spotswood, N.J./Spotswood) picked up 38 yards on six carries and Rella finished with 30 yards on seven totes. Abdul-Karim picked up 40 yards on three catches. For the second time this season, the offensive line did not allow a sack.
Junior Jake Skinner (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) paced the defense with 13 tackles. Benson added seven stops and 2.5 tackles for a loss, while freshman Thomeir Richardson (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Central), and juniors Logan Aikey(Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg) and Matt Graziano (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley) each posted six tackles.
Erney finished 13-of-27 for 179 yards and two touchdowns for Moravian. Hudson hauled in three catches for 80 yards and Pierce totaled four receptions for 60 yards. Frank Dangello led the ground game with 68 yards on 19 carries. Tim Valentine recorded 13 tackles, while Steve Ewald and Nick Tone each added 10.
Gettysburg travels to Juniata College (2-3, 1-3 CC) next Saturday. Game time is 1 p.m. The Eagles edged the Bullets 41-35 last season and are coming off a dramatic 42-41 overtime win at McDaniel College this weekend. The conference-wide bye week looms after next week's outing.
"Our goal is to win every game, but we're taking it one week at a time," said McKnight. "I know we can beat any time in this conference, but for right now we're going to take a look at Juniata and game plan for them this week. Hopefully we can get some momentum going and take that through the rest of the season."
Bullets Shut Down Greyhounds
/seasons/2017/boxscores/20170930_p1fi.xml
2017
Moravian
14
Gettysburg
28
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Moravian (0-5) | 7 | 7 | 0 | 0 | 14 |
| Gettysburg (1-4) | 14 | 7 | 0 | 7 | 28 |
Sep 30, 2017