SELINSGROVE, PA (September 10, 2022) -- The No. 25 Susquehanna University football squad led 32-7 at the halftime break over Franklin & Marshall College, and held off a late Diplomat rally to open Centennial Conference action with a 39-36 win in play from Amos Alonzo Stagg Field at Doug Arthur Stadium.
The star of the game for the River Hawks was sophomore return standout
Kyle Howes, who returned not one but two kickoffs for touchdowns Saturday. His first effort came on the opening kickoff of the contest, as he raced down the left sideline for a 95-yard scoring play just 16 seconds into the contest. The 95-yard kickoff return tied the school record, set by Howes last season in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Game win over Widener College.
After the River Hawks forced a 3-and-out, SU got the ball back and went 58 yards over eight plays before punching it in with a one-yard touchdown run from senior running back
Frankie Negrini. On the ensuring extra point,
Eddie Nugent faked the conversion and ran untouched on an option play with
Elijah Hoffman into the end zone for the 15-0 lead.
F&M (1-1, 0-1 Centennial) scored on the next drive on a 38-yard touchdown pass from Jake Fant to Trey Glass to make it 15-7. SU dominated the rest of the first half, outscoring the Diplomats 17-0 in the second stanza highlighted by a Nugent to
Michael Ruisch connection to make the score 25-7. SU got the ball back and Ruisch connected with
Bryce Ellinger from 18-yards out to make it 32-7 at the break.
After the intermission, Franklin & Marshall trekked 70 yards over 13 plays before capitalizing with a six-yard touchdown pitch and catch from Logan Clouse to Jack Sutton. On the next kickoff Howes once again showed his pull away speed, as he split the seam up the middle and outran the kicker down the right sideline for a 93-yard return touchdown. With the return, Howes tied the school record for kickoff return yards in a game with 188, while he now holds three of the four longest kickoff returns in program history.
That was the last time though that the River Hawks would get on the board, as F&M slowly edged back into the contest. The Diplomats would score the final 23 points of the game, including a Crouse pass to Sutton from 19-yards out to make the score 39-36 with 50 seconds left. On the onside kickoff that followed, Franklin & Marshall recovered the loose ball but it was touched by F&M a yard early to secure the win for SU.
Ruisch finished the game 19-of-35 for 205 yards and four interceptions for Susquehanna, tossing for a touchdown while hauling in a score as well.
Jacob Erb finished with four catches for a team-high 55 yards, while Howes added four catches for 53 yards. Negrini was SU's leading rusher with 43 yards on 15 carries, and
Gavin Coles posted 16 yards on six totes. Defensively,
John Nicosia was all over the place with 14 tackles, a sack and 1.5 tackles for loss. Senior
Cameron Noble posted a career-high nine tackles and a shared sack, while
Drew Robinson also posted eight stops.
Jake Schultes,
Josh Parson and
Josh Buck all posted seven assisted tackles, and
Brendan Krumenacker finished with a sack, two tackles for loss and four stops. SU had 10 tackles for loss in the game, along with six sacks. The River Hawks also broke up seven balls, led by the two from
Edwin Maxwell and
Andrew Wells.
F&M got 63 yards on the ground from Aaron Roscoe, while Logan Clouse came off the bench to rush for 56 yards in addition to throwing for two scores on 12-of-25 passing. Justin Gerhart had three interceptions for the Diplomats, while Dante Medlar also picked off a pass in the loss.
Up Next
- The River Hawks will continue its short two-game homestand next weekend, welcoming Moravian University to town September 17 at 1 p.m. for Ring of Honor weekend in Centennial Conference play.
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--RIVER HAWKS--
