WESTMINSTER, Md. – The Franklin & Marshall football team jumped out to a 10-0 lead and never looked back during its 27-17 Centennial Conference victory at McDaniel on Saturday. The Diplomats pushed their advantage to 20-10 before the half and were leading 27-10 early in the third quarter before closing out the road victory.

Ty Tremba completed 12 of his 20 passes for 209 yards and two touchdowns while rushing for another. Mitch Wagner added 90 yards in the rushing game as the Diplomats pounded out 126 yards on the ground. Franklin & Marshall's defense held McDaniel to just 253 yards of total offense during the first three quarters before the Green Terror bolstered that during the final 15 minutes trying to chase down their deficit.

First Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 10, McDaniel 3)

The Diplomats got the first possession of the game and promptly went 47 yards before Laurence Miller connected on a 29 yard field goal. Chris Albero got that drive started when he returned a short kickoff 24 yards to 41. Two runs of 21 and 17 yards from Wagner helped get the ball in the red zone before the first score. Luke Dauberman forced a fumble that was recovered at the McDaniel 42, setting up the first touchdown drive. After two runs from Wagner for a first down, Tremba found Matt Hanna for a 31-yard touchdown reception. McDaniel's only score of the opening quarter was a 33-yard field goal.

Second Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 20, McDaniel 10)

F&M already had the ball in McDaniel territory to start the second quarter after a 35 yard reception from Hudson Zawadzkas. A 46-yard field goal from Miller came just 55 seconds into the second quarter to make the score 13-3. The Diplomats made it four consecutive drives with a score after a three-and-out. A 28-yard reception and defensive pass interference call got the ball down to the Green Terror 15 before Tremba ran the rest of that distance for the second Diplomats' touchdown of the day. McDaniel answered that touchdown with one of their own on a 13 play drive and got its first defensive stop on a fumble. McDaniel had the ball in the red zone at the end of the first half but could not cut further into the F&M lead as the Green Terror missed a 31-yard field goal just before the half.

Third Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 27, McDaniel 10)

Although McDaniel received the second half kickoff, LT Kelley came up with a sack to force a fumble and recovered that loose ball at the Green Terror 26. With excellent starting possession, Tremba found Sutton for a 14-yard touchdown reception on the third play of the drive to make the score 27-10 with 13:07 to play as the Green Terror never made it to F&M territory during the remainder of the third period.

Fourth Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 27, McDaniel 17)

The Green Terror got the ball into Diplomats' territory during both of their drives during the fourth quarter. The second of those two drives results in a touchdown pass with 2:30 to play. Nevertheless, McDaniel was called for illegal procedure during the onside kick attempt to give the Diplomats the ball. F&M then went to a steady dose of Wagner to run out the remaining 2:30 on the clock which featured three Green Terror timeouts.

Key Players/Stats

Thanks to two long fourth quarter drives, McDaniel ended with a 22-19 advantage in first downs and 365-335 edge in total yards. Five different Diplomats had at least 20 yards receiving. That group was led by four catches for 54 yards from Sutton as both he and Hanna had receiving touchdowns. Despite the slight difference in yardage, F&M went the entire contest without having to punt.

Matt Wertz had another big day on the secondary for the F&M defense with 14 tackles and two pass break ups. Nico Medlar was second on the team with eight tackles, while Matt Scully had a team-high three pass break ups in addition to his seven tackles. The Diplomats broke up 10 passes in total as a team.

Up Next

Sitting at 5-2 overall (2-2 Centennial Conference), the Diplomats wrap up their non-conference schedule at home next Saturday with the third and final match of the Centennial-NJAC scheduling agreement. That final non-conference date will be a part of the College's TrueBlue Weekend as Kean visits Shadek Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff.