LANCASTER, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall football team racked up 412 yards of offense and limited Kean to just 215 yards while celebrating True Blue Weekend in style during a 40-14 victory over the visiting Cougars. The Diplomats led 23-6 after a thrilling blocked PAT that was returned 97 yards for a two-point conversion late in the second quarter. The hosts then left no doubt as to final outcome in the third quarter by scoring 17 unanswered to race ahead 40-6 during the eventual victory.
Brady Aselton had two more touchdown receptions, while Gary Lewis also found his way back to the end zone with two scores of his own. The longest touchdown of the day came from senior Mitch Wagner as he raced 61 yards in what was a 21-0 F&M lead at the time, just over 20 minutes into the contest.
First Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 14, Kean 0)
After being stopped around midfield to start the game, the Diplomats quickly turned the momentum back in their favor as Daniel Shakal picked off Kean quarterback Christian Rando on the Cougars' third offensive play. Shakal returned that interception to the Kean 23 before a 17 yard pass to Ben Moir set up a goal-to-go situation. Just two plays later, Ty Tremba found Aselton for the seven-yard touchdown and the early 7-0 lead. Kean went three-and-out on its next two drives.
F&M closed its first quarter scoring with a little bit of trickery as Jack Sutton caught a lateral pass and found Gary Lewis in the end zone for the 14-0 lead. The Cougars ran 10 plays during the first quarter and had just eight yards of offense to show for their efforts after 15 minutes of action.
Second Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 23, Kean 6)
The most explosive play from the Diplomats' offense came when Wagner burst through the line for a 61-yard run to make the score 21-0. Kean's only touchdown of the first half came on a 61-yard drive. During a dominant defense showing all afternoon, F&M even managed to score on that possession. Matt Wertz initially blocked the PAT which was collected by Nico Medlar. Medlar was being pursued heavily by the Cougars' defense, but wisely found Justin Gerhart on a lateral. Gerhart carried the ball the final 60 yards of that return for two points in the Diplomats' favor. F&M had the ball down to Kean's seven late in the second quarter, but saw a field goal attempt get blocked to keep the Cougars from falling further behind.
Third Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 40, Kean 6)
With the defense denying Kean at every turn, the Diplomats had a seemingly commanding lead at the break and there was no doubt after the third quarter. Lewis caught his second touchdown of the afternoon to start the third quarter scoring. On the next F&M possession, Lewis caught a 29-yard pass from Tremba to set up Laurence Miller's 46-yard field goal. The smothering Diplomats' defense needed just one play to get off the field during the next drive as Luke Dauberman came up with a strip sack that was recovered by Austin Hadley and led to Jake Fant finding Aselton in the end zone as the lead was extended to 40-6.
Fourth Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 40, Kean 14)
With the game in hand, four quarterbacks got to see the field on Saturday for the Diplomats. However - thanks to complete control on the scoreboard - all of the touches were on the ground as Seth Taylor got five carries for 14 yards to help F&M run out the clock despite one final score from the Cougars.
Key Players & Statistics
Tremba threw for 222 yards as he completed 16 of his 25 passes for two touchdowns. Fant added another touchdown through the air as the Diplomats racked up 257 passing yards. Lewis was the team's leading receiver with seven receptions for 88 yards. He also carried three times for 15 yards out of the backfield for 103 yards of total offense. Including his huge touchdown run, Wagner finished with just eight carries on the day, but accounted for 87 rushing yards with an average of 10.9 yards per carry. As a team, F&M averaged 4.6 yards per ruhing attempt on the ground.
Jeff Decker was once again an unstoppable force on the defensive line as four of his eight tackles were made behind the line of scrimmage. His day included two sacks and one forced fumble in addition to his team lead in tackles. Dante Medlar was second on the team with seven tackles, while Shakal added five stops in addition to his interception as Matt Wertz, and Owen Walsh were second on the team with five tackles each as 30 different players registered a stop for the F&M defense which saw plenty of fresh bodies get into the game during the second half. The Diplomats finished with 11 tackles for loss on the afternoon.
Up Next
The final road game of the regular season will be a huge one as the Diplomats travel to Muhlenberg next Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff in Allentown. Sitting at 2-2 in the Centennial Conference (6-2 overall), the Diplomats are currently in fourth place in the conference standings but have a chance to catch one of the teams ahead of them as Muhlenberg enters the game with a 4-1 CC record after falling to Johns Hopkins on the final play of regulation today in what was a battle for the inside track to the Centennial Conference Championship.
