UNION, N.J. – The Franklin & Marshall football team churned out 295 rushing yards during a 34-14 win at Kean on Saturday afternoon. The win improves the Diplomats to 5-3 on the year after F&M picked up its first road victory of the 2024 season. After both teams scored a touchdown during the first quarter, the Diplomats outscored the host Cougars (2-6) 27-7 during the final three quarters.

The Diplomats' defense turned in another incredible performance as it held Kean to just 134 yards of total offense. That total included just 12 rushing yards for the Cougars who were also picked off once through the air while the F&M defense came up with three sacks.

First Quarter (F&M 7, Kean 7)

Kean took its only lead of the contest when Franklin & Marshall fumbled just outside of its own red zone on the opening drive of the game. Three plays later, the Cougars connected on a 16-yard touchdown pass for a 7-0 lead just over three minutes into the game. F&M countered with a methodical scoring drive as the Diplomats covered 80 yards over 19 plays while taking 9:47 off the clock, capped by quarterback Jake Fant finding Gary Lewis for a five-yard touchdown pass. There were only two plays that went for more than 10 yards on that physical drive, with one of those being a 27-yard rush from Matt Scully in punt formation during a fourth-and-22.

Second Quarter (F&M 17, Kean 7)

Franklin & Marshall made it two touchdown drives in a row when they went 80 yards over nine plays during its next offensive possession. The big play on that drive was a 20-yard reception from Aidan Hutchison, while Aaron Rascoe broke off a pair of runs for 10-plus yards. Eventually Fant found Will Higson in the end zone for an eight-yard reception to give the Diplomats the lead for the rest of the afternoon. Laurence Miller's 38-yard field goal with under a minute to play in the opening half made it a 17-7 contest at the break.

Third Quarter (F&M 20, Kean 7)

The Diplomats continued to add to the lead with their fourth consecutive scoring drive to start the second half. Chris Albero picked off the second play from scrimmage in the third quarter at the Kean 37. A 19-yard reception from Lewis got the ball inside the five before Miller converted from 43 yards to make the score 20-7.

Fourth Quarter (F&M 34, Kean 14)

The hosts had another extended drive that was converted into seven points during the early minutes of the fourth quarter. That scoring drive went 95 yards over 17 plays. After throwing for the first two touchdowns of the game, Fant took this one in himself on a one-yard dive to make it a 27-7 contest with just over 10 minutes left in regulation. The final rushing touchdown of the game came from Rascoe who got into the end zone to put an exclamation point on his second consecutive 100-plus yard rushing performance as he carried 19 times for 125 yards throughout the victory. Kean answered with its only touchdown since the opening drive, but F&M was able to run out the remaining 4:09 to secure the road win.

Key Players/Statistics

After coming in during the second drive of the game, Fant finished with 14 completions for 154 yards and two touchdowns. Lewis was his favorite target with eight catches for 78 yards and the one touchdown reception. Jack O'Hearen – the Centennial Conference's leading receiver entering the week – caught three passes for 39 yards. F&M carried the ball a total of 50 times for 295 rushing yards, an average of 5.5 yards per carry. Those totals propelled the Diplomats to 434 yards of total offense while racking up 43:55 in time of possession.

In addition to converting a fourth-and-22 into a first down, Scully led the defense with six tackles on the afternoon. He had one tackle for loss, with Jacob Hille, Connor Hille, and Quincy Long each registering a sack. In total, the Diplomats finished with seven tackles for loss, led by 1.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage from both Jacob Hille and Jeff Decker.

Up Next

Franklin & Marshall will wrap up the home portion of the 2024 regular season schedule this coming Saturday when it hosts Muhlenberg for a 1 p.m. kickoff. The game – which will also decide third place in the Centennial Conference standings – will be Senior Day for the Diplomats with the pregame festivities getting underway before the opening kickoff.