LANCASTER, Pa. – The No. 16 Franklin & Marshall football team hosted its first-ever NCAA Tournament game in program history on Saturday afternoon, falling 28-24 to Eastern in a matchup of two programs that were both making their first appearance on the national stage. Franklin & Marshall appeared to be in prime position for another one of its fourth quarter comebacks as the Diplomats had the ball down to Eastern 10 before the Eagles came up with an interception during the final seconds to advance to the third round of the NCAA Tournament.
Gary Lewis accounted for two of the Diplomats' touchdowns as he broke his own school record with his 18th touchdown reception of the season to finish with 40 receiving touchdowns for his career. Tremba threw for 228 yards to become the first quarterback in school history to eclipse 9,000 for his career as he finishes with a school record 9,186 passing yards and 85 passing touchdowns. His 10,055 career total offensive yards and 95 touchdowns responsible for are also school records.
First Quarter (Eastern 14, Franklin & Marshall 0)
The Eagles jumped out to the early lead behind the play of Middle Atlantic Conference Offensive Player of the Year Brett Nabb. Nabb finished with four rushing touchdowns and 194 rushing yards. Nabb set the tone early with six rushes out of Eastern's first 12 plays, putting his team up 7-0 on a designed run from the one. After the two sides exchanges three-and-outs, Nabb made Eastern's second scoring drive a much quicker jaunt as he took the third play from scrimmage 43 yards to put his team up 14-0 after 15 minutes.
Second Quarter (Eastern 21, Franklin & Marshall 14)
Franklin & Marshall used its own big play to get on the board during its first drive of the second quarter as the Tremba-Lewis connection hit for a 45-yard touchdown to cut the lead in half. However, the Eagles immediately answered with a pounding run game that featured Nabb's third touchdown of the afternoon. That drive was also aided by the Diplomats being called for running into the punter after the defense appeared to have another quick three-and-out. F&M seemed to have some momentum heading into the locker room as a missed exchange on an Eastern handoff was recovered by Kyle Checchio and led to Tremba finding Jack Harrison just two plays later for a 29-yard touchdown reception.
Third Quarter (Eastern 21, Franklin & Marshall 17)
The Diplomats once again came out of the locker room strong as they got the ball into Eastern territory on the opening drive of the quarter before an interception. Nevertheless, Checchio corralled Nabb for a sack which helped F&M start at midfield. The Diplomats got the ball all the way down to the 14 before Michael Fleming trimmed the lead to 21-17 following a 31-yard field goal attempt.
Fourth Quarter (Eastern 28, Franklin & Marshall 24)
As seemed to be the story all day, the Eagles went back to Nabb when they needed a score most as he ran the ball on six of the team's next eight plays – completing a pass on another – before punching it in from seven yards to go up 28-17. Lewis hauled in another pass from Tremba to cap a five-play scoring drive as he and Tremba finished with the 38 career combined touchdown receptions which is tied for the most in the NCAA among an any quarterback-wide receiver duo. This touchdown came from 25 yards out and made the score 28-24 with 12:24 left in regulation before both defenses held their own in that remaining time.
The Diplomats had the ball in Eastern territory during the final two chances at the game-winning drive. Tremba delivered nine fourth quarter comeback drives during the course of his career. However, the Eagles defense came up with a big stop on fourth down with just over six minutes to play. The Eagles ran seven plays to give the Diplomats just 2:11 to work with on the potential game-winning drive. The hosts gave a valiant effort, converting one fourth down attempt on an 11-yard run from Tremba, but were denied another come from-behind win on the interception from Gashawn Moody.
Key Stats/Players
Tremba completed 14 of his 23 passes for 228 yards and three touchdowns. Jack Harrison had a game-high 76 yards receiving, with Lewis accounting for 74 yards in the receiving game on just three catches – two of which went for touchdowns. The Diplomats rushed the ball for 116 yards, with Louis Paris carrying 11 times for 58 yards while averaging 5.3 yards per touch. Rafe Carner and Checchio led F&M's defense with 11 and 10 tackles, respectively. Checchio led the team with 1.5 tackles for loss and also recovered one fumble.
For Eastern, Nabb finished with a 194 rushing yards while needing to throw the ball just seven times for 46 yards. Jeremiah Avrilien also rushed for over 100 yards to go over 1,000 for the season. Eastern got great pressure on the quarterback and recorded five sacks. MAC Defensive Player of the Year Jason Bateman had one of those sacks with a forced fumble and tied with teammate Gashawn Moody for the team lead with 10 tackles.
The Diplomats finish a tremendous 2025 season with a 9-2 record that included an outright Centennial Conference Championship and the team's first-ever appearance in the NCAA Tournament behind a record-breaking 14-member senior class.
