PITTSBURGH, Pa. – The Franklin & Marshall football team secured a 31-24 victory over Carnegie Mellon in a battle of two teams that are both receiving votes in the major national polls. The Diplomats (8-1, 6-0 CC) raced out to a 13-0 lead in the first quarter and picked off a pass late in the fourth to seal the victory. Today's huge win on the road locks in a battle with Johns Hopkins next Saturday for the Centennial Conference Championship inside Shadek Stadium at 1 p.m.

In the midst of today's historic victory, Gary Lewis broke the Franklin & Marshall record for career touchdown receptions with the 36th of his career. F&M faced its only deficit of the afternoon after a 45-yard field goal gave the Tartans a 24-23 lead with 4:36 left in regulation time before Anthony Valdez broke through for a 23-yard touchdown run that allowed F&M to retake the lead before it picked off the Carnegie Mellon quarterback for the second time to officially seal the win.

First Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 13, Carnegie Mellon 0)

Special teams has brought several big plays to the Diplomats this season and Saturday was no exception as Carnegie Mellon was forced to punt on its first offensive drive and fumbled the special teams snap. Michael Pembroke scooped up that lose ball and returned it for a touchdown just over five minutes into the game. Franklin & Marshall got its offense rolling late in the first quarter and great field position when it pinned Carnegie Mellon back deep. Starting just shy of midfield when the Diplomats got the ball on offense, three pass plays of over 10 yards (twice to Lewis and once to Hudson Zawadzkas) got the Diplomats inside the five before Ty Tremba called his own number for the two-yard touchdown run.

Second Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 13, Carnegie Mellon 7)

The Franklin & Marshall defense kept Tartan quarterback Joey McGinnis in check for most of the afternoon, but he did manage to escape once and did not stop until he found the end zone 47 yards later to cut the deficit to a 13-7 F&M lead after 30 minutes of play.

Third Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 23, Carnegie Mellon 21)

The halftime break seemed to reignite the Diplomats' offense as it took the first drive of the half 54 yards for a score. That was set up by Rafe Carner's interception around midfield. Four consecutive running plays, including a targeting penalty, set the table for Lewis to haul in his record-breaking catch for 28 yards as F&M went ahead by a 20-3 score. That would start a stretch of four straight scoring drives as Carnegie Mellon embarked on back-to-back touchdown drives that were separated by Michael Fleming kicking a 24-yard field goal after F&M was stopped on a third-and-one from the seven-yard line.

Fourth Quarter (Franklin & Marshall 31, Carnegie Mellon 24)

Protecting a two point lead, the Diplomats put forth their best defensive effort during the fourth quarter as F&M forced the hosts into a pair of three-and-outs to start the final 15 minutes of play. Carnegie Mellon's only offense of the quarter came when it picked off a pass that was returned for a touchdown, but an illegal block penalty brought the play back to the F&M 35. Even with the great field position, the Tartans managed just seven yards on eight plays thanks in part to a huge sack from Kyle Checchio that forced the hosts to make a 45-yard field goal which gave them a 24-23 lead.

During the game-winning drive, both Matt Eitner and Jack Harrison had catches of 15 and 24 yards, respectively, which were sandwiched between 15 rushing yards from Louis Paris. On the fifth play of the drive, it was Valdez who found free space on the right side for a 23-yard touchdown run which proved to be the game winner. That score came with 1:55 to go and Carnegie Mellon got a huge boost to start their drive with a 51-yard kickoff return that was aided by a 15-yard face mask penalty. CMU started the drive at the 28 but a short rush and sack from Austin Hadley set up the third down pass play that Connor Hille intercepted to deny the final scoring bid and allowed F&M to run out the remaining 51 seconds.

Key Players/Stats

Franklin & Marshall out gained the Tartans by a 364-289 margin in a balanced attack. The Diplomats had 244 yards in the air and another 120 yards on the ground. Tremba's favorite target in the passing game was Lewis as he caught eight passes for 92 yards and the record-breaking touchdown. Harrison also caught eight passes for 77 yards. Three players ran for at least 30 yards. Paris had a team-high 43 yards on 14 carries, while Valdez's game-winning touchdown run gave him 41 rushing yards for the contest, with Tremba accounting for 30 more yards on the ground.

The Diplomats had a very strong presence along the defensive line as they allowed just 66 rushing yards to Carnegie Mellon. That included Kyle Checchio making a team-best 10 stops at linebacker, featuring 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks. F&M had four sacks on the afternoon and made a total of nine tackles behind the line of scrimmage. Hadley added 2.5 tackles per loss to his huge sack during the final Carnegie Mellon drive of the day.

Up Next

The same two teams who have been the only undefeated squads on conference play since the second week of the Centennial slate will finally meet this coming week as Johns Hopkins comes to Shadek Stadium for a 1 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, November 15. That game will also be Senior Day with those festivities scheduled to begin around 12:35 p.m. on the field. That matchup with the Blue Jays will automatically determine who gets to lift the conference trophy and get the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament where F&M will be looking for its first NCAA appearance in program history.