Greyhounds' 2nd Half Rally Falls Short at McDaniel
September 14, 2013

Greyhounds' 2nd Half Rally Falls Short at McDaniel

WESTMINSTER, Md. --- Senior quarterback Robbie Moyer and freshman running back Chris Negron each ran for second half touchdowns but it wasn’t enough for the Moravian College football team to overcome as 21-point halftime deficit as the Greyhounds fell to McDaniel College, 21-14, in Westminster, Maryland Saturday to begin the 2013 Centennial Conference season.

Box Score

WESTMINSTER, Md. --- Senior quarterback Robbie Moyer and freshman running back Chris Negron each ran for second half touchdowns but it wasn't enough for the Moravian College football team to overcome as 21-point halftime deficit as the Greyhounds fell to McDaniel College, 21-14, in Westminster, Maryland Saturday to begin the 2013 Centennial Conference season.

The game was a tale of two halves for the Greyhounds. Moravian allowed the Green Terror to score three times in the first 16:37 of the game and roll up 332 yards before the intermission while controlling the clock for 20:31 of the first half. After halftime, the Greyhounds' defense limited McDaniel to just 57 yards and no points. On the offensive side of the ball, Moravian had 123 yards in the first half before gaining 190 yards in the second half with the two touchdown runs.

"I told the guys after the game that you have to play for a full 60 minutes," said Head Coach Jeff Pukszyn. "You can't play the second half of a game, and we had to come out and start a lot faster than we did. I think when we look at the tape it is all going to be about the fundamentals of not tackling and not having pursuit to the ball.

"I credit the kids on both sides of the football that we came out in the second half and started fast," Pukszyn continued. "I thought they fought tooth-and-nail to get back what we gave them. Mike Hoyt has a good football team at McDaniel but I think if we would have been able to help ourselves a little in that first half, and the way we played the second half, we could have overcome some things. This is a game of two halves, and we have to be able to play both."

Moyer started the scoring for the Greyhounds with a one-yard run on a fourth-and-goal play just 3:37 into the second half. It was Moyer's second rushing touchdown of the season. Moyer finished with 117 yards on 22 carries, and he completed 13 of 31 passes for 96 yards with his lone interception coming on a final heave deep in attempt to tie the game with 20 seconds remaining.

Negron hit pay dirt for the first time in his collegiate career with 4:46 left in the game on a two-yard dive. Negron gained 96 yards on 20 carries, and he added two receptions for three yards and a pair of kickoff returns for 54 yards.

Moyer and Negron helped the Greyhounds run for 217 yards on 44 attempts, the first time in nearly five years that Moravian had rushed for more than 200 yards. The Greyhounds last reached to total with 264 yards at Lebanon Valley on September 20, 2008.

"It is week two of the season. Chris is a freshman and Robbie is getting settled so they were definitely positives when it comes to the run game," Pukszyn explained. "I think Robbie did a good job of managing the game again this week, and Chris from week one to week two really stepped up."

Senior Joe Rollins finished with 219 yards on 29 carries for McDaniel with touchdown runs of 44, 21 and 15 yards. During his second scoring run of 21 yards, Rollins broke away from three would-be Moravian tacklers as he scampered into the end zone.

"When you're playing against the best running back in the conference, and I think Joe Rollins is hands down, you can't tackle with one person," Pukszyn said. "You need hats to the football. We didn't do that in the first half and that really hurt us. One guy has to get him around the legs and two more have to come in because we know we're not going to bring him down with one person. I don't think anyone has in the conference in the last two years because he is that good."

Moravian appeared to cut into the Green Terror lead early in the second quarter when Moyer hit sophomore wide receiver Jimmy McCarthy with a 43-yard catch-and-run into the end zone less than two minutes after Rollins' final touchdown but a penalty on the Greyhounds, one of ten Moravian penalties in the game, negated the touchdown. The Greyhounds would end up punting on the drive.

On its next drive, McDaniel nearly made its lead 28-0 late in the second quarter but sophomore defensive back Anthony Orlando stopped sophomore running back Matt Miller at the three-yard line on fourth down.

The Green Terror forced Moravian to punt, and McDaniel was driving again late in the first half when freshman defensive back Noah Miller intercepted a Ryan Yamada pass at the 15-yard line.

The Greyhounds took the opening kickoff of the second half and marched 75 yards in 12 plays with Moyer capping off the drive with his scoring run. Negron helped put Moravian in scoring position with a career long 20-yard run on the drive.

McDaniel's first drive of the second half ended in a punt three times but penalties by the Greyhounds gave the Green Terror a pair of first downs before having to finally punt.

The teams traded punts for the rest of the third quarter and into the fourth before Moravian started a drive on its own 45-yard line with 8:36 to go. The drive appeared to stall at the McDaniel 8-yard line when Moyer's fourth down pass into the end zone for freshman wide receiver Jalen Snyder-Scipio was incomplete. However, McDaniel was called for pass interference giving the Greyhounds a first-and-goal. Moyer fumbled on the next play but McCarthy ended up with the ball for Moravian. Negron dashed off the right side and dove through the offensive line to score on the next play. Sophomore David Fiumara's extra-point pulled the Greyhounds within seven points, 21-14, with 4:46 to play.

Moravian would get the ball back again in scoring position three plays later when junior linebacker Ed Buoye intercepted Yamada and returned the ball 13 yards to the McDaniel 21-yard line. The interception was the third of the game by the Moravian defense.

Facing a fourth-and-five at the McDaniel 16, Moyer's pass towards the far sideline hit off of McCarthy's fingertips and fell out of bounds ending the drive. If McCarthy could have held one, the Greyhounds would have had first-and-goal with 2:46 to play.

Moravian's defense held the Green Terror to three yards and forced a punt with 30 seconds left on the clock. Moyer attempted to hit Snyder-Scipio down the far sideline with a 35-yard pass, but the ball was high and bounced off of Snyder-Scipio's hands and into the hands of McDaniel senior linebacker Mike Cousar to end the game.

McCarthy finished the game for Moravian with two receptions for 25 yards while Snyder-Scipio had two catches for 11 yards. Junior wide receiver Sam Boyer pulled in four receptions for 36 yards for the Greyhounds while sophomore wide receiver Will McLaughlin had three catches for 21 yards.

Yamada completed 17 of 28 passes for 123 yards for the Green Terror with senior wide receiver Nick O'Melia catching eight passes for 45 yards.

For the second straight week, junior linebacker Kevin Bracken and Orlando were in double figures for tackles. Bracken made a game high 13 stops with ten solo tackles and a pass break-up while Orlando added 11 tackles.

"I think Kevin is really coming into a leadership role for our front seven, and doing a really good job," Pukszyn said. "I thought Anthony did some good things too but overall as a whole defensively, we came out in the second half and played with more confidence. If we can do that for 60 minutes, there are going to be much better things to come, and the same goes for the offense too. "

Junior defensive back Ricky Sinnig made nine tackles with one for loss and a pass break-up while Buoye had eight stops for the Greyhounds to go with his interception. Junior linebacker Richard Kugel has six tackles to go with an interception he returned 19 yards in the first half while senior defensive back Rees Judge also has six stops. Freshman defensive lineman John Snyder had five tackles in his first career start with two for loss including the Greyhounds' only sack in the game.

Cousar led the McDaniel defense with 11 tackles, two tackle for loss, three passes defended and his interception.

Moravian will open its 2013 home season on Saturday, September 21 when nationally-ranked Johns Hopkins University comes to Rocco Calvo Field for a 2:00 p.m. Centennial Conference kickoff.