GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The defense came up with six takeaways while the offense rushed for 278 yards and five touchdowns as the Bullets cruised by winless McDaniel College 35-3 on Homecoming in a Centennial Conference football match-up Saturday afternoon at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.
The Bullets (5-0, 4-0 CC), who scored 21 points off turnovers and ended the game on a 28-0 run, continued their best start since 1987 while keeping pace with Johns Hopkins University at the top of the Centennial Conference standings. The Blue Jays defeated Juniata College 40-20 on Saturday.
Senior linebacker Larry DelViscio led all players with a season-high 13 tackles for a defense that has now allowed just 41 points halfway into its season. Junior linebacker Cody DiAmore contributed 11 hits and an interception while senior safety Drew Olsen made two of the Bullets four interceptions. Freshman cornerback Brian Calatozzo, making his first collegiate start, totaled nine tackles.
Gettysburg entered the game ranked fourth in Division III in rushing and received 95 yards and a touchdown from sophomore tailback Eddie Hutchins on just 12 carries. Senior tailback Ted Delia rushed for 68 yards and three touchdowns, pushing his season total to a career-best 11, while senior quarterback Kody Smith contributed 48 yards and a touchdown on the ground. He also threw for 108 yards on 11-of-22 passing.
Junior tailback Joe Rollins rushed for 138 yards on 28 carries for McDaniel (0-5, 0-4 CC). Sophomore quarterback Nick Valori passed for 117 yards and three interceptions while freshman safety Aaron Chester led the Green Terror defense with eight tackles.
The Bullets first touchdown was set up by an interception by junior cornerback Hugo Nolasco at midfield on McDaniel's opening drive. Nolasco returned it 23 yards to the McDaniel-27, and five plays later Delia rumbled in from 4 yards out to put Gettysburg on top 7-0 with 9:17 on the clock.
The Green Terror answered with a seven-play, 61-yard drive, capped by a 35-yard field goal by Bill Castor with 5:33 left in the first quarter that made it 7-3.
The two teams then exchanged punts twice before trading turnovers. Olsen came up with his first interception to thwart McDaniel's fifth drive, wrestling the ball from a Green Terror receiver in the end zone. The Bullets went on to drive 80 yards, with Smith capping the march with his fifth touchdown rush of the season. He broke through a hole in the line and sprinted down the left sideline for a career-long 36-yard dash, making it 14-3 with 3:18 remaining in the half.
Gettysburg's defense dug in its heels in the second half, allowing only one drive beyond nine yards. The Green Terror went three-and-out and punted on their first four possessions, and two of those punts led to a touchdown. Hutchins made it 21-3 with a 10-yard touchdown run with 11:08 left in the third quarter before Delia took a pitch left and raced 16 yards for his second TD of the game as the Bullets lead ballooned to 28-7 with 3:03 remaining in the quarter.
On the final play of the quarter, a Gettysburg punt glanced off the return man, and freshman Michael Kornegay fell on it at the Terror-11. Two plays later, after a 10-yard run, Delia pounded it in from 1 yard away to make it 35-3 and set the final score.
McDaniel put together its only sustained drive of the second half on its first possession of the fourth quarter, when it moved 51 yards to the Bullet-27. But backup quarterback Set McFall's pass was intercepted by DiAmore with 7:15 left. Gettysburg then drove to the McDaniel-14 before turning it over on downs, and senior defensive end Chris Nolan forced and recovered a fumble four plays later to effectively end the game