Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
Senior Nick Savant broke one school record and tied two others as the Muhlenberg football team opened the 2017 season with a 62-19 win against Wilkes.
Savant rushed 18 times for 271 yards and four touchdowns while catching two passes for 80 yards and another score. The 351 all-purpose yards broke the school record of 344 set by current assistant coach Joshua Carter in 2000. Savant tied his own marks with five touchdowns and 30 points, coming within six yards of his own record of 277 rushing yards.
Junior Matt Gibbon, making his first career start at quarterback, completed 11 of 12 passes for 109 yards and a touchdown. He also ran for a touchdown.
Muhlenberg rolled up 607 yards of total offense, including 403 on the ground, and scored a touchdown on its first seven offensive possessions. The 62 points were the most scored by the Mules in a season opener since 1924.
The defense held Wilkes to 275 total yards, including just 151 over the final three quarters. Senior Jake Morra, making his return after suffering a season-ending injury in last year's opener, made a career-high 14 tackles and helped turn the tide of the game with his first career interception. Junior Nate Corvil returned a pick 27 yards for his second career touchdown.
Preseason All-America tight end Garrett Armstrong caught 10 passes for 121 yards and a touchdown for the Colonels. Sophomore Jose Tabora completed 23 of 35 passes for 195 yards and three scores, two to senior Aaron Coyne.
Muhlenberg took the opening kickoff and needed only five plays to travel 85 yards for the game's first points. Savant covered most of that distance with a 24-yard run followed by a 41-yard sprint for a touchdown.
Wilkes responded with a 14-play, 70-yard drive, capped by Tabora's 6-yard pass to an open Coyne in the back of the end zone.
Two plays after the kickoff, Savant raced 54 yards for a touchdown to make it 13-6.
The Colonels quickly drove into Muhlenberg territory on their next drive, but Morra intercepted a pass over the middle at the 18-yard line.
Savant, who rushed for 155 yards in the first quarter alone, scored his third touchdown from a yard out on the fourth play of the second quarter.
Wilkes took advantage of a fumbled punt to close to within a touchdown on Tabora's 9-yard pass to Armstrong, but the Mules put the game out of reach by scoring four touchdowns in the final 7:59 of the half.
Savant started the surge by taking a screen pass from freshman Michael Hnatkowsky – his first career attempt – and going 70 yards for a touchdown. Three plays after a Wilkes punt, Savant reached the end zone from 50 yards out.
The Mules foiled a fake punt attempt following the next Wilkes drive, and six plays later Gibbon hit senior Stephen Dranoff with a 3-yard touchdown pass. Three plays after that, Corvil intercepted a pass on the sideline and raced 27 yards for a score to make it 47-13.
The 34 second-quarter points were one short of the school record for points in a quarter, set last year against Dickinson.
Gibbon and Mark Riggio scored second-half touchdowns for the Mules.