By Tyler Morello
Staff Writer
The College’s football team is off to its best start in 13 years after holding on to a 17-13 win over Franklin and Marshall College. They have not started a season 2-0 since 2011, when they won their first three games and went 7-3 on the year.
The Lions were led once again by fifth-year seniors and team captains Trevor Bopp and Malin Jaskinski, and they were quite unstoppable against the Franklin and Marshall defense. Jasinski racked up 13 receptions, just like how he did in the season opener against Eastern University.
Jasinkski also eclipsed the 100-yard mark once again, with 139. He has now put up 26 catches for 291 yards through just the first two games of the year. To put this in perspective, he finished with 36 receptions and 362 receiving yards in nine total games played in the 2023 season.
Bopp initiated another steady offense for the Lions, throwing for 218 yards and two touchdowns with just one interception thrown. He completed 23 of his 34 pass attempts on the day.
Bopp got the Lions out to a lead near the end of the first quarter after punting on their first two drives, as he connected with fellow fifth-year and team captain Thomas Burke for a 7-yard touchdown.
The College got great contributions from their defense all game as they did not give up a touchdown in the first half, and only gave up one all game. Junior technology education major Bill Westerby led the defense with seven tackles while senior biology major Brandon Kuse commanded the pass rush with 2.5 sacks on the day.
Two possessions after the Lions’ first score, Franklin and Marshall put together a thirteen-play 63-yard drive and eventually settled for a field goal to get on the board and make it 7-3 with around five minutes left in the half.
The Lions came right back and got down all the way to the Diplomat's 4-yard line after a 45-yard run by senior Jayson Schmidt. Schmidt ended with an incredible 174 rushing yards on the day while adding 17 more yards on the receiving end. Bopp ended up having his next pass unluckily tipped and intercepted.
After forcing a quick 3-and-out, the Lions got themselves right back deep into Diplomat’s territory when Schmidt coughed up the ball for their second turnover in two possessions. Kuse picked up the offense by getting a strip sack as Westerby recovered at the Diplomat’s 40-yard-line with 14 seconds left in the half.
Bopp completed a quick 16-yard pass to Jasinski which set up a 41-yard kick for freshman Tim Willever, who calmly knocked down his first career field goal, just sneaking it over the crossbar.
The Diplomats received the ball in the second half and had a six minute drive that led to a 19-yard field goal. They then got the ball right back after forcing a turnover on downs on the Lions and were able to finally punch in their only touchdown of the game with 3:43 to go in the third quarter.
Despite having what felt like more productive drives at this point in the game, the Lions wind up down 13-10. After the Franklin and Marshall touchdown, Bopp and Schmidt led a 7-play 68-yard drive ending in a 10-yard passing touchdown to junior business management major Ryan Gill, putting the Lions up 17-13 heading into the fourth.
The College played their most complete quarter in the fourth, getting timely stops on defense and displaying fantastic clock management on offense. Junior kinesiology & health sciences major Justin Kurc picked off the Diplomats deep in the College’s territory to stop their surge.
After another turnover on downs, the Lions were put in another tough spot on defense, needing a big stop when it mattered. With the Diplomats getting deep into the Lion’s red zone, junior Jack Young came away with the Lion's second interception of the game.
The dilemma for the Lions at this point was that there were still over 8 minutes left in the game. They needed to burn as much time as possible, and that is exactly what they did. Completing three straight third down conversions and then completing the game-sealing fourth down. This allowed the Lions to milk over 8 minutes to secure their second win of the young season.
The College will now turn their attention to their next matchup at Muhlenberg College (1-1) on Saturday, Sept. 21 at 1 pm. They will seek their first 3-0 start to a season since 2011.
