LANCASTER, Pa. - The Juniata College football team had a tough day in their conference-opener against Franklin & Marshall, falling 52-7 Saturday afternoon.
Austin Montgomery (Bedford, Pa./Bedford Area HS) went 15-26 for 203 yards a touchdown and an interception. Daulton Snyder (New Oxford, Pa./New Oxford) had two catches for 52 yards, Shaheed Ross had three catches for 52 yards and Justin Helsel (Martinsburg, Pa./Central) had three receptions for 20 yards and a touchdown. Matt Lehr (Dover, Pa./York Catholic) had three catches for 43 yards.
Peyton Edwards (State College, Pa./State College Area) had a team high 10 tackles, two tackles for loss, a sack and a forced fumble. John Macley (Belleville, Pa./Mifflin County HS) had six tackles and an interception while Joel Reighard (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) had eight tackles. Anton Morrow (Boiling Springs, Pa./Boiling Springs) had six tackles and including two tackles for loss.
The Eagles won the toss and elected to receive, but their first drive was three and out. The Diplomats started at their own 45, and over seven plays drove 55 yards in a little over three minutes to score the game's opening touchdown and take an early 7-0 lead. The Eagles started their second drive of the game their own 27.
The drive started with a sack to set up second and 13, and Montgomery connected with Lehr for a 26 yard gain to get to the 50. A 15-yard facemask penalty advanced the Eagles to the F&M 35. Lehr rushed for a two-yard gain and Montgomery connected with him for a six-yard gain to set up 3-2. A false-start penalty made it 3-7, so Montgomery got that and then some hooking up with Jake Notestine (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Dauphin HS) for 29 yards to make it first and goal on the F&M three. Three plays later, Montgomery hit Helsel for six as Juniata tied the score at 7-7.
Franklin and Marshall drove down the Juniata 16 on the next drive that saw the Eagle defense force two third downs but they couldn't get off the field. Juniata got a stop on third down on their own 16, but the Diplomats went for it on fourth down and scored on a 16-yard touchdown pass to make it 14-7.
The second quarter saw Juniata fumble twice as the F&M offense started to get hot. They scored on their first three possessions of the second quarter as they went up 35-7 on a two-yard rushing touchdown with 3:12 left in the half. The next Eagle drive stalled at their own 48, and punted to the ball to the Diplomat 11. F&M started driving again, mostly through the air, down to the Juniata 36. With less than a minute left, Tanner Erisman of Franklin and Marshall threw the ball towards the end zone but Maclay picked off the pass to end the threat.
Franklin and Marshall scored three times in the third to complete the score line of 52-7.
With 10 minutes to go in the game, Juniata started from their own 32 and began to move the ball as Ross made all three of his grabs. He made catches of 13, 35 (waived off because of penalty) and 34 yards to get the ball to the F&M 36. Sean Owens (Schweksville, Pa./Perkiomen Valley) caught a pass for seven yards, Vinit Patel (Harrisburg, Pa./Central Daupin HS) caught a pass for three yards and Ross drew a pass interference penalty to get down to the 10. The next pass was picked off in the end zone for a touchback.
Franklin and Marshall took over at their own 20 and got their own 28 before Edwards forced a fumble that was recovered by Evan Imgrund(Claysburg, Pa./Claysburg-Kimmell).
The Eagles eventually punted the ball down to the F&M 36 before they ran out the clock to end the game.
Juniata travels to play at Ursinus, Saturday at 12:00.
