The Quill/Yaliang Yu
By Michael Henken Staff writer
The Susquehanna football team lost 33-30 in a shootout against Muhlenberg on Oct. 1 at Amos Alonzo Stagg Field in Selinsgrove.
The two teams battled back and forth for the majority of the contest, and the River Hawks led the Mules 30-27 with 8:16 left in the game.
Just minutes later, however, junior running back Nick Savant caught a 73-yard, game-winning touchdown pass from senior quarterback Nick Palladino to put Muhlenberg ahead 33-30.
Susquehanna had one more chance to take the lead after Savant’s touchdown, but the River Hawks were shut down on a fourth and eight at the Muhlenberg 46-yard, allowing the Mules to run out the clock and take home the victory.
The two teams combined for 778 yards of total offense throughout the game, with Susquehanna producing 207 passing yards and 149 yards on the ground.
Sophomore quarterback Nick Crusco led the River Hawks’ offense with 207 passing yards and 39 rushing yards. He completed 19 of his 32 passing attempts and threw for two touchdowns.
Both of his touchdown passes went to junior wide receiver Tommy Bluj, who had 138 receiving yards on the day.
Junior running back Cameron Ott also contributed to Susquehanna’s strong offensive showing, adding 106 rushing yards on 19 carries.
Crusco said, “The main thing that led to our strong offensive showing was guys stepping up and making some big plays.”
He added, “Tommy Bluj had a great day with his two touchdowns and so did Cam Ott making some impressive runs. Coach [Perkovich] had a great game plan going into the game, and it was up to us stepping up making the plays.”
On the defensive side of the ball, sophomore linebacker Connor Thompson led the team with 10 tackles.
Junior defensive back Ryan Ganard and freshman defensive back Ricardo Reyes added seven tackles each.
Ganard also had an interception that he returned for a 24-yard touchdown in the fourth quarter.
The Mules were led by Palladino, who had 270 passing yards and two touchdowns, and Savant, who finished with 131 rushing yards.
Despite the loss, Crusco was proud of the way the River Hawks competed with one of the conference’s top teams.
“We can’t dwell on this loss for long,” he said. “We played one of the best teams in the conference and went toe to toe with them. We should be proud of the way we played and roll that over into the bye week then eventually into Moravian.”
Head coach Tom Perkovich is already looking ahead to the upcoming game against Moravian, which is another tough conference matchup.
“We need to trust the process of learning and have the ability to forge ahead,” Perkovich said.
“We need to remember how bad a loss like this feels like, but have a short memory because we have to get ready for another very good Moravian team,” he added.
“I always expect that we will win all of our games,” he continued. “Our players and coaches work incredibly hard so that we can be in a position to win every Saturday. After this past Saturday, we believe we can go toe to toe with anyone in our conference.”
Susquehanna fell to 2-3 after the loss and will next take on Moravian on Oct. 15 after a bye week next week. Muhlenberg, on the other hand, improved to 4-1 and will play Gettysburg.
