Photo Courtesy of Susquehanna Athletics
By Marquis Frias, Sports Editor
The No.21 ranked Susquehanna Football Team came out with their largest win of the year Saturday after a 70-10 win over Moravian at Doug Arthur Stadium.
The River Hawks’ (5-1 Overall, 2-0 Landmark) 70 points is the most points scored by the team in a game this season, while the 60-point win was Susquehanna’s highest win margin so far this season. The 60-point margin is also the largest win margin for Susquehanna against the Greyhounds (1-6 Overall, 0-3 Landmark), a rivalry that dates all the way back to 1932.
“It’s all on the kids and how we got off the bus,” Susquehanna Head Coach Chris Pincince said. “Offensively we did a nice job getting in front, making that team do some things that maybe they didn’t want to do and then our guys just kept making plays at all three phases.”
After the opening kickoff, Susquehanna running back Matt Surtz started things off early with a 12-yard rushing touchdown on the team’s opening drive.
The River Hawks defense was able to force a stop, giving the ball right back to the explosive Susquehanna offense. Susquehanna Quarterback Tommy Wright responded by scrambling in for a 1-yard touchdown to give his team a 14-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Moravian was able to put up points early with a field goal in their opening drive of the second quarter.
However, you could feel that Susquehanna was waiting to answer back with another explosive play, which is exactly what happened after Wright connected with senior wide receiver Ethan Mahan for a 42-yard touchdown.
From there, the River Hawks would keep their foot on the gas, scoring 28 more points in the second quarter.
The points came on the ground and through the air, as Wright scored his second rushing touchdown of the game on one drive while finding senior running back Drew Hutchins on a 32-yard receiving touchdown to end another. Surtz would join the fun late into the first half with his second rushing touchdown of the game.
As time was winding down in the second quarter, with Moravian desperately looking for a spark before the half, sophomore corner back Houston Marshall intercepted a pass and took it 51 yards to the house for his first collegiate interception and pick six. The exciting play gave the River Hawks a 49-3 as the teams entered the locker rooms.
Coming out of halftime, the third quarter would be a continuation of the first two, with Surtz completing the hat trick for his third rushing touchdown of the game on Susquehanna’s opening drive of the second half.
Wright would later join his running back Surtz with his third rushing touchdown of the game later in the third quarter, marking an impressive stat of both quarterback and running back rushing for three touchdowns in the same game.
After their field goal in the second quarter, Moravian would finally put six on the board after Avery Koser found Cael Kratzer for a 23-yard passing touchdown, putting the score at 63-10 at the end of the third quarter.
The fourth quarter was where the game finally slowed down for both teams, as Susquehanna scored only one touchdown in the frame after freshman running back Jeremiah Davis scored a 12-yard rushing touchdown which was his first in his collegiate career.
At game’s end, Wright finished 8-10 passing with 134 yards and two touchdowns while rushing six times for 36 yards and three touchdowns. Surtz ended his day with 17 rushes for 133 yards and three touchdowns, while Davis also totaled 93 rushing yards on 10 touches to go along with his first career touchdown.
Defensively, multiple players had eye-popping statlines including sophomore linebacker Omari Cofield, who finished his day with five total tackles, two sacks and a forced fumble. Cofield’s extraordinary game awarded him the Landmark Conference Defensive Player of the Week.
Senior linebacker Brayden Nolan led the team in total tackles with eight on the day, while also picking up three of his own.
As a team, the River Hawks recorded 484 total yards of offense while scoring touchdowns on all nine of their offensive drives in the game. The defense dominated as well, holding the Greyhounds to only 166 total yards, including 25 rushing yards, five sacks and a touchdown.
“I thought defensively we did a great job pressuring the quarterback. Offensively, we did a nice job of protecting the quarterback and running the football,” Pincince said.
The win lifts Susquehanna’s all-time landmark conference record to 20-0, while also giving them their 30th consecutive conference win. In order to find Susquehanna’s last conference loss, you would have to go back to Nov 6, 2021 where the River Hawks lost to No.16 Muhlenberg 52-27.
“Each game leads into itself, but hopefully this gives us a chance to think about how we prepared during the week… and then we’re going to start to clean things up tomorrow and get ready for the next week,” Pincince said.
The River Hawks will look to continue their dominance in the Landmark Conference when they matchup with conference foe Wilkes University Saturday, Oct 24 at noon in Wilkes-Barre, Pa.