F&M routs Juniata with big 2nd quarter

On a sultry Saturday when John Harrison became the Franklin & Marshall career leader for passing touchdowns and freshman E.J. Schneider tossed his first collegiate "six" — leaving him just 55 behind Harrison — the Diplomats exploded for 28 second-quarter points on the way to a 55-13 Centennial Conference rout of winless Juniata.

Harrison's first TD of the day, an 11-yard catch-and-run to back Alan Williams, separated the junior quarterback from Joe Coviello, who set the previous standard of 52 before graduating in 1977.

Harrison would throw three more scores — all in the decisive quarter — on a 14-for-21, 198-yard day before yielding the reins to Schneider at the start of the fourth quarter.

Harrison connected with Jay Ridinger for 33 yards, Jarrell Diggs for 10 and Ridinger — with an assist from Diggs — for 31 on a "Big Ben" play that ended the first half.

Uncharacteristically, he also threw two interceptions, including one on the first offensive play of the game.

Whereupon Juniata took the ball at the 46 and marched 54 yards in nine plays.

Workhorse back Derek Kramer (20-75) carried six times for 20 yards and quarterback Gino Ramires (14-for-24, 105 yards) completed a 15-yard pass to Dominic Bornman and two 10-yard tosses to Ronnie Shrift, the second for the first score of the game.

The Harrison-to-Williams connection evened the score before the Eagles (0-4 conference, 0-4 overall) went back on top on a Scott Andrews 35-yard field goal late in the first quarter.

"I thought we lacked intensity out there," coach John Troxell offered. "[Juniata] was playing much harder than we were.

"That's just a lesson to these kids that you have to show up every week. You don't just walk on to the field and win games."

"That [quarter] was a wake-up call that they are a good team," said Ridinger, who finished the day with seven catches for 155 yards and two touches.

"They're going to play hard. They're going to fight and we just have to fight back."

The Diplomats (2-1, 3-1) got back in the fight at the turn of the quarter when Williams took a sweep to the left pylon from 5 yards out.

Then Ridinger beat the defense on a 33-yard post route and, after C.T. Marsh covered a Ramires fumble at the Juniata 10, Diggs (4-32) took a quick slant from Harrison for a 28-10 lead.

After a long, and ultimately fruitless, Juniata possession, F&M took over at its 41 with 1:20 to play in the half.

A 14-yard slant to John Kaschak made Harrison the F&M career leader for completions.

Eight plays, and 71 seconds, later F&M flooded the left side of the end zone on one last crack at a score.

Diggs out-jumped the defense and appeared to come down with the ball. But it was Ridinger who tossed the ball to the official.

"I had it and I thought I caught it," Diggs said. "I may have been able to slide my hands under it when I bobbled it, but Jay was there to make the play."

Just like they practice it, right?

"Yeah," Troxell said. "You try to create a direct line between the guy in front, Jarrell, the jumper, and the guy behind.

"It's not a play that usually works. The ball usually goes to the ground but the guys did a good job of executing."

In all senses of the word.

Juniata did some good things in the second half, putting together four long possessions, three in the third quarter.

The Eagles got a Andrews field goal out of one, but Kramer fumbled into the end zone, recovered by F&M's Drew Hutcheon, to blunt another.

On another, pressured by Kyle Wengerter, who ultimately stripped the ball, Ramires lost 10 yards and the football. Donald Wiezik recovered and rumbled 14 yards to the end zone.

Peter Gumas hauled in Schneider's icebreaker from 5 yards out early in the fourth quarter and Jacob Kelly — the intended receiver on the game-opening pick — ran in from the 5 late in the game to cap the Diplomat scoring.

The Eagles had one last long possession in their talons, a bizarre drive directed by a three-headed-quarterback tandem of Brian Pugh, Andrew Gilford and George Bivens, alternating on every play.

Eventually, Bivens threw a interception on fourth-and-goal at the 5 and F&M ran out the clock.

"We did some good things," Troxell said, "and some not-so-good things. Although the score was as big as it was, we still have a lot to improve on."

Notes: Observed sitting in the Juniata coaching area of the press box was longtime Penn State defensive coordinator Jerry Sandusky, who assisted at Juniata for one season — 1967 — before settling in at Happy Valley.

Sandusky, who retired from coaching at Penn State following the 1999 season, recently retired from the board of The Second Mile charity he founded in 1977.

Juniata head coach Carmen Felus, an Altoona native and 1995 grad of Western Maryland (now McDaniel), in his second year at the helm in Huntingdon, downplayed the significance of Sandusky's being here, saying, "Jerry and I are friends, but there's no official ... tie to Juniata. He just happened to be at the game."

But Troxell, when asked, offered this observation: "Carmen said [Sandusky] is doing a great job in consulting and getting back into the Xs and Os. I think he's helped tremendously in terms of giving Carmen someone to bounce ideas off of."

Columbia grad Brandon Felus, a freshman and cousin of Carmen Felus, started for the Eagles at defensive end and played the first half.

Elco grad Nathan Bicher, a sophomore, saw significant playing time at left tackle for Juniata in the second half.

dbyrne@lnpnews.com