F&M rallies past McDaniel

Franklin & Marshall coach John Troxell likes to say that good teams will find a way to win.

Despite all the things that went wrong, all the individual pieces of its game that were leaking oil, F&M found a way to defeat McDaniel, 31-28 before a homecoming crowd, Saturday at Sponaugle-Williamson Field.

Freshman placekicker Chris DeStefano kicked a career-best 37-yard field goal with 3:57 left to forge a 28-28 tie, then split the uprights from 30 yards out with seven seconds showing for the victory.

"I was nervous, a little, before the kick," he said. "But once I got out there, I guess my adrenaline took over."

That DeStefano made a pair of field goals is perhaps not that big a surprise. He was 3-for-3 for the season coming in.

That, on this day, F&M (5-2 Centennial Conference, 6-2 overall) could execute all the things that go into making a field goal — twice — was.

With regular long snapper Ryan Donovan sidelined with a concussion, freshman Chad Tothero, an Ephrata grad, got the call.

Pressured by a McDaniel defense bent on handing him his head, Tothero's PAT snaps were consistently high.

The Green Terror (3-4, 4-4) blocked one point-after try and stuffed a two-point run by holder Colton Weaver, caused by another high snap.

And yet, when he and his team needed it the most, Tothero directed two balls perfectly to Weaver.

And DeStefano did the rest.

Playing in his last homecoming game, senior tight end Michael Deutsch (seven catches, 120 yards) had a game for the ages.

His 23-yard catch in the first quarter set up quarterback John Harrison's 1-yard TD push for F&M's first score of the day.

Oddly, for a guy who's led the Dips to the end zone 16 times this year and 62 times in his career, it was Harrison's first career rushing touchdown.

Deutsch pulled in another 23-yard catch in the third quarter, but was just getting warmed up.

Harrison, who was not as sharp on this day, threw to Deutsch six times in the fourth quarter.

Deutsch's 6-yard catch, on fourth-and-2 at the McDaniel 29, kept the game-tying drive alive.

His 25-yard reception, to the Terror 14 with under 15 seconds to play, immediately preceded the game-winning kick.

But it was his fumble recovery on a McDaniel fake punt with 6:49 left that gave F&M life when it seemed the last grains of sand were about to exit the hourglass.

On a fourth-and-3 at the Terror 42, Deutsch took his position in the center of F&M's line, watchful for trickery.

"We knew they faked a lot and we had an idea they might be going for it," he said.

The snap to the up man, Chris Kolb, clanked off Kolb's chest and to the ground.

Deutsch, who would partially block McDaniel's next punt try, fell on the ball, cradling it to his chest.

"I'm thinking, 'Get through the line,' and the ball just ended up right in front of me," he said. "Just by coaching, we were there."

"We were reeling there at the time," Troxell said. "That was the biggest play of the game."

F&M took a 13-7 lead late in the first half on a beautifully executed 39-yard pass from Harrison (42-60-4, 447 yards, 2 TDs) to Tim Muller and seemed to be in control, driving once more with just over a minute before the break.

But a Harrison pass to Jay Ridinger (11-60) was tipped at the Terror 24 and intercepted by Aaron Slaughter, who returned it 72 yards to the F&M 4.

Quarterback Tom Massucci scored from the 1 with 14 seconds left. Then, on the first play of the second half, Joe Rollins (13-129) broke an off-tackle down the left sideline, 48 yards for the touch and F&M trailed 21-13.

"I think our kids were a little stunned," Troxell would later admit.

"What we needed to do was keep the pressure on," Terror coach Tim Keating said. "We were unable to do that."

F&M got closer on John Kaschak's 1-yard run, set up by Phil Barbieri's interception, but E.J. Schneider's designed two-point PAT run fell inches short of tying the game.

Then Massucci (14-33-2, 143) found C.J. Billera behind the Dips defense for 56 yards, setting up a 9-yard TD pass to Matt Cahill.

F&M was driving to answer back when Slaughter intercepted a pass intended for Jarrell Diggs (10-139) at the Terror 1.

But the field now tilted in F&M's direction. Digg's 14-yard punt return set up Harrison's 15-yard screen-and-run TD to Kaschak with 7:45 left. The PAT was blocked, but the die was cast.

dbyrne@lnpnews.com