Football falls to Dickinson due to last-second touchdown

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata football team was working hard from behind in their first Centennial Conference home-opener against Dickinson College at Goodman Field at Knox Stadium on Saturday afternoon and was finally able to tie it at 17 apiece, after losing the lead from a field goal to tie the game at 10-10, before a blocked punt attempt allowed Dickinson to score a touchdown with less than a minute left on the game clock to put the game out of reach for Juniata. 

Dickinson College jumped to a 7-0 lead with a touchdown at the 9:33 mark in the first quarter, and Juniata cut the lead down with a Kevin Gorman (Waverly, N.Y./Waverly Central) safety with 5:22 left in the second quarter. 

The Eagles took its only lead in the game with a Ward Udinski (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) one-yard rush for a touchdown with 8:36 left to go in the third quarter, before Dickinson nailed a 24-yard field goal with kicker Adam Kaminski with just one second left in the third period. 

To open the final period executed just three plays after a block punt that was recovered at the Juniata 11 to move ahead 17-10. 

Juniata began its longest drive of the game, 8:46, that consisted of 15 plays and offensive movement of 69 yards to tie the game from a Udinski completed pass to Kyle Shuck (Selinsgrove, Pa./Selinsgrove) for a five-yard reception and the touchdown. Scott Andrews (Hollidaysburg, Pa./Altoona Area) finished the TD with a good kick attempt to tie the game at 17 each. The drive consisted of two pass plays to Julian Valdiserri (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) for more than 20 yards and a 15-yard reception by Dominic Bornman (Mechanicsburg, Pa./Cumberland Valley).

With just 4:33 left in the game the Eagles' defense halted the Red Devils in three plays on their drive following the Juniata touchdown. The Dickinson defense turned around and held the Eagle offense to only three plays and on the Juniata punt Walker Moriarty blocked Jonah Plymire's (York, Pa./Central York) punt attempt and Jake Myers recovered it at the Juniata five to take it into the endzone. 

Juniata's offense moved the ball 351 total yards, almost twice as many as the Red Devil's offense did. The longest reception of the day for either squad was Bornman's 49-yard catch in the second quarter. Udinski was the leading rusher for both teams with 128 net yards.

On defense, Brandon Felus (Columbia, Pa./Columbia) led Juniata with seven total tackles (5 solo) and one sack for a three-yard loss, as did Ethan Wilt (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) (3 solo) and Gorman (3 solo) who each also recorded seven total tackles. Zach Boyd (Alexandria, Pa./Juniata Valley) rang-up the biggest tackle for loss in the game for Juniata with a sack for five yards. 

Juniata continues in Centennial Conference action at Gettysburg College on Saturday, September 15 at 1:00 p.m.

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