Juniata Starts Season With 41-20 Win over Thiel

By: Jennifer Jones
Director of Sports Information
jonesj@juniata.edu • juniatasports.net

HUNTINGDON, Pa. – The Juniata College football team unleashed its arsenal against Thiel College Saturday afternoon as the Eagles walked away with the 41-20 win in their season opener at Knox Stadium.  This marks the second consecutive year Juniata football has opened with a win.

"It's always good to get off to a [good] start," said third year head coach Tim Launtz.  "I think that really puts a positive tone on everything and set the standard for the rest of the year.  We are very happy to win the first one."

Junior Ward Udinski (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) had a career game to start the season.  The captain finished with five touchdowns and 396 yards of total offense.  He had game-highs in both rushing and passing yards.  Udinski's 339 passing yards and three passing touchdowns were career-highs.  He completed 16-of-23 with zero interceptions and sacks. Freshman Aaron O'Brien (York, Pa./York Catholic) benefitted from Udinski's accuracy.  He finished with a team-best 117 receiving yards including an 84-yard touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.

"Ward is, he is just a football player," said Launtz.  "He just loves to play the game of football.  He extends plays, he makes plays, [he] is a lot of fun to watch."

Juniata's defense, led by senior captain Kevin Gorman (Waverly, N.Y./Waverly Central), dominated Thiel for most of the game, allowing just seven points in over 50 minutes of football.  Gorman set new career-high marks in tackles and sacks in the win.  He finished with game-highs of 11.5 tackles, nine solo, and three sacks.

Also setting career-highs was senior Greg Nixon (Baltimore, Md./Baltimore Poly).  He finished second on the team in tackles with nine, a mark still higher than the Tomcats leading tackler, and earned his first career sack.  Juniata as a team put Thiel's quarterbacks in the turf 10 times for a loss of 41 yards, a team record under Launtz.

"[The] defense plays so well as a team," added Launtz.  "They just came out there today and wanted to take control of things and I thought they did a really good job of that."

First Quarter
Juniata received the opening kickoff and had a shaky start.  The Eagles managed to push the ball into Thiel territory on their first possession but then a fumble by Udinski in the backfield on the sixth play of the game was recovered by the Tomcats. 

On the back of rusher Josh Potter, Thiel moved back across the 50 and into Eagle territory before the Eagle defense made a stand and forced a field goal attempt from Juniata's 15-yard line.  Senior Brandon Felus (Columbia, Pa./Columbia) broke around the outside of the line and blocked the attempt, sending the ball into the end zone.  Juniata's offense would get a chance at redemption, starting on the 20 with 6:55 left in the quarter. 

On second and eight from the Thiel 35, Udinski completed a pass to freshman Kirby Breault (Elizabethtown, Pa./Elizabethtown Area) that he carried to just outside the red zone.  Sophomore Michael John (Osceola Mills, Pa./Philipsburg-Osceola) took care of the rest.  The running back grabbed the ball from Udinski and sprinted through the middle of the line 21-yards to the end zone.  With the extra point from junior Ken Kysor (Port Allegheny, Pa./Port Allegheny) good, Juniata took a 7-0 lead with 1:55 on the clock.

Thiel's Tim Walker received the ensuing kickoff and returned it 33 yards to give the Tomcats great field position.  The return sparked something on the Thiel sideline and the offense sprung into action.  Juniata's defense was able to shut them down to just one yard in two plays, but on third and nine, the Tomcats starting quarterback, Andrew Smith, converted with a 29-yard pass across the middle to Juniata's 24 as time expired.  

Second Quarter
it only took four more plays for Thiel to get on the board and tie the game up 7-7.  The teams battled back and forth, each with three possessions before Juniata's offense finally broke it open in an unlikely way.

After Thiel's defense held on in the red zone, the Eagles were set to try a 20-yard field goal on fourth down.  Udinski bungled the snap and couldn't get the hold down.  Quick on his feet, he started to run it in, but reversed after the defense closed the door.  Junior Ethan Cree (Fallentimber, Pa./Glendale) saw his quarterback in trouble and worked his way open in the end zone. Udinski hit Cree on the run to give Juniata the 13-7 lead.

The Tomcats took over with 45 seconds left in the half and hoped to make another big push before the break, but the Eagle defense had other ideas.  Thiel pushed across to Juniata's 38-yard line and was sitting on first and 10 with seven seconds remaining when Gorman busted through the line and dragged Smith down for one of his sacks.  Fellow senior Jared Shope (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) followed Gorman's suit and grabbed Smith 10 yards behind the line of scrimmage for his first sack of the season.

Third Quarter
Juniata came out of halftime on fire.  The Eagles scored on all three of their possessions in the third quarter.  Thiel received the ball to start and the Eagle defense forced them to punt after just three downs. Thanks in part to pass interference call, it only took five plays and 90 seconds for Juniata to score.  Udinski ran it in himself from eight yards out.

The very next possession only took four plays to reach the end zone.  Udinski completed a 26-yard pass to junior Isaiah Slutter (Hawley, Pa./Wallenpaupack Area) to put Juniata on the Thiel-25.  Receiving pressure in the backfield on the next play, he took off running and forced his way across the goal line.

Thiel's offense worked into a rhythm and moved down field after the kickoff.  After a pair of penalties moved put the Tomcats on Juniata's 12-yard line, the Eagles defense shut them down.  Gorman blitzed on first and 10 and sacked Smith for a seven yard loss.  When a receiver dropped a pass on second down, the Eagles brought the heat on third and long with Nixon and Felus sharing credit on a five yard loss sack.  Thiel chose to go for it on fourth and 22 and Juniata did not let them convert.  The Tomcats were 2-for-4 on the day in fourth down conversions.

Juniata took over on its own 24-yard line with 2:51 on the clock and ran a near perfect 2-minute drill, pushing 76 yards in five plays, letting only 1:58 tick away.  Udinski completed a 31-yard pass to Slutter with 59 seconds remaining in the quarter to put the Eagles up 34-7.

Thiel started its drive and made it just shy of the 50 before the end of the quarter.

Fourth Quarter
The Eagle defense made another stand, forcing Thiel to punt.  Starting over on the Juniata 16-yard line, Udinksi made a short pass to O'Brien on first and 10.  O'Brien made the first tackler miss and took off down the sideline.  He made it the full 84 yards to the end zone for Juniata's last score of the day.

Thiel began rallying late behind backup quarterback Ryan Radke.  They scored two touchdowns in under 2:30 minutes off the arm of Radke.

But Juniata controlled the rest of the game, drawing out its possession the full 6:26, getting four first downs and moving 60 yards.

Juniata hits the road to open Centennial Conference play next.  The Eagles face Dickinson College on Saturday, Sept. 14 at 1 p.m. in Carlisle, Pa.  This is the 25^th meeting of the two programs.  The Red Devils lead the all-time series 16-8 but Juniata is hoping to break the streak. 

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