Box Score
ANNVILLE, Pa. - Lebanon Valley racked up 446 yards of total offense, including 214 yards of total offense and two touchdowns from wide receiver
Joe Brennan, as they rolled past FDU-Florham 38-3, on Saturday to stay alive in the MAC title hunt.
The Dutchmen (6-3, 4-2 MAC) are now assured of their second winning season in the last three years. They stay in a tie for second in the MAC along with Delaware Valley and Lycoming, behind Albright. Lycoming lost to King's and Del Val beat Wilkes to move to second, while Albright was victorious over Widener to move to 5-1.
LVC can still claim a share of the title, but does not own the tiebreakers needed to get a possible NCAA berth. The Dutchmen will need to beat Lycoming next week and hope for an Albright loss against Delaware Valley to forge a three-way tie for the championship. (
For more on the tiebreakers, see the bottom of this article)
Caleb Fick was 12-of-18 for 182 yards and two touchdowns, and 11 different Dutchmen combined for 264 yards on the ground. Brennan ended up with 162 yards receiving and 52 yards rushing. LVC was also turnover-free for the first time this season.
FDU-Florham (3-6, 1-5 MAC) simply couldn't get any offense going as the LVC defense held Bill Winters, the MAC's leading passer, to 9-of-23 passing with two interceptions for 52 yards, and limited the MAC's leading receiver, Rob Eck, to a single catch of four yards.
The LVC "D" tagged Winters with three sacks and eight tackles for a loss overall.
Chadd Comp had an early interception, and
Tim Greiner came up with his first career pick on the game's final drive.
Brian Cottone and
Will Keylor also batted down balls.
Brittany Ryan shined in her placekicking duties, going a perfect five-for-five on PATs and booting a 25-yard field goal as time expired at the end of the first half.
The Devils went on top late in the first quarter on Michael Barnard's 37-yard field goal, but that would be all as LVC reeled off the next 38 points starting with
Blair Ransom's 13-yard touchdown run on the next drive.
Brennan hauled in a spectacular 22-yard touchdown to start the second quarter, diving for the back corner of the end zone and somehow coming up with the loft from Fick.
Cruz Mannherz then added a TD on a 16-yard shovel pass from Fick, and Ryan capped the half with her field goal.
After a quiet third quarter, the LVC coaching staff pulled a trick play out of their bag as
Charlie Parker handed off to Brennan on a reverse, and Brennan outran the field 52 yards to score on the first play of the quarter.
Ben Guiles capped the spectacular offensive day with a three-yard run up the middle late in the quarter.
The Dutchmen head to Lycoming next week for the regular-season finale. The game will be heard on WMSS 91.1 FM in the Harrisburg area and online at GoDutchmen.com
Four teams are still alive for a share of the MAC championship, and here's how it would shake out on the final day of the season next Saturday. Remember that if two or more teams finished tied for first, the MAC rewards each as co-champions, but only one team gets the automatic NCAA bid.
For the title...
Albright has already clinched at least a share of the title.
Lycoming,
Delaware Valley, and
Lebanon Valley are all tied for second a game behind Albright and could win a shared - but not outright - title with a win and an Albright loss.
As for the MAC's automatic bid to the NCAA tournament...
Albright could clinch the bid with a win against Delaware Valley. If they lose, there is no scenario they could clinch based on head-to-head tiebreaks, despite tying for a share of the championship.
Delaware Valley could clinch the NCAA bid with a win over Albright and an LVC win at Lycoming.
Lycoming could clinch the NCAA bid with a win over LVC and a Delaware Valley win over Albright.
LVC can not clnch the NCAA berth. The only scenario in which LVC would claim a share of the championship is if they beat Lycoming and Del Val beats Albright. That would forge a three-way tie between LVC, Del Val, and Albright, and LVC lost to both of those teams. Del Val would then get the bid based on their win over Albright.
