Franklin & Marshall Last Time Out...

Franklin & Marshall posted its first shutout since the 2021 season with a 24-0 blanking of McDaniel last week. The Diplomats allowed just 16 yards of total offense to the visitors during the first half and 53 for the game for their first shutout since a 35-0 blanking of the Green Terror in 2021. It was F&M's seventh all-time shutout against McDaniel and the 225th shutout in program history dating back to the program's first season. The 53 yards allowed was an impressive showing from a defensive unit in which the Diplomats already hold the Centennial Conference record for fewest yards allowed in game when they held McDaniel to just nine yards during the 1984 victory. F&M held the Green Terror to negative 25 yards rushing for the best performance in the conference history since Muhlenberg posted a negative 32 yard rushing defensive performance against TCNJ in 2007.

Jeff Decker was one of many headliners on the defense as he had three sacks for a combined loss of 34 yards in addition to five other quarterback hurries. His sack total was the highest single-game mark since Peyton Snopek had four sacks against Stevneson during the 2021 Centennial-MAC Bowl Game. Jacob Hille, Daniel Shakal, Quincy Long, and Connor Hille also had sacks for the team's fourth-highest total (8) in program history, the most since a nine-sack team performance against Lycoming in 2018. Shakal joined Rafe Carner as one of two F&M players with an interception, with another secondary player – Kyle Evancho – leading the Diplomats with seven tackles. Highlighting the offensive efforts was a 107-yard rushing performance from Aaron Rascoe who carried the ball 18 times while averaging 5.9 yards per carry on the ground. 

McDaniel's run game averaged a 1.1 yard loss per attempt thanks in large part to the eight sacks. The Green Terror also completed just nine of their 27 passes for 78 yards through the air. Getting McDaniel off the field early on basically every drive, F&M finished the conference clash with over 37 minutes in time of possession. Rascoe's rushing efforts led a ground game that averaged 3.4 yards per carry, bolstered by Aidan Hutchison carrying six times for 31 yards (5.2 average). Tremba finished the contest with 116 yards in the passing game on nine completions before Jake Fant came in during the fourth quarter and went 4-for-5 for 40 yards to close out the victory. O'Hearen had another strong game for the receiving corps with 71 yards on four receptions, including his touchdown.

Franklin & Marshall Returning Honorees

• Laurence Miller - Fourth team All-American kicker, first-team All-CC in 2023

• Jeff Decker - first team All-CC defensive end (second team in 2022)

• Gary Lewis - first-team All-CC wide receiver in 2023

• Matt Scully - second-team All-CC linebacker in 2023, honorable mention returner in 2021

• Matt Wertz - second-team All-CC defensive back in 2023

• Aaron Rascoe - first-team All-CC running back in 2022

• Jacob Hille - second-team All-CC linebacker in 2022

Last time we met ... 

The Diplomats racked up 412 yards of offense and limited Kean to just 215 yards while celebrating True Blue Weekend in style during a 40-14 victory over the visiting Cougars in 2023. The Diplomats led 23-6 after a thrilling blocked PAT that was returned 97 yards for a two-point conversion late in the second quarter. The hosts then left no doubt as to final outcome in the third quarter by scoring 17 unanswered to race ahead 40-6 during the eventual victory. Brady Aselton had two more touchdown receptions, while Gary Lewis also found his way back to the end zone with two scores of his own. The longest touchdown of the day came from Mitch Wagner as he raced 61 yards in what was a 21-0 F&M lead at the time, just over 20 minutes into the contest.

Ty Tremba threw for 222 yards as he completed 16 of his 25 passes for two touchdowns. Jake Fant added another touchdown through the air as the Diplomats racked up 257 passing yards. Lewis was the team's leading receiver with seven receptions for 88 yards. He also carried three times for 15 yards out of the backfield for 103 yards of total offense. Including his huge touchdown run, Wagner finished with just eight carries on the day, but accounted for 87 rushing yards with an average of 10.9 yards per carry. As a team, F&M averaged 4.6 yards per ruhing attempt on the ground.

Jeff Decker was once again an unstoppable force on the defensive line as four of his eight tackles were made behind the line of scrimmage. His day included two sacks and one forced fumble in addition to his team lead in tackles. Dante Medlar was second on the team with seven tackles, while Shakal added five stops in addition to his interception as  Matt Wertz, and Owen Walsh were second on the team with five tackles each as 30 different players registered a stop for the F&M defense which saw plenty of fresh bodies get into the game during the second half. The Diplomats finished with 11 tackles for loss on the afternoon.

Scouting Kean

Kean enters the week at 2-5 (2-2 NJAC) on the year. The Cougars started off conference play with victories against William Paterson and Montclair State, but will be looking to snap an overall two-game losing skid as they have fallen to TCNJ and Christopher Newport in back-to-back weeks. The Diplomats and Cougars currently share four common opponents on the year. Kean is currently 0-2 against Centennial Conference teams after dropping contests to Ursinus and Dickinson. The Diplomats defeated the Red Devils, but were topped by Ursinus. F&M also owns a victory over Montclair State who recently defeated Kean, while both teams dropped contests against TCNJ.

Rocco Pellegrini has seen the majority of the snaps at quarterback for the Cougars. He is completing just over 59 percent of his passes and is averaging 144.3 yards per game through the air. He has thrown six touchdowns against seven interceptions. Four different receivers have gone over 100 yards on the year. That group is led by Christian Bujno who has caught 41 passes for 388 yards (64.7 ypg) in six contests. He joins John Kountouris and Julian Jones as players with two touchdown receptions on the season. Jones is also the team's leading rusher with an average of 4.2 yards per carry. He is averaging 42.3 yards per game as the team puts up 80.1 yards on the ground per game. Chris Amos and Meir Pittman lead the Kean defense with 56 and 54 tackles, respectively. Pittman has a team-leading 8.5 tackles for loss, while Amos is tied for the team lead with two sacks. Kean has gotten just seven sacks as a team while giving up 24 on the offensive side of the ball. Kean has forced eight fumbles while only conceding two and has also picked off nine passes.

Centennial Conference Leaders for Franklin & Marshall

Rushing Yards
7. Aaron Rascoe (52.8 per game)

Passing Yards
2. Ty Tremba (265.9 per game)

Receiving Yards
1. Jack O'Hearen (93.1 per game)

Scoring
6. Laurence Miller (5.7 ppg)

Kick Returns
7. Matt Hanna (16.9 per return)
8. Jackson Boothby (16.8 per return)

Total Offense
3. Ty Tremba (280.4 yards per game)

All-Purpose Yards
5. Jack O'Hearen (93.1 yards per game)

Punting
3. Laurence Miller (37.9 yard average)

Field Goals
1. Laurence Miller (8)

Tackles for Loss
3. Jeff Decker (11.5)
4. Quincy Long (10.0)
8. Matt Scully (5.5)

Sacks
3. Jeff Decker (6.5)
5. Quincy Long (5.0)
9. LT Kelley (2.5)

Passes Defended
9. Rafe Carner (5)
9. Matt Scully (5)

Interceptions
4. Matt Wertz (2)
4.  Nico Medlar (2)
4. Daniel Shakal (1)

Fumble Recoveries
3. Rafe Carner (1)
3. Matt Wertz (1)
3. Quincy Long (1)
3. Jeff Decker (1)

Forced Fumbles
2. Connor Hille (3)
8. Chris Albero (1)