D.J. MacDonald has 134 yards of total offense and two touchdowns

BOXSCORE

ASHBURNHAM, Mass. (September 30, 2012) -- For the second week in a row, a young Franklin Pierce University sprint football team battled hard against a more experienced Collegiate Sprint Football League foe. And for the second week in a row, the Ravens lost in the final stages of a game, this time in the closing seconds of a tough 24-20 setback to Pennsylvania on Sunday at Arthur Hurd Field in Ashburnham, Mass. Franklin Pierce dipped to 0-2, while Penn improved to 1-1.

The Ravens seemed to have the first win in program history locked up in the closing seconds when freshman quarterback Tyler Mathews (Lunenburg, Mass.) found classmate D.J. MacDonald (Mattpoisett, Mass.) in the back of the end zone for a 15-yard scoring strike which staked Franklin Pierce to a 20-17 lead with just :30 remaining.

Mathews passing TD capped an eight-play, 81-yard drive in just 1:32, as the Ravens were able to put together the impressive scoring drive after failing to generate much offensive consistency throughout the second half. Mathews was 6-of-7 passing for 80 yards on the drive as he connected with four different receivers.

Penn got the ball back at its own 27-yard-line following Franklin Pierce's ensuing kickoff, and two plays later, pulled off a miraculous comeback win as Keith Braccia hooked up with Whit Shaw for a 73-yard scoring strike with put the Quakers up by four with just :09 left.

The Ravens had one second left for a final play, but Mathews desparation pass was picked off by Anthony DiBella to seal the win for Penn.

Penn outgained the Ravens by a count of 403-314, including getting 196 through the air. The other statistic that hurt the Ravens on the afternoon were 13 penalties for 95 yards.

Despite the loss, several Ravens had solid afternoons, including Mathews who completed 18-of-36 throws for a career-high 280 yards and two touchdowns. MacDonald caught five balls for 115 yards, marking the second-straight week a Raven went over 100 yards receiving. He ended the day with 134 yards of total offense as he also rushed for 19 yards and a touchdown. 

Two other Ravens caught five balls apiece, including Michael Holdridge (Peru, N.Y.) and Jahlil Dean (Maple Shade, N.J.), who had 76 and 53 yards receiving, respectively.

Defensively, freshman middle linebacker James Willette (Hoosick Falls, N.Y.) made a game-high 16 tackles, while classmate Connor Rogowsky (Nashua, N.H.) followed with 11 stops. Defensive lineman Nick Trochalakis (Rochester, N.H.) registered seven tackles, a sack and two pass breakups.

Mike Beamish rushed 25 times for 134 yards for the Quakers, while DiBella and Mack Pierson each logged 10 tackles. DiBella had two interceptions on the day, while Pierson made four stops behind the line of scrimmage for minus-20 yards.

Like it did last week, Franklin Pierce scored first as MacDonald ripped off a 14-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0 Ravens with 8:31 left in the first quarter.

Penn didn't flinch and answered with a 31-yard field goal by Kai Peng later in the period and then went on top, 10-7, with 1:40 left in the second quarter as Braccia connected with Shaw on a 31-yard touchdown pass. 

It seemed the Quakers would take the three-point lead into the locker room at halftime, but Franklin Pierce put together a four-play, 63-yard drive in just :56, capped by a 25-yard touchdown pass from Mathews to Holdridge, to put the Ravens up 14-10 at the break.

Neither team scored in the third quarter as both sides killed potential scoring drives with multiple penalties. Braccia put the Quakers up, 17-14, early in the fourth quarter with a one-yard touchdown run on a QB dive behind his center.

Franklin Pierce has a bye next week and will return to action on Friday, Oct. 12, when the Ravens travel to New Jersey to face Princeton at 7 p.m. It will mark the first road game in program history.

For more information on Franklin Pierce sprint football, please visit the team's page at athletics.franklinpierce.edu(.) To follow the program even further, please visit Franklin Pierce Athletics on YouTube (www.youtube.com/FranklinPierceSports), Twitter (www.twitter.com/FPUathletics) and Facebook (www.facebook.com/FranklinPierceRavens). Fans wishing to purchase Franklin Pierce sprint football apparel can do so on the athletic department's brand new online store at athletics.franklinpierce.edu/store(.)