Box Score

There was joy in Muleville after Mighty Casey struck gold.

Senior Casey Fosbenner drilled a 41-yard field goal with 2.6 seconds left to give the Muhlenberg football team a hard-fought 10-9 win at Ursinus.

The clutch kick gave the Mules (7-2, 6-2) their fifth straight win and their sixth straight season with at least seven wins.

The defense had another big day, holding the Bears (2-7, 1-7) to 143 total yards and no touchdowns. Muhlenberg, which came into the game ranked 14th in Division III against the run at only 88.6 yards per game, improved its average by allowing only 42 rushing yards on 24 carries. Senior Lenny Smith led the defense with seven tackles (1½ for loss), and senior Larry Gelok tied a school record with four pass breakups.

Junior Nick Palladino threw for 173 yards to become the all-time passing leader in program history, finishing the game with 7,111 yards. He also ran for the lone touchdown of the game and engineered the game-winning drive.

The defense forced a three-and-out on a drive started by Ursinus with 4:04 left in the fourth, giving the Mules possession at their own 31 with 2:09 on the clock. After the first three plays netted no yards, Palladino zipped a 15-yard pass to junior Ryan Delaney for the fourth-down conversion. A 17-yard completion to senior Nick Lamb two plays later put the ball inside Bear territory.

On second down from the Ursinus 39, sophomore Max Cepeda broke a tackle on a screen pass and gained 10 yards for a first down with under 30 seconds to play. Lamb got out of bounds after a 5-yard pickup on third-and-10 from the 29, giving Fosbenner a little more room.

As it turned out, he wouldn't need it. His kick cleared the uprights with plenty of room to spare, becoming the first last-second winning field goal by a Mule since Bob Powers booted a 39-yarder with four seconds left for a 9-6 win against Swarthmore in 1989. The last successful field goal that made the difference between winning and losing in the final seconds was a 26-yarder by Tom Mulroy for a 20-19 defeat of Franklin & Marshall in 1984.

"I haven't kicked a field goal to win a game. In high school I kicked one to tie it, but we ended up losing in overtime," said Fosbenner, pictured at left celebrating his winning kick. "This is definitely a new feeling for me. I'm pretty happy right now."

Muhlenberg scored its touchdown on its second possession, when Palladino capped a six-play, 57-yard drive with a 9-yard run. The defenses dug in after that, with the only other points of the first half coming on an Ursinus field goal as time expired.

The Bears closed to within a point on a field goal late in the third and took their only lead on another three-pointer with 9:25 left in regulation.

Sophomore Nick Savant rushed for 92 yards on 21 carries for the Mules, while Lamb (seven catches for 89 yards) and Delaney (4-39) became the 13th and 14th Muhlenberg players to record 100 career receptions.

pictured above: sophomore defensive end Thomas Cosgriff