Box Score

The Muhlenberg football team overcame an early two-touchdown deficit to take a second-half lead, but eighth-ranked Johns Hopkins scored the final 28 points of the game to win, 49-28.

Junior quarterback Nick Palladino (pictured above) completed 33 of 46 passes for 333 yards for his sixth career 300-yard game. He also rushed for 77 yards and broke the school record for completions in a career, finishing the game with 518, 16 more than the previous mark.

Sophomore Nick Savant rushed 22 times for 93 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Junior Ryan Delaney caught a career-high 11 passes for 124 yards, and senior Nick Lamb also went over the 100-yard receiving mark (8-117).

The Blue Jays (4-0, 3-0), who have lost only one Centennial Conference game in the last five years, scored touchdowns on each of their first two drives to take a 14-0 lead with 2:20 left in the first. The Mules (2-2, 1-2) cut the gap in half with a 14-play, 84-yard drive that culminated in Savant's 2-yard touchdown run with 10:52 left in the half.

After stopping Hopkins on downs, Muhlenberg drove 68 yards in eight plays to tie the score on a 31-yard pass from Palladino to Lamb with 3:13 left in the half.

The Blue Jays reclaimed the lead on a 4-yard TD run with 1:41 on the clock, but Muhlenberg needed only two plays and 35 seconds to tie the score again, this time on Palladino's 42-yard touchdown pass to Delaney.

On the second play of the second half, sophomore George DiFiore notched his first career interception to give the Mules the ball at their own 23. Savant rushed for 32 yards on the next play, and eight plays later his 2-yard run into the end zone gave Muhlenberg a 28-21 lead – and gave Johns Hopkins its first second-half deficit of the season.

The Blue Jays scored on their next possession to tie the score, and after three straight drives that ended in interceptions, they took the lead for good on a 5-yard touchdown catch with 14:16 left in the fourth. Two more touchdowns later in the quarter provided the final margin.

In addition to DiFiore, juniors John Feaster and Mike Luby also recorded interceptions. Luby led the Mules with 10 tackles.

Muhlenberg outgained Johns Hopkins, 499-379.