The Muhlenberg football team scored on its first three possessions and picked off four passes in defeating Dickinson, 30-17, in its final game of the regular season.

With the win, the Mules (8-2, 5-2) clinched a postseason berth for the 21st time in the last 25 seasons. They are a strong candidate to receive an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament; the selection show airs on NCAA.com on Sunday at 5:00 Eastern time. If the Mules don't receive an NCAA bid, they will host a Centennial-MAC Bowl Series game next week.

The win also gave Muhlenberg eight wins for the 12th time in the last 13 seasons. 

Senior Matthew Manning returned after missing last week's game with injury to rush for a career-high 103 yards on 11 carries. Junior Isaac Schaffer-Neitz and senior Dante Mahaffey each rushed for touchdowns, and sophomore Logan Nordeck caught a 25-yard touchdown pass on fourth down.

Muhlenberg drove 88 yards in 11 plays off the opening kickoff to take an early lead. Nine of the plays were runs, including the last 15 by Schaffer-Neitz.

After the defense forced a three-and-out, the offense put together another long drive, this one of 81 yards, to take a two-touchdown lead. The big play of the drive was a 35-reception by Caleb Pasols. It was his 33rd reception of the season, tying the school record for freshmen set in 1976.

On fourth-and-7 from the 25, sophomore Luke Spang broke a tackle in the backfield, rolled right and found Nordeck, who broke a tackle of his own near the 10 and carried into the end zone.

The Red Devils (5-5, 3-4) got on the board with a field goal early in the second quarter, but the Mules answered again. Four Manning runs for 38 yards started a drive that ended with Mahaffey scoring from 4 yards out.

Four plays after the kickoff, sophomore Jake Saus intercepted a pass and returned it 65 yards for a touchdown to extend the lead to 28-3. It was the second pick-six of the season for Saus (pictured above), who also brought one back in the season-opening win against Moravian. He is the first Mule since 2021 with two interception returns for a touchdown in one season, and he's the first ever to bring one back in the first and last games of the regular season.

The Mule offense did not add any points in the second half but didn't need to as the defense took over. Sophomore Thomas Cerruti, who pressured the Dickinson quarterback on Saus' pick-six, ended the first Red Devil drive of the third quarter with an interception of his own.

After a missed field goal by Muhlenberg, Dickinson drove the length of the field, but on fourth down from the 9, senior Alex Schafer and sophomore Jeremy Lopez combined to stop the ball-carrier for a loss.

The first career interception for junior CJ Newman ended the first Dickinson drive of the fourth quarter, and Cerruti iced the win with his second pick of the game in the final minute.

Sophomore Joseph Papa was responsible for the final two points of the game, forcing an intentional grounding in the end zone for a safety.

Junior Jeffrey Lopez led the defense with nine tackles and a pass breakup, while Schafer was in on 2½ tackles for loss. He recorded a sack, as did fellow seniors Blaze Curry and Peyton Elliott. 

Prior to the game, the Mules honored their 23 seniors, who will head to the postseason with a four-year record of 33-10: PJ Bonistalli (OG), Curry (DL), Amari Dunn (RB), Elliott (LB), George Europe (S), Alex Harby (OT), Sean Krug (LS), Aidan Mack (WR), Mahaffey, Manning, Kyle McGrath (WR), Marcus McClaine (S), Nick Petrillo (WR), Francis Pommett (S), Michael Powel (OT) Caden Reph (TE), Vincent Rispoli (DL), John Runfolo (WR), John Sauchelli (WR), Schafer, Tom Smid (DL), Robert Terreros (C), and Zaki Williams (TE).