The Muhlenberg football team scored a touchdown on the second play of the season and never looked back, defeating Moravian, 38-19 at home under the lights.

Junior cornerback Aaron Sylvester won the Bianco Award as the Mules' MVP of the game after recording four tackles, two interceptions and a fourth-down pass breakup in the end zone.

It was another Muhlenberg defensive back, sophomore safety Jake Saus, who set the tone of the game by picking off the Greyhounds' record-setting quarterback on the second play from scrimmage and returning the interception 26 yards for a touchdown. At 37 seconds into the game, it was the earliest pick-six in a game in recorded program history and the first interception return TD in the first quarter of the opening game since 2003.

The Mules picked off two more passes in the first quarter, both by Sylvester in a span of four Moravian snaps. Sylvester returned the second interception 25 yards to the Greyhound 15, setting up the first career field goal for junior Nicholas D'Amico, from 28 yards out.

A long return on the ensuing kickoff set up the Greyhounds' first TD, but Muhlenberg got it back after a nifty 28-yard punt return by junior Tommy Donnelly to the Moravian 30. Four plays later, senior Dante Mahaffey connected with freshman Caleb Pasols on a 10-yard touchdown pass. It was the first career TD toss for Mahaffey, who threw for 115 yards in his first career start and also was the Mules' leading rusher with 74 yards on only nine carries.

Mahaffey added a 19-yard touchdown run to make it 24-13 early in the third quarter. Moravian drove for a score on its next possession, but Saus intercepted the two-point conversion attempt and the Muhlenberg defense pitched a shutout the rest of the way.

Senior Matthew Manning and junior Isaac Schaffer-Neitz added short touchdown runs to clinch Muhlenberg's 14th straight win against Moravian.

Sophomore Thomas Cerruti led the defense with 8 tackles, while junior CJ Newman finished with 7.  

In addition to his field goal, D'Amico went 5-for-5 on extra points and recorded two touchbacks on kickoffs. Freshman Sam Morris averaged 40.0 yards on four punts in his collegiate debut.

Muhlenberg is 3-0 in its "Crosstown Clash" matchups with Moravian, with football adding to Wednesday's wins in field hockey and volleyball. The series concludes with games in men's (Saturday) and women's (Tuesday) soccer.