Muhlenberg Football Gameday
Mules vs. Montclair State
Saturday, November 16, 2024
Series: These teams met for the first time last season, with Muhlenberg scoring five straight touchdowns in the second and third quarters to break away from a 7-7 tie en route to a 45-14 win. Joe Repetti threw for 272 yards and 4 touchdowns, two to Matt McKenna, and Aaron Daniels rushed for a career-high 75 yards. Henry Lewis rushed for 127 yards, one of his two career 100-yard games, and a 26-yard TD for Montclair.
Playoff Picture: Muhlenberg has clinched a postseason berth for the 20th time in the last 24 seasons. If Ursinus, the second-place team in the Centennial Conference, receives an at-large bid to the NCAA Tournament, the Mules will be the top seed for the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series and host a game here next Saturday. If Ursinus doesn’t get a bid, Muhlenberg will travel to the MAC second-place team for a bowl game next Saturday. As for potential opponents ... it’s complicated. Delaware Valley (6-2) has clinched a bowl bid, and FDU-Florham (5-3), Stevenson (5-3), Widener (5-3), Eastern (4-4) and Lebanon Valley (4-4) are all in the mix. Eastern and FDU-Florham play each other today in a key game.
Montclair State Last Week: Montclair State managed only 231 total yards in a 33-10 home loss to Christopher Newport. Makai Mickens scored the Red Hawks’ lone touchdown on a 24-yard reception with just under five minutes left in the fourth quarter. Nicholas Burgess made 19 tackles, which is tied for the fourth-most in a game in program history, in his final home game
Muhlenberg Last Week: Muhlenberg played one of the most dramatic games in its history, defeating Franklin & Marshall 24-23 on a 29-yard field goal by Connor Fenstermaker as time expired. It was the first walkoff field goal with the Mules trailing in 40 years. The game featured four lead changes in the final 17:05. Thomas Cerruti had a phenomenal game on defense, recording 10 tackles, intercepting a pass, forcing a fumble that the Mules recovered and breaking up a fourth-down pass.
100: Joe Repetti enters today’s game with 98 career touchdown passes and needs two more to reach the century mark. Only one other quarterback in Muhlenberg and Centennial Conference history has passed for 100 career TDs, and only five active Division III quarterbacks have reached the century mark. Repetti, who has broken the school record for rushing yards by a QB and tied the mark for rushing TDs by a QB, is fifth among active Division III signal-callers with 122 career total touchdowns.
Returns: Christopher Short leads Division III, and ranks second among all NCAA football players, with 930 yards on kickoff returns this season - just 51 yards shy of the school and CC record set by Hall-of-Famer Joshua Carter in 1999 ... Muhlenberg has allowed -6 yards on punt returns this season, which amazingly does not lead Division III (Loras has allowed -15). The Mules have not allowed a punt return for positive yardage since the second game of the season.
Win Win Win: A win against Montclair State would give Muhlenberg at least seven wins for the 13th straight season.
Home Sweet Home: Muhlenberg is 30-5 at Scotty Wood Stadium since 2018.
Centennial Conference Schedule
Johns Hopkins (8-1, 5-0) at McDaniel (1-8, 0-5) - 12:00
Montclair State (3-6) at Muhlenberg (6-3) - 1:00
Ursinus (8-1, 4-1) at Dickinson (5-4, 2-3) - 1:00
Franklin & Marshall (5-4, 2-3) at Gettysburg (2-7, 1-4) - 1:00
Welcome Tartans: The Centennial Conference recently announced the addition of Carnegie Mellon University as an associate member for football. The Tartans will begin competition in the Centennial in the 2025 football season. The addition of Carnegie Mellon, currently ranked 15th in Division III, will expand the Centennial's football membership to eight teams. The Tartans will compete alongside the seven CC full-time members that sponsor football - Dickinson, Franklin & Marshall, Gettysburg, Johns Hopkins, McDaniel, Muhlenberg and Ursinus.
