Football Drops to 2-5 After Loss to Juniata

The Dickinson football team lost a tough game to the Eagles of Juanita College on Saturday, 38-14.

The Dickinson football team lost a tough game to the Eagles of Juanita College on Saturday, 38-14.

The Dickinson football team came out strong against visiting Juniata College, taking the lead in the second quarter, but the Eagles outlasted the Red Devils to take home 38-14 win on Saturday afternoon, October 28 at Biddle Field.

The Red Devil defense halted Juniata’s first drive of the afternoon, forcing a punt before the offense marched down the field and scored on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Robert Geiss ’21 to Daniel Salamone ’18.

The Eagles countered with a scoring drive of their own, as Matt Lehr rushed for 40 yards before AJ Brocato caught a seven-yard touchdown pass from quarterback Austin Montgomery to tie the game.

The Red Devils couldn’t handle the ensuing Juniata kickoff, and Lehr recovered at Dickinson’s 33-yard line to set up an Eagles field goal, making the score 10-7 with 3:42 left in the first quarter.

The Red Devils bounced back, driving down the field again as running back Jeremy Walsh ’20 pushed through the trenches for a five-yard touchdown run, giving Dickinson a 14-10 lead with 14:55 left in the second quarter.

The Eagles retook the lead a few series later when Montgomery found Justin Helsel for a 29-yard touchdown, making the score 17-14.

After the ensuing Dickinson drive sputtered, Juniata took over and Lehr broke a 31-yard run and caught a 20-yard pass to set up a two-yard touchdown run by Montgomery to extend the Eagles lead to 24-14 with just under four minutes left in the first half.

Juniata didn’t slow down in the second half, as Montgomery ran for a second touchdown with just under three minutes left in the third. The Eagles also capitalized on a Red Devil interception in the fourth quarter, tacking on one last touchdown to make the final score 38-14.

Sam Peck ’20 worked with Walsh in the Dickinson backfield, rushing for 121 yards on 21 carries in the fourth quarter while Walsh ran for 110 total yards on the day. Salamone led the receiving corps, hauling in three passes for 53 total yards and rushing for 13 additional yards on two carries.

James Turner ’20 led the Red Devil defense, racking up 12 tackles, nine of which were solo, and 1.5 tackles-for-loss. Matt Butz ’19 recorded nine stops while classmates Bryan Latorraca ’18 and Tyler Heisey ’18 each had six.

Juniata improves their record to 3-5 overall and 2-5 in the Centennial Conference. Dickinson falls to 2-6 on the season and 2-5 in the Conference. The Red Devils are on the road this weekend, traveling to Moravian College for a 1 p.m. kick-off.