College of New Jersey scored 27 straight points, overcoming an early 13-0 deficit and defeating Gettysburg Colleg, 41-31, Saturday afternoon at Musselman Stadium.
Jayson Schmidt ran the ball 35 times to lead the Lions, racking up 247 of the team’s 253 yards on the ground with four touchdowns.
Rocco Abdinoor led the Bullets again with 237 yards passing, completing 24 of 40 passes with two touchdowns. He also ran the ball six times for 114 yards with a touchdown and caught a 10-yard pass. Matt O’Connor accounted for two rushing touchdowns, totaling 10 yards on three carries. He also caught three passes for nine yards and was 1-for-1 passing.
Gettysburg took the opening possession 68 yards down the field on 11 plays, eating up more than five minutes of the first quarter before Abdinoor hit Walle Harwigsson Lundblad in the front of the end zone for a three-yard score. The Bullets then put together another 11-play, 84-yard drive that consumed 7:34 but the TCNJ defense held on fourth-and-4 from inside the 10 to keep it a 7-0 game.
After an 11-yard punt gave Gettysburg possession at the Lions 36, the Bullets needed just four plays before Matt O’Connor found the pylon with an eight-yard touchdown run, but the missed conversion kept it a 13-0 game with 13:14 to play in the second quarter. College of New Jersey had an answer, though, and Trevor Bopp moved the visitors 65 yards down the field in nine. Schmidt finished off the drive with a five-yard run for his first score. An O’Connor one-yard read off the left end capped a 10-play answer, pushing the lead to 19-7 with 5:07 remaining. A deep ball to Malin Jasinski went for a 36-yard touchdown with 4:14 left, then Schmidt added his second score of the day with a three-yard run nearly three minutes later to take a 20-19 lead into the break.
The Lions took the opening second-half possession 78 yards in six plays, including Schmidt breaking a 49-yard touchdown run on fourth-and-1 to push the lead to 27-19 just 2:32 into the third quarter. Another three-yard Schmidt touchdown made it a 34-19 game with 4:03 on the third-quarter clock. Jason Roskam responded with a 43-yard catch-and-run on third and seven to cut the margin to 34-25 in the final 75 seconds of the quarter.
TCNJ made it 41-25 on its first drive of the fourth quarter before the Bullets marched 70 yards in 10 plays that Abdinoor capped by breaking a 20-yard run off the right side to make it a 10-point game. The Lions, however, were able to convert a third-and-16 and fourth-and-5 to run out the clock.
Other highlights for Gettysburg included Nick Wonsala, with six pass receptions, established a career-high of 60 yards; Jason Roskam, 96 receiving yards on five catches; Michael Zrelak, 24 carries for 91 yards; and defenders Ryan Weems and Nate DeLorenzo with eight tackles each. DeLorenzo added his third interception of the season – one of three picks by the Gettysburg defense.
Gettysburg returns to action at Dickinson next Saturday. Game time is 1 p.m.
This story originally appeared on the Gettysburg College website.