Montclair outscored Gettysburg 9-6 in the fourth quarter, including converting a 19-yard field goal attempt as time expired to snatch a victory, 27-26.
Walle Harwigsson led the Bullets with seven catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns. Rocco Abdinoor racked up 229 yards of total offense, completing 18 of 36 passes for 190 yards and three touchdowns while also running 10 times for 39 yards.
Henry Lewis led the Red Hawks with 88 yards rushing on 13 carries with two touchdowns.
Nicholas Burgess paced the defense with 13 tackles.
After forcing a field-goal attempt that Montclair missed on the game’s opening possession, the Gettysburg offense took over at its own 20 with 10:50 to play. The drive appeared to stall near midfield but a running into the kicker penalty gave the Bullets a first down and kept the drive going. Another 11 plays that included a conversion on a fake field goal finished up a 20-play drive that ended with a Walle Harwigsson Lundblad one-yard touchdown grab. The PAT was missed to keep it a 6-0 game with 33 seconds left in the opening quarter.
Montclair fumbled the ensuing kickoff attempt, setting up the Gettysburg offense at the Red Hawk 27. On the sixth play of the drive, Rocco Abdinoor found Benjamin Mapp (Lutherville-Timonium, Md./Boys’ Latin School of Maryland) in the back corner of the end zone on fourth-and-4 for a 13-0 lead with 14:08 to play. Henry Lewis, however, paid off a 10-play, 50-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown but a missed PAT kept it 13-6 with 1:23 showing. Ryan Visalli picked off a tipped pass, giving Montclair the ball at the Gettysburg 28 with 40 seconds to play. Another Henry rushing score cut the margin to 13-12 but another missed point-after attempt kept the Bullets in front by one at the break.
The Red Hawks started their opening drive of the second half at the one-yard line but moved the ball into Gettysburg territory in eight plays. However, a Nate DeLorenzo (Virginia Beach, Va./Norfolk Academy) 66-yard interception return for a touchdown stretched the Gettysburg lead to 20-13 with 7:11 remaining. After forcing a punt, the Bullets drove inside the Red Hawk 15 but the drive stalled and they were forced to attempt a 29-yard field goal. It was blocked and Visalli retuned the kick for a touchdown but Gettysburg stuffed the potential game-tying two-point attempt to keep it a 20-18 game with 1:07 remaining.
Montclair forced a turnover on downs, taking over at its own 16 with 9:28 to play. A third-down penalty call kept the drive alive before Aidan McLaughlin found Jamie Hamilton at the pylon for a 24-yard touchdown catch with 4:02 to play. On the ensuing Gettysburg drive, Abdinoor found Luke Denison (Madison, N.J./Madison) for a 16-yard gain on fourth-and-14 to keep the march going into Red Hawk territory. Three plays later, Abdinoor connected with Harwigsson in the back of the end zone for a 34-yard strike to take a 26-24 lead with 56 seconds left. The Bullets opted for a two-point conversation but the pass attempt was no good. On a second-and-20, Montclair took a deep shot and McLaughin connected with Ahmirr Robinson for a 46-yard gain over the middle to move the ball to the Gettysburg 19. Four plays later, the Red Hawks moved inside the one-yard line before calling timeout with four seconds left to set up for the game-winning field goal. Greg Casimir hit the 19-yarder as time expired for the win.
Nate DeLorenzo now has two defensive touchdowns in the first two games. Last week, he had a fumble return for a touchdown before returning an interception for a touchdown in this game. He also had six tackles and a blocked kick. Montclair finished with a 373-346 advantage in total yards. Kossi Agbo and Arthur Stubbs both had eight tackles to lead the Bullets defense.
Gettysburg returns to action in the home opener against Christopher Newport on Saturday. Game time is 1 p.m.
This article first appeared on the Gettysburg College website.