Sophomore
James Diggs (163) and junior
Mark Riggio (career-high 155) each rushed for more than 150 yards to lead an offense that rolled up 600 total yards as the 24th-ranked Muhlenberg football team remained undefeated with a 34-14 win at Ursinus.
Sophomore
Michael Hnatkowsky threw three touchdown passes for the Mules (5-0, 5-0), who have won eight straight games dating back to last season and remain in sole possession of first place in the Centennial Conference.
The defense recorded six sacks, including 2½ by junior
Frankie Feaster, in holding the Bears (4-2, 3-2), who came in averaging nearly 200 per game on the ground, to 21 rushing yards on 26 carries.
Behind the offensive line of senior
Kyle Oprisko, juniors
Ryan Malarkey,
Declan Mandeville and
Kenny Mulkeen and sophomores
Brian Biskaduros,
Trevor Quinn and
Sam Rothstein, Diggs and Riggio became the first Muhlenberg tandem to exceed 150 yards in the same game since 1998, when Jason Brader (263) and Kamali Roberts (161) pulled off the feat vs. Swarthmore. The Mules lost yardage on only three of their 53 rushing attempts - and those were for a yard each.
Muhlenberg gained 356 rushing yards on only 56 carries, an average of 6.4 yards per rush, and churned out 32 first downs. The 600-yard game was the first for the Mules in a CC contest since 2015. Of the team's 11 drives, all but two ended inside the Ursinus 15-yard line.
Muhlenberg began its first possession at the 1-yard line but needed only five plays to move 99 yards for the first points of the game, with Hnatkowsky hitting junior
Max Kirin with a 27-yard scoring strike.
After Ursinus answered with a touchdown, the Mules went back on top when Hnatkowsky connected with Kirin again, this time from 3 yards out in the second quarter. It was the second multiple-touchdown game for Kirin in the last three weeks.
The Mules missed a field goal to start the second half, but got the ball back on a short field after a defensive stop and converted on a 1-yard run by RiggioÂ
(pictured above).
Hnatkowsky's 17-yard pass to sophomore
Thomas Murphy made it 28-7, and Diggs added a 5-yard TD in the fourth quarter.
Muhlenberg ended the game with a 16-play, 72-yard drive that chewed up the final 9:23.
Hnatkowsky finished 19-of-31 for 244 yards and also ran for 39 yards. Sophomore
Joshua Barnett recorded 1½ sacks.
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