LANCASTER, Pa. – Franklin & Marshall College claimed a share of the Centennial Conference title with a 51-21 decision over Gettysburg College in Head Coach Barry Streeter's final game at the Bullets' helm Saturday afternoon at Shadek Stadium.
 
After 39 years as head coach at 42 overall at Gettysburg (3-7, 3-6 CC), Streeter announced his impending retirement from coaching one month ago. He led the Bullets onto the field one final time with the goal of reclaiming the Lincoln Football Trophy, but a determined Franklin & Marshall (9-1, 8-1 CC) team jumped out with 24 points in the opening quarter on the way to claiming a share of the Centennial title for the first time since 2004.
 
"We knew we couldn't make many mistakes early on and we did," said Streeter. "We made too many mistakes in the first half and in the second half we were a little bit better. (Franklin & Marshall) is a really good football team."
 
The Bullets fought back in the second half by out-scoring the hosts 21-20. Gettysburg's first touchdown was set up by a 33-yard run by junior tailback Nick Rella (Denville, N.J./Morristown-Beard) with six minutes left in the third quarter. Senior Justin Davidov (Ossining, N.Y./Ossining) completed the drive with a 21-yard toss to senior Ryan Thompson(Oakland, N.J./Indian Hills) in the end zone on fourth down. The score was Thompson's team-best fifth of the season.
 
On Gettysburg's next third-quarter possession, Davidov pulled off a career-long 58-yard run to reach Diplomat territory. Freshman Reggie JeanCharles (Galloway, N.J./Holy Spirit) ran in from a yard out for his fifth rushing score of the fall.
 
The Bullets finished the scoring in the fourth quarter when Davidov heaved a 30-yard strike to senior Ty Abdul-Karim(Washington, D.C./Woodberry Forest (Va.)) with 5:58 left in the game. The reception was the 11th of Abdul-Karim's career, moving him into a tie for ninth place on the program's all-time list.
 
Davidov and Rella each finished with 60 yards rushing, with the former adding 161 yards through the air. Davidov closed his career with 1,208 rushing yards, the most by a quarterback in program history. The senior quarterback also became just the seventh Bullet to eclipse over 4,000 yards of total offense in a career (4,112).
 
Defensively, junior Jake Skinner (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) logged a dozen tackles and finished with a team-high 109 this season. Both Skinner and senior Frank Olmo (Eatontown, N.J./Red Bank Catholic), who posted 10 stops, eclipsed 200 career tackles in the game. Senior Glenn Benson (North Plainfield, N.J./North Plainfield) added 11 stops and junior Logan Aikey (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg) posted 2.5 sacks and three tackles for a loss. Junior Mike McKnight (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) picked off his third pass of the season at the end of the first half.
 
Franklin & Marshall received 139 yards and three touchdowns from tailback Taalib Gerald. Tanner Erisman completed 19-of-34 passes for 290 yards and three touchdowns, while adding 36 yards on the ground and a rushing score. K.J. Pretty hauled in 10 catches for 162 yards and a pair of touchdowns and Dillon Alderfer caught six passes for a 100 yards and a score.
 
The game marked the end of the longest coaching tenure in any sport at Gettysburg. Streeter won a program record 196 games and led the team to the three Centennial Conference championships (1983, 1984, 1985). The 1985 team's trip to the NCAA Division III semifinals remains the conference's best national showing.
 
"Gettysburg has been great to me," said Streeter. "I would say you always want to win more championships and you always want to win more games, but I know we tried to do it with integrity and with high character and to me that's important."