Release courtesy of Muhlenberg Athletic Communications

ALLENTOWN, Pa. -- The best season in Muhlenberg football history ended with a 45-14 home loss to North Central in the Division III semifinals.

The Cardinals (13-1) capitalized on mistakes to take a big early lead, and the Mules (13-1) could never recover in suffering their first loss of the season. North Central advances to the Stagg Bowl for the first time in program history. 

Ironically, the game began the same way last year's season-ending loss at Mount Union in the quarterfinals did - with Muhlenberg picking off a pass on the first play from scrimmage. Senior Joseph O'Hagan caught a deflected ball near midfield for his fifth interception of the season - just the fifth pick thrown by the North Central quarterback all season.

Just three plays later, however, the Cardinals answered with an interception of their own, which led to the first touchdown of the game with 9:27 on the clock.

A bad snap that resulted in an 18-yard loss and a fumbled kickoff return set up two more North Central touchdowns and a 21-0 advantage before the first quarter was over.

The Cardinals extended their lead to 35-0 before Muhlenberg got on the board late in the first half. Junior James Diggs ran 53 yards on fourth-and-1 to keep the drive alive, then carried the ball over on fourth down from the 1-yard line for his 24th career touchdown.

Muhlenberg scored its lone touchdown of a rainy second half early in the fourth quarter when senior Ryan Curtiss caught a third-down pass from junior Michael Hnatkowsky, broke two tackles and went all the way for a career-long 74-yard touchown.

Curtiss (pictured above) finished with five catches for 98 yards, and the touchdown was his 15th of the season, breaking a 19-year-old school record.

Hnatkowsky was 23-of-41 for 277 yards, breaking the school record for completions in a season with 270.

O'Hagan recorded a career-high 13 tackles in the final game of his career, and senior Mickey Kober added 10. Another senior, Dante Lonardo, had eight stops.

The loss ended the careers of a senior class that was the winningest in program history, with a four-year record of 41-8 that included two Centennial Conference championships and the program's first two trips to the NCAA quarterfinals.

Asked how the senior class wanted to be remembered, Kober said, "[As] more than football players - [as] men of good character. No matter what in life, no matter the situation, know how to dig in."

"I think we set a footprint for the rest of Muhlenberg football," said Curtiss. "I think our senior class is one to remember and one to look up to."