Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
Michael Hnatkowsky set one record and tied another to lead the Muhlenberg College football team to a 49-6 win at Franklin & Marshall.
The win keeps the seventh-ranked Mules (5-0, 4-0) undefeated and in sole possession of first place in the Centennial Conference heading into next week's league-wide bye. They return to action with a Friday night home game vs. Ursinus on October 18.
Hnatkowsky completed his first 16 passes and finished 17-of-18 for 305 yards – his fourth career 300-yard game – and five touchdowns. The five touchdowns tied a school record he also tied in the season-opening win vs. TCNJ; he is the first Muhlenberg quarterback with two five-TD games in the same season.
Hnatkowsky also upped his career total of touchdown passes to 67, breaking the CC record for a left-handed quarterback set by Muhlenberg's Michael McCabe (64 from 1997 to 2000).
Max Kirin caught six of the passes for a career-high 167 yards and two touchdowns. Ryan Curtiss also hauled in a pair of scoring strikes.
Todd Spirt booted all seven extra points to tie the school record of 230 points scored by a kicker.
The Mules took the opening kickoff and needed only five plays to score, with Hnatkowsky completing to Kirin for 44 yards on the first play and to Chris Hillburn for 8 yards to cap the drive.
The Diplomats (3-2, 2-2) responded with a scoring drive of their own, but Dante Lonardo blocked the extra point and the defense pitched a shutout the rest of the way.
Lonardo finished with three tackles for loss, including 1½ sacks, while Kwasi Ampomah recorded a half-sack among his two tackles for loss.
Nick Sirico and Alex Batista broke up passes in the end zone to help thwart F&M drives.
Muhlenberg scored touchdowns on each of its first six possessions, moving down the field in 2:30 or less on five of them, in opening up a 49-6 lead midway through the third quarter.
The other touchdown came on a blocked field goal return late in the first half, with Sirico blocking a 32-yard attempt. Joseph O'Hagan picked up the loose ball at the 9, returned it just past midfield, then pitched to Mickey Kober, who ran it the final 48 yards for his first career touchdown.
It was the second blocked field goal return for a touchdown in program history, and the other one also involved a lateral, with Michael Long scoring the touchdown to cap a 73-yard play vs. McDaniel in 2013.
The win was the Mules' first in Lancaster since 2011; their previous three trips had resulted in three losses by a total of 11 points. The 43-point margin of victory was Muhlenberg's largest against F&M since 2002.