Juniata football’s second half surge falls short at McDaniel

WESTMINSTER, Md. – Juniata College football answered a 7-0 halftime deficit with 19 second-half points, but host McDaniel College kept pace on its way to a 23-19 Centennial Conference win over the Eagles on Homecoming Saturday at Scott Bair Stadium.

On a snow-covered field with temperatures hovering just above freezing, Juniata (0-8, 0-7 Centennial) turned in its best all-around performance of the season to date.

The Eagles tallied a season-high 324 yards of offense, while holding the Green Terror to 300 yards – 47 yards below its season average. Juniata offensively outgained an opponent for the first time since October 4, 2008, when the Eagles also bested McDaniel on offensive yardage, 339 to 192.

Freshman quarterback Wade Udinski (Doylestown, Pa./Central Bucks West) passed for a season-high 168 yards on 15 completions, and carried 20 times for 77 yards rushing. Junior wideout Julian Valdiserri (Pittsburgh, Pa./Mt. Lebanon) hauled in seven of the passes for 59 yards, while Hunter Phillips (Funkstown, Md./South Hagerstown) had four catches for 11 yards.

Rookie Nicholas Stubbs (Hagerstown, Md./South Hagerstown), playing his third game on the offensive side of the football, rushed 10 times and also logged 77 yards.

McDaniel went into the locker room at the half with a 7-0 lead, after Green Terror quarterback Nick Valori's 14-yard touchdown pass to Nick O'Melia with 4:07 remaining in the opening quarter. That play also accounted for just under half of Valori's total of 35 yards on 4-of-9 passing.

Juniata nearly tied the game on its first possession of the second quarter, taking over possession of the football on its own 46 after an interception by Keith Stewart (Havertown, Pa./Haverford Township). Three plays later, Udinski hit De'Sean Popley (Philadelphia, Pa./Acad. of the New Church) on a 33-yard pass hookup, taking the Eagles into the Green Terror red zone.

The Eagles got inside the five-yard line on a 1st-and-goal following a seven-yard Udinski rush, but Juniata could not break the plane of the endzone on four tries and the ball reverted to McDaniel on downs.

After a 21-yard McDaniel field goal on the Green Terror's first possession of the second half, Juniata finally got on the board with 6:55 showing in the third when Stubbs broke loose with a 45-yard touchdown run.  The three-point margin was short-lived, with McDaniel scoring just over two minutes later on a five-play, 50-yard drive capped by Joe Rollins' three-yard TD carry that stretched the McDaniel lead to 16-7.

Juniata answered with a touchdown on its ensuing possession, eventually finding the endzone on Udinski's 10-yard pass to Valdiserri with 13:42 remaining in the game to cut the McDaniel lead to 16-13.

Two minutes later, McDaniel scored on a 58-yard Valori touchdown run on 3^rd-and-8, but the Green Terror got saw that 10-point lead vanish in less than two minutes.  Udinski hit Stubbs on a 60-yard pass play for seven points, and Juniata trailed by four, 23-19, with 9:28 showing on the game clock. 

After holding McDaniel to three-and-out, Juniata regained possession with 7:07 remaining and embarked on a 12-play drive lasting over five minutes. However the drive covered only 40 yards, stalling at the McDaniel 43 where the Green Terror took over on downs after Udinski's pass attempt on 4th-and-13 was broken up by McDaniel's Kevin White.

McDaniel ran out the final 1:55 by logging a pair of first downs, one on a 37-yard rush by Joe Rollins, to secure the win.

Rollins finished with 170 yards rushing on 32 carries, accounting for well over half of McDaniel's offensive production on the day.  Valori had 71 yards on the ground on his four carries.

Defensively, David Weiss (Middletown, Md./Middletown) and Andrew Masullo (Bellefonte, Pa./Bellefonte) each had 10 total tackles to lead the Eagles, with five of Masullo's stops unassisted. Weiss and Jared Shope (Altoona, Pa./Altoona Area) combined on Juniata's lone sack of the day. Juniata's 7.0 tackles-for-loss matched a season high set against Franklin & Marshall.

Juniata plays its final road game next Saturday, Nov. 5, at Moravian College. Kick-off is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

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