Misericordia University Athletics

The Misericordia University football team opened the season with a 42-14 win over Hartwick in the first official night game in program history, Friday evening at Mangelsdorf Field.
 
Jacob Hunter and Angelo Fluri both scored two touchdowns and Amir Major and Jordan Alston added scores as the Cougars built a 42-0 lead early in the fourth quarter.
 
The Cougars scored twice in the first and second quarters, including on the last play of the first half, to race out to a 28-0 lead.
 
Hunter was 18-27 for 207 yards and two touchdowns and added 74 yards and two scores on the ground.
 
Fluri scored a pair of TD's on nine carries for 37 yards and Major had 80 yards, including a 54-yard scoring run.
 
Alston had six catches for 77 yards and Anthony Rucci had five catches for 68 yards.
 
Darren Kline had a team-high eight tackles and Jordan Chmielewski and Landyn Kline had seven stops each.
 
Max Webb and Casey Gerhart both had interceptions.
 
Webb had a tackle for loss on the game's opening possession to force a Hartwick punt and the Cougars went 66 yards in eight plays to take an early lead.
 
Hunter hit Rucci over the middle for 17 yards and a third-down conversion just across midfield.
 
Fluri bounced off a tackle to convert third-and-1 and Hunter found Rucci for 18 yards down the left sideline to the Hartwick 20.
 
On first down, Hunter scrambled to his right, cut back to his and juked a pair of defenders at the five-yard line to cap a 20-yard run for the game's first score with 7:04 left in the first quarter.
 
Chmielewski and Sean Diven stuffed a fourth-and-1 attempt on Hartwick's next possession and the Cougars took over on their own 37.
 
Whittaker made a leaping grab over the middle on third-down to set up fourth-and-1 at MU's 46.  Major went off right tackle and out ran the defense down the right sideline for a 54-yard score and 14-0 lead with 1:12 to go in the first quarter.
 
Rashad Townsend's sack led to a Hartwick punt on the final play of the first quarter.  Alston fielded the punt at the MU 44 and raced down the left sideline before cutting back to the middle for a 31-yard return to the Hartwick 25.
 
Hunter hit Alston for 10 yards along the left sideline and then scrambled to find Fluri for an 11-yard TD and a 21-0 lead less than three minutes into the second quarter.
 
MU forced a Hartwick punt to take possession at their own 13 with 2:19 left in the first half.
 
Hunter found Rucci on the left sideline for 22 yards and connected with Alston for 10 yards in the same spot after a holding penalty.  Alston made a leaping grab down the middle for 20 yards to the Hartwick 35.
 
Facing fourth-and-12, Hunter scrambled around left end and leaped over a defender for a first down at the Hartwick 19.
 
Hunter avoided pressure again to find Whittaker for 10 yards to the Hartwick four-yard line with :07 left. Hunter went off right tackle on the final play of the half to give MU a 28-0 lead.
 
Misericordia took the second-half kick-off and marched 75 yards in 11 plays.
 
Hunter hit Robert Marx for 11 yards on the right sideline and hit Alston down the middle for 25 yards to the Hartwick 35.  Hunter scrambled to his right and hit Whittaker for 17 yards to the Hartwick 20 and eventually found Alston over the middle in the back of the end zone for a 35-0 lead with 8:16 to go in the third.
 
Webb returned an interception 21 yards to midfield to give MU the ball with :09 to play in the third period.
 
Hunter scrambled for a first down on third-and-10 and Fluri went around left end for 19 yards to the Hartwick 11.
 
Fluri went off left tackle for the final six yards to give MU a 42-0 lead with 11:48 remaining.