WASHINGTON, D.C. – Trevor Bopp broke a longstanding program record with 405 passing yards and four touchdowns to help the TCNJ football team hold off a game Eastern squad for a 41-21 victory in Saturday's season opener.
Bopp put up career highs in every passing category, finishing 32-of-55 with four touchdowns to offset a pair of interceptions. Running back
Jayson Schmidt caught two of Bopp's scoring throws, while sophomore
Ryan Gill established himself as a go-to target with 10 receptions for 105 yards and a score of his own.
Jack Young and
Dominick Nocero each had critical interceptions to lead the defensive unit.
HIGHLIGHTS
- The lid-lifter got off to a chaotic start, each team throwing an interception on its opening drive
- The Lions opened the scoring with a 21-yard field goal by Bobby Wortman midway through the first quarter
- The Eagles took a 7-3 lead early in the second stanza, capitalizing on another Bopp pick and using the short field to go in front on a 15-yard touchdown pass from Sabor Stevens to Izayah Guy-Bruton
- Later in the second, back-to-back tackles by Ryan McGuire forced a fourth down deep in Eastern's zone, and a short punt set the Lions up at the plus-34. Four plays later, Bopp shook off a tackle and plunged in from a yard out to make it 10-7 TCNJ.
- A bad snap on the Eagles' next drive was recovered by Bill Westerby, and the Lions cashed in on another short field on Bopp's 9-yard fade to Gill in the back corner of the end zone
- Eastern went on a long touchdown drive to get within 17-14, but Bopp engineered a robust response, and Schmidt took a screen pass 10 yards to the house to extend the Lions' lead to 24-14 just before half
- Wortman's second field goal made it a 27-14 contest, but Eastern came roaring back with a 67-yard strike from Stevens to Eddie Swinton with 8:21 left in the third
- The Eagles got all the way to the TCNJ 25, but Mark Pierro and Darian Ghahary snuffed out the 4th-and-1 carry to keep the home side in front
- Bopp gave TCNJ some breathing room with a 29-yard touchdown toss to Jaiden Johnson, who streaked open down the left sideline with his first career scoring grab
- Bopp put some window dressing on the final score with a Mahomesian underhand flip to Schmidt for a 6-yard touchdown and a 41-21 lead with just over a minute to go
FOR THE FOES
- Stevens finished 8-of-20 for 143 yards and two touchdowns to go with the two interceptions
- Guy-Bruton paced Eastern with six receptions for 79 yards
FOR THE LIONS
- Jake McKown racked up career highs of six catches and 77 yards, Johnson had 4 for 66, and Schmidt registered six catches for 62 yards
- Erik Garv had two catches, including a critical grab on fourth down on a fourth down to set up Wortman's first field goal
- TCNJ piled up 493 yards of total offense on 91 plays. The Lions were 3-of-4 on fourth down and scored on six of seven trips to rhe red zone
NOTES
- Bopp's 405 yards surpassed the former mark of 383 set by Bob Lockhart in 1980. His 55 attempts were also a program record, eclipsing Daniel Dugan's 50 against Montclair State in 2012
- Gill, who accrued 15 targets from Bopp, posted the first 100-yard receiving game for the Lions since Max Hayford had 112 yards at Salisbury in 2021. He also notched the first double-digit reception output since Vinny Guckin's 15 grabs against St. John Fisher in 2019
- Schmidt had 99 yards of total offense to go over 1,000 for his career
- Dylan Patscher paced TCNJ with seven tackles, while McGuire and Logan Flaherty had six apiece. Two of McGuire's stops were for loss
- Pierro, Kuse, Jameson Sessa, and Cole Groschel also added tackles for loss, and Flaherty and Patrick Frawley split a sack
- Young and Groschel each broke up two passes, and Young returned his interception 57 yards
- Wortman had a terrific day, making both of his field goals and all five extra points. He also had a touchback on four of his eight kickoffs
UP NEXT
The Lions hit the road to start their Centennial/NJAC series at Franklin & Marshall under the Friday night lights. Kickoff is set for 7 p.m. in Lancaster.
