GETTYSBURG, Pa. – A balanced rushing and passing attack helped the TCNJ football team rally from a 13-0 deficit for a 41-31 victory in a non-conference game at Gettysburg on Saturday.
 
Jayson Schmidt tore up the Bullets defense for a career-high 247 yards and matched a program record with four rushing touchdowns, while Trevor Bopp threw for one touchdown and ran for another. Malin Jasinski was the recipient of Bopp's TD throw and finished the game with 206 yards on 10 catches, establishing a new single-season program record in the process. 
 
The Lions (5-2) took their first lead, 20-19, with less than 90 seconds left in the half after Schmidt's second score that came off a direct snap and the Lions never looked back. A key defensive pass break-up by Amir Vick in the red zone prevented the Bullets from retaking the lead before the half with just 18 ticks on the clock.
 
TCNJ converted on its first possession of the second half, after Schmidt rumbled 49 yards on a fourth-down play to complete a 6-play, 78-yard drive for a 27-19 lead.
 
Schmidt's final TD of the game came just over eight minutes later in the third to give the Lions a 34-19 lead after a 3-yard run. The big play on the drive was a one-handed Jasinski 16-yard catch inside the red zone that capped the 9-play, 74-yard drive in just over three minutes.
 
The Bullets made it a 34-25 game after a 43-yard pass play down the middle of the field before the end of the third quarter. Bopp, however, ran up the middle to cap a 7-play, 93-yard drive in under three minutes for the Lions' final score and a 41-25 lead early in the fourth. The drive's key play was a 50-yard Bopp pass to Thomas Burke – Bopp's longest completion of the game - and after two attempts to get Schmidt a fifth score, Bopp ran it in from two yards out.
 
Gettysburg (2-5) started strong after an opening-drive score of 11 plays for 68 yards that took just over five minutes for the only points of the first quarter. The Lion defense prevented a second first quarter score after the Bullets were foiled on a fourth down play deep in the Lion end in the final minute of the quarter.
 
The game's second quarter saw most of the game's scoring with five TDs that started with the Bullets increasing their lead to 13-0 after their PAT hit the crossbar less than two minutes into the quarter.
 
Schmidt's first touchdown run up the middle from five yards out capped a three-minute drive on nine plays and 65 yards to get the Lions on the board.
 
Gettysburg responded with Matt O'Connor's second TD for the Bullets, after a repeat bootleg TD run to the opposite side of his first TD, but their 2-point conversion attempt failed for a 19-7 game. TCNJ scored on its only passing TD after Jasinski hauled in a 36-yard score from Bopp to cut the deficit to one score at 19-14 with just over four minutes left in the half on a three-play drive in just under a minute.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• TCNJ racked up 582 yards of offense at 8.7 yards per play
• The Lions had 28 first downs, 13 through the air
• Gettysburg finished with 483 yards with one turnover
• Bopp finished 18-of-28 with one touchdown and three interceptions
• Jack Young led the defensive effort with 11 tackles (7 solo)
• Tyler Rummel and Dave Giulian each finished with 8 tackles
• Jameson Sessa recovered a fumble for the Bullets' lone turnover

NOTES

• Jasinski notched his fifth game with at least 10 grabs and his second with over 200 yards
• Jasinski became the second receiver in school history to top 1,000 yards in a season and is 73 yards from the single-season school record of 1,090
• Bopp is just 11 yards from breaking Chris James' program record of 5,871
• Bopp's rushing touchdown was the fifth of his career, and his first of the season
• Schmidt now has a career-high eight touchdowns on the season and 18 for his career
• Ryan Gill is now just 7 receiving yards from 1,000 in his career after a pair of catches for 34 yards on Saturday
• It was just the second meeting between the two schools after a 30-13 TCNJ win last season

UP NEXT

• The Lions host undefeated No. 6 Salisbury in their final regular season home game next Saturday at 2 p.m. in a huge NJAC tilt