ALLENTOWN, Pa. – Record-setting quarterback Trevor Bopp and his unstoppable offense nearly engineered an unthinkable comeback on Saturday, but host Muhlenberg blocked a potential game-tying field goal in the closing seconds to escape with a 55-52 victory in an instant classic that marked the highest-scoring game in TCNJ history.
 
Bopp shattered his own program record for passing yards in a game, piling up 553 along with five touchdowns for the Lions, who suffered their first loss of the season but not before putting a thorough scare into the homestanding Mules.
 
TCNJ trailed 41-17 and 48-24 in the third quarter but scored touchdowns on five consecutive possessions to get within three and even had a chance to win it late. Bopp marched the Lions down to the Muhlenberg 21 and nearly hit Thomas Burke for a go-ahead touchdown, but the pass was knocked away and the visitors set up for a tying field goal. The Mules blocked the 38-yard attempt, and holder Dean Licari's desperation heave after picking up the ball sailed out of bounds.
 
Bopp was almost flawless against a Muhlenberg defense that conceded 59 points to Salisbury the previous week and had no answers for TCNJ on this day. The fifth-year captain was 27-for-42, averaging an incredible 13.2 yards per attempt and 20.5 yards per completion. Ten of those completions went to his favorite target in fellow captain Malin Jasinski, who put up another monster performance with 250 yards and a pair of scores. Ryan Gill had five catches for 128 yards and two TDs, and Alex Dille caught his first career touchdown.
 
TCNJ's offense put up 688 yards of total offense and averaged more than nine yards per play, but the Mules were just as prolific with 679 yards of offense. Muhlenberg got off to a fast start, jumping out to a 14-0 lead before the Lions got on the board early in the second quarter with a 60-yard touchdown pass from Bopp to a wide-open Gill down the left sideline.
 
The teams traded touchdowns, and the Lions went into half trailing 21-14. Things looked dire in the third when Muhlenberg scored touchdowns 20 seconds apart, cashing in on a TCNJ fumble to expand its advantage to 25 (42-17) with 5:35 left in the frame.
 
It was 48-24 after the Mules answered a 66-yard touchdown catch by Jasinski with another score of their own, but the comeback began in earnest on Jayson Schmidt's 14-yard touchdown run following a 43-yard completion from Bopp to Jasinski. After forcing a punt, Dille got free on a post route and easily outraced a defender for a 42-yard score to make it 48-38 with 14:06 to go.
 
Muhlenberg appeared to salt it away with a touchdown with 7:17 to go, but TCNJ had other plans. Bopp connected with Jasinski down the left sideline for a 66-yard touchdown on 4^th-and-1, and Amir Vick came up with an interception three plays later. Bopp's 31-yard TD pass to Gill pulled the Lions within 55-52 with 3:29 remaining, and the defense stopped Muhlenberg on a fourth down from the TCNJ 23.
 
With 53 seconds and no timeouts to work with, Bopp marched the Lions all the way to the Muhlenberg 21 after a 17-yard hookup with Gill, but a chance to win it with a pass to Burke was deflected away and led to the wild final sequence.
 
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE

• Muhlenberg racked up 679 yards on 94 plays, posting 41 first downs
• Joe Repetti threw for 395 yards and three touchdowns, while Amari Dunn rushed for 131 yards and scored three total TDs
• Schmidt rushed 21 times for 108 yards and two TDs
• Jack Young led the defense with 12 tackles and a fumble recovery
• Christian Bennett forced a fumble, and Patrick Frawley had the Lions' lone sack

NOTES

• TCNJ had been outscored, 79-10, in the previous two meetings with the Mules (2021 and 2023)
• The 107 total points matched the single-game program record, originally set during a 63-44 win over Ramapo in 1980, and the 688 yards were second only to the 708 against FDU-Florham in 2009 for the most in school history
• TCNJ's 52 points were its most since scoring 55 against Western Connecticut State in 2012
• Bopp shattered his own single-game passing yards record, formerly the 405 he threw for against Eastern a year ago
• Bopp passed Pete Harteveld (1995-97) for third on the program charts with 4,669 passing yards and counting
• Jasinski's 250 yards were the second-most in a single game in school history, behind only Tom Casperson's 284 versus Ramapo in 1984
• Jasinski is the first Lion to have three straight double-digit catch games and has a remarkable 541 yards in just three games
• Jasinski surpassed both 100 catches and 1,000 yards for his career
• Schmidt eclipsed 2,000 total yards for his career
• Gill notched his first career multi-TD game in his third career 100-yard receiving day

UP NEXT

• TCNJ has its bye week before opening NJAC play at home against Montclair State on October 5