HUNTINGDON, PA- Quarterback Ward Udinski (Doylestown, PA/Central Bucks West) and receiver Kirby Breault (Elizabethtown, PA/Elizabethtown Area) both enjoyed career days as the Juniata football team cruised to a 56-31 win over McDaniel on Saturday afternoon at Knox Field. The victory evens the Eagles record at 4-4 overall and improves its Centennial mark to 3-4 while the Green Terror fall to 1-7 and 0-7 in the conference.
Udinski passed for a career-high 469 yards on 22-of-28 attempts. He is the first Juniata quarterback to throw for over 400 yards since Jay Leonard last did it in 2005. His five touchdown throws are also a career-high and the first for Juniata since Greg Troutman achieved it in 2001.
Breault finished the game with six catches for 212 yards and two scores. He had career highs in both yards and touchdowns and is the first to go over 200 yards receiving since David Nicklaus in 2005.
"We came ready to play," said head coach Tim Launtz afterwards. "In a Centennial football game, you have to always play hard and that's what we did."
The Eagles took the lead 14 seconds into the game as receiver Isaiah Slutter (Cawley, PA/Wallenpaupack Area) took the opening kickoff 98 yards for a touchdown to put JC up 7-0. He finished with seven catches for 128 yards and three scores on offense and had 149 yards in kickoff returns to total 284 all-purpose yards. His three receiving touchdowns are the most since 2007.
"You can't get out any faster than returning the opening kickoff for a touchdown," noted Launtz. "The game had different momentum changes and I think we responded every time there was one."
After the Juniata defense forced a three and out, the Eagles increased their lead to 14-0 as Udinski connected with Breault for a 48-yard touchdown with 11:04 left in the first quarter. The Green Terror notched its first points of the afternoon at the six-minute mark on a 21-yard field goal from Spencer Wisenberg to make it a 14-3 contest.
Udinski connected with Breault again on a shovel pass and he dashed his way into the endzone for a 76-yard touchdown to increase the JC lead to 21-3. The Eagle lead stretched to 35-3 late in the second quarter as Udinski ran for two scores. McDaniel got its first touchdown as Matty Callahan hit Mike Oliveto for 52 yards as the score stood at 35-10 going into halftime.
The Green Terror looked to get back into the game as on the second half kickoff, Marquise Findley Smith appeared to score a touchdown but was called back because of an illegal block in the back penalty. McDaniel could not muster any offense as it was forced to punt and Juniata got the ball back.
The offense went right to work as Udinski completed three out of his four passes on the drive to put the Eagles at the McDaniel 19. Two plays later, Udinski passed to Slutter for a 14-yard touchdown to put JC ahead 42-10.
McDaniel got down to the Juniata 1 on its next possession but Oilveto would be stripped of the ball by Demetrius Floyd (Coraopolis, PA/West Allegheny) and recovered by Nick Bonavita (Sheffield, PA/Sheffield Area) to set the Eagles up at their own 2. Matt Lehr (Dover, PA/York Catholic) then busted off a 49-yard run to put Juniata just past midfield. The threat ended when Udinski coughed up the ball and McDaniel's Andy Ullman ran it down to the Eagle 40. Seven plays later, John Chamberlain ran it in for a seven-yard score to make it 42-17 Juniata.
In the fourth quarter, the Green Terror defense forced another Udinski fumble near midfield. Callahan needed just one play to find Nick O'Melia for 48 yards and narrowed the score to 42-24 with 11:15 left to play.
The Eagles responded with an 85-yard Udinski-to-Slutter touchdown to go ahead 49-24. After Bonavita picked off Callahan on McDaniel's next possession and brought the ball to the Green Terror 35, the Eagles ran the ball to take time off of the clock. With a first and goal at the two-yard line, Udinski threaded the needle to Slutter for the score to make it a 56-24 contest. McDaniel ended the scoring with a Callahan-to -Sean Montgomery 10-yard score.
It was the first time since 1999 that Juniata has scored 50 or more points. The 675 total offense yards are the most since 2005.
The Eagles ran for a total of 198 yards. Udinski had 90 of those and the two scores. Lehr added 56 while Deonte Alston (Bel-Air, MD/Patterson Mill) and Michael John (Osceola Mills, PA/Phillipsburg Osceola) contributed 26 and 22 , respectively.
On the defensive side, Ethan Wilt (Altoona, PA/Altoona Area) led in tackles with eight and also added a sack. Juniata had a total of six sacks with Jared Kronicz (York Haven, PA/Camp Hill) tallying 2.5. Floyd finished with six stops, a forced fumble, and two pass breakups.
Juniata hosts Moravian next Saturday for its final home game of the season. Kickoff from Knox Field will be at 12 p.m.