FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: Maniscalco Passes for 357 yards but Mounties Come Up Short Against Franklin Pierce

MANSFIELD – Mike Maniscalco passed for 357 yards and two touchdowns but Mansfield struggled inside the red-zone in suffering a 36-15 setback to visiting Franklin Pierce Saturday afternoon at Karl Van Norman Field.

Maniscalco followed up is record-setting 380 yard passing performance last week against Army with another outstanding day completing 26-of-48 passes and breaking the school record for both attempts and competions.

Despite its potent passing attack, the Mountaineers struggled in red-zone opportunities with drives petering out on the Franklin Pierce 3, 5, 12, and 15 yard-lines.

Franklin Pierce jumped out to a 14-0 lead after one quarter of play, punching the ball in from 3 yards out on runs by quarterback Derek Reddy and running back Andrew Jean.

Mansfield got on the board early in the second quarter with a safety when Mountaineer linebacker Christian Sookdeo tackled Reddy in the end zone.

Mansfield got the ensuing kickoff on the 50 yard line and scored four plays later when Maniscalco found Eddie Larcom on a 28-yard touchdown pass to close the gap to 14-8 after the PAT went off the left upright.

After forcing Franklin Piece to punt on its next possession, the Mountaineers took the ball on their own 28 yard-line and marched down the field to the Franklin Piece 3 yard-line but failed to score after Maniscalco was sacked on a fourth down with two minutes remaining in the first half.

Trailing 14-8 at halftime, the Mountaineers forced Franklin Pierce to turn the ball over on downs at MU's 35 on the first possession of the second half.

Three plays later, Mansicalco found Kurt Logan on a short pattern and Logan outraced the defense for what appeared to be a 76-yard touchdown but had the touchdown nullified when Logan was called for unsportsmanlike conduct for diving into the end zone.

The penalty brought the ball back to the Franklin Pierce 16 yard-line and Mansfield dove to the FP 5 yard- line before Paul Harrision field goal was blocked and recovered by Franklin Pierce on its own 9.

Mansfield turned the ball over on its own 35 on its next possession with Franklin Pierce scoring three plays later on a 1-yard plunge by Reddy to take 22-8 lead late in the third quarter.

The Mountaineers drove to the Franklin Pierce 15 yard-line on the ensuing possession but turned the ball over on downs as the third quarter drew to a close.

After holding Franklin Pierce to a three-and-out, Mansfield was intercepted by Paul Tancredi who returned the ball 26-yards to the Mansfield 4 yard-line before Demitri Moreno ran it in to extend the lead 29-8 with 13 minutes to play.

Despite the setbacks, Mansfield didn't rollover scoring a little over two minutes later when senior Jeremy Estremera made a remarkable one-handed grab on a tipped pass from Maniscalco and scored on a 24-yard pass to cut the lead to 29-15.

But Franklin Pierce would finally put the game away when Reddy scored on a 45-yard run with less than five minutes to play.

Mansfield recorded 21 first downs to Franklin Pierce's 13 and held a 371-301 advantage in total offense but couldn't contain the Ravens running attack that racked up 259 yards on the ground.

The two teams combined for 24 penalties for 254 yards including 149 yards against the Mountaineers.

Maniscalco, who was sacked six times on the day, became the first Mountaineer quarterback in sprint football history to pass for more than 1000 yards in a season and now has 1281 yards and 11 touchdown in the first five games of the season.

Logan caught eight passes for 150 yards with Estremera pulling in eight passes for 87 yards and a touchdown. Joe Bucek had six grabs for 56 yards and Larcom four for 64 yards.

Mike Bucek and Kyle Post led the defense with seven tackles each with Post also picking off his third pass of the season. Dylan Flexer and Spencer Underdown each had six tackles.

Reddy ran for 128 yards and three touchdowns while passing for 60 yads. Moreno had 85 yards on the ground for Franklin Pierce with James Willette recording a game-high 11 tackles.

Mansfield hosts Princeton next Saturday for Senior Day.