A challenge was posed to McDaniel College’s offense midway through Saturday’s game against Gettysburg.
And when the Bullets took the second-half kickoff and turned their first possession into points, putting the home team in a hole, no more words were needed. The Green Terror wanted no part of giving away a game they felt they should win, particularly to a Gettysburg team that came to Kenneth R. Gill Stadium having allowed the most points in the Centennial Conference.
The solution? Run the ball.
Led by veteran back Perry Stefanelli, the Terror answered their coach’s call and ran away from the Bullets in a 32-22 victory. Stefanelli went for 89 of McDaniel’s 219 rushing yards and scored two touchdowns — his first trip into the end zone since 2017.
“We decided to come out and pound the rock,” said Stefanelli, who was part of a ground game that averaged 4.4 yards per carry. “And that’s what [we] did. It was good, good for our confidence going forward.”
The Terror (3-1, 2-1 Centennial) put up 23 second-half points and responded to Gettysburg’s charge. The Bullets (0-4, 0-3) grabbed their first lead of the year when Matty Mulcahy capped an eight-play, 75-yard drive with a 9-yard touchdown run to open the third quarter.
McDaniel’s ensuing possession began on its own 13-yard line, following a fair catch on the kickoff. But that’s when the Green Terror offense mixed in some runs and passes, and Stefanelli ended it with a 16-yard touchdown.
The point after failed, but the score was tied 15-15.
McDaniel’s defense had its own moments. The Terror were in on seven fumbles, and Gettysburg lost two of them. The miscues led to 10 McDaniel points — a 28-yard field goal from Peyton Denlinger late in the third quarter, and a 7-yard touchdown run from Daqwan Hill early in the fourth that put the Terror on top 25-15.
“You are as good on defense as your offense,” said McDaniel coach Demarcus White. “And we showed that today.”
Aaron Pray III had 52 rushing yards for the Terror, while Hill ran for 33 and Kevin Sheckells, McDaniel’s back-up quarterback, had 37 yards and a rushing score.
White used Sheckells and starter Tyler Palermiti liberally to switch things up against Gettysburg’s defense, with Sheckells using his big frame to churn up yards.
Stefanelli, a graduate student, went down in Week 4 of that 2017 season with a knee injury, and missed all of 2018 trying to recover and get back on the field. Stefanelli said it felt good to get into the end zone, and he credited McDaniel’s offensive line — left tackle Orbell Keshishi, left guard Joe Hynes, center Tracey Easton, right guard Jared Graybeal, and right tackle Chris Greene — for making the challenge less daunting.
“It was a pretty rough journey,” said Stefanelli, who has 223 yards through four games this fall. "What means [more] to me is the people around me, they were pushing for it and they wanted that for me. That goes a long way for me."
Gettysburg didn’t wilt in the fourth quarter, and when Linwood Nicholas Jr. hauled in a 51-yard touchdown pass from Logan Edmond with 5:22 to play the Bullets trailed 25-22.
McDaniel had one final answer, however. Palermiti connected with Donovan Taylor for a 35-yard pass on the first play of its next possession. Stefanelli then carried four more times along the way for 14 yards and ended the drive with a 2-yard touchdown with less than one minute to play.
Palermiti threw for 244 yards, and Brendan Bandy caught eight passes for 83 yards.
The Green Terror defense also piled up five sacks, and Nah’shon Godfrey led the way with 10 tackles. Jarius Ransom added eight tackles, including 1.5 sacks, to go with two forced fumbles, a fumble recovery, and a pass breakup.
Juniata comes to the Hill next week for McDaniel’s homecoming game, and White said despite the Eagles’ 1-3 record he expects another battle as his program keeping trying to make strides.
“For us ... every single week is like the Super Bowl,” White said. “And that’s the way we approach it. We’re young and we’re learning, we’re building. And it is pleasing to say that we’re 3-1 right now.”