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HUNTINGDON -- A season which opened with optimism continued to crash down on the Juniata College Eagles on Saturday.
The Eagles opened the college football season with consecutive wins over Gettysburg and Allegheny, but they haven't won since. On Saturday, quarterback Ethan Eisenberg passed for 140 yards and running back Ivan Foreman rushed for 123 yards in a 38-13 Landmark Conference loss to Moravian University.
The Greyhounds jumped out to a 14-0 lead early, scoring two touchdowns on as many drives in the first quarter. Juniata (2-7, 0-5 Landmark Conference) responded on its second drive with a 75-yard touchdown run by Foreman. The kick failed making the deficit 14-6.
Alex Eaton then found the end zone from five yards out to rally Juniata to within 14-13 early in the second quarter. Moravian (2-7, 2-3 LC) answered with three scores to stretch the lead to 31-13 at halftime. Declan McCarthy tossed a 14-yard TD pass to Andrei Matthews for the first score, Camron Tinajero ran five yards for another and Jack Corrigan booted a 33-yard field goal.
Isiah Rico's 5-yard TD run was the only score of the second half.
Eisenberg finished 11 of 24 with one interception, while McCarthy was 18 of 32 for 260 with 2 TDs and 1 INT. Moravian's Jed Bendekovits rushed for 110 yards.
Juniata High School product Makih Hunt had two catches for 14 yards for the Eagles, while Midd-West's Carter Sauer started at left guard and had an assist. Mount Union's Nayim Frances and Midd-West's Parker Boop did not play.
Juniata hosts Lycoming in its season finale on Saturday.
In other local college football action on Saturday:
SHEPHERD 35,
LOCK HAVEN 19
LOCK HAVEN -- Despite a 19-point surge during the second half, Lock Haven saw its three-game winning streak come to an end in a Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference Eastern Division clash with Shepherd.
A victory would have given the Bald Eagles (5-5, 4-2 PSAC East) their first winning season in 44 years, since 1981.
Trailing 14-0 at halftime, Lock Haven quarterback threw for 336 yards and three touchdowns as the Bald Eagles rallied within 21-13 in the third quarter. A pair of TD catches went to Justin Popovich, including one in the fourth quarter, but Shepherd (6-4, 5-1 PSAC East) had pulled away by that point. The win marked the Rams' sixth straight.
Popovich finished with eight catches for 99 yards and Jake Roberts' run of strong play continued with seven catches for 73 yards. Running back Damir Green carried the ball 10 times for 58 yards.
Lock Haven closes out the regular season by hosting Gannon on Saturday.
SHIPPENSBURG 43, WEST CHESTER 14
SHIPPENSBURG - Shippensburg broke a three-game slump against West Chester on Military Appreciation Day as the Raiders scored 29 unanswered points in the second half to claim a victory over the Golden Rams in PSAC East play.
The Raiders (3-7, PSAC East 3-4) won a game in which its passing leader was a wide receiver and its offensive star was a running back who entered the day with career totals of 21 rushes for 93 yards and no touchdowns in 16 games.
Andre Weidman ran 23 times for 168 yards and four TDs, including three straight scores in a 12-minute span of the second half. Weidman is the first Raider to score four or more rushing touchdowns in a game since John Kuhn scored five times at Clarion in 2004.
Nate Myers had two of Shippensburg's four INTs and contributed 11 tackles.
Offensively, Shippensburg ran the ball 49 times for 274 yards, while completing 7-of-14 pass attempts for 80 yards. The Raiders also didn't the ball.
The game began with West Chester quarterback Cooper Jordan throwing an 18-yard touchdown pass to Ivan Thorpe that gave West Chester (4-6, 2-5) a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. On the first play of the second quarter, Myers intercepted Jordan at midfield. Eight plays later, quarterback Riley Gunnels found Derek Guzman from one yard out to even the score.
Shippensburg employed three players behind center throughout the day. Gunnels, the primary signal caller, shared duty with Vincent Micucci and Kal-El Durham and went 5 of 11 for 34 yards.
The Raiders' season finale is Saturday as they host California (Pa.).