O'Hearen helps Franklin & Marshall round up win over Montclair State
It was a microcosm of the preparation that carried the Diplomats (2-1 overall) from the disappointment of a 17-13 loss to The College of New Jersey one week prior, to the complete and total domination of the Red Hawks on Saturday afternoon on Tom Gilburg Field.
"The focus this week was playing detail-oriented football," Diplomats head coach Tom Blumenauer said. "We made too many mistakes on both sides of the ball (last week). We didn't play well enough, we didn't coach well enough."
"We were frustrated with the game last week," said senior wideout Jack O'Hearen. "We knew something had to change. We worked hard all week, and it came to form here."
It came to form in one form with O'Hearen's team-high nine catches for 132 yards and a touchdown — a 10-yard toss from freshman quarterback Na'Rome Rayborn on Rayborn's first college pass attempt.
O'Hearen caught three balls on the Diplomats' first possession, capped by Aidan Hutchison's 12-yard scoring dash. After the Dips' second score — Jack Harrison (7-95) leaping to bring down Ty Tremba's 18-yard strike — O'Hearen drew a pass interference penalty that keyed F&M's third score, tight end Brady Aselton (4-35) cradling a 7-yard toss from Tremba as he fell to the end zone turf.
The score, with 37 seconds left in the first half, sent the Dips to the locker room with a 21-3 advantage after the Red Hawks (1-1) got on the board on Greg Casimir's 41-yard field goal.
Blumenauer called the 6-foot-3, 190-pound O'Hearen "a matchup nightmare. He's got such great length, but he also has deceiving speed."
That speed allowed him to flip the field on the Dips' first play of the second half as he ran under a 40-yard rainbow from Tremba, then capped the 80-yard drive with his TD catch from Rayborn.
"That was supposed to be a quarterback power (run)," said O'Hearen. "He saw the matchup out wide and he took his chance. Props to the kid, 'cause he's a baller."
That made the score 28-3 and, for all intents, the game was over as the Dips' defense, led by nose tackle LT Kelley (5 tackles and a sack), and linebackers Daniel Shakal (8 stops), Connor Hille (6), Matt Sculley (5), and Jacob Hille (4) held the Hawks to 59 yards on the ground on 25 carries.
At the start of the fourth quarter O'Hearen and Tremba teamed for a 29-yard completion to the Hawks' 32. A catch wiped out by a holding penalty. Undeterred, they came back with a 34-yard completion and five plays later, on third-and-goal at the 5, O'Hearen drew his second P.I. of the afternoon, putting the ball on the 2. Hutchison (18-75) plowed in from there to cap the Dips' scoring.
Tremba bounced back from a mixed bag afternoon against TCNJ where he threw for 254 yards, but also threw two fourth-quarter interceptions.
"We thought we could've prepared a lot better than we did last week," Tremba said. "We took the challenge to prepare to the best of our ability."
"He took that personally," Blumenauer said. "He was on a mission to improve and play to his standard of football. He took extra meetings, had great film preparation and was out there playing super confident."
Tremba was 24-for-36 for 312 yards and two TDs Saturday. He had one interception, a ball intended for Hutchison tipped by the Hawks' Brandon Primus that landed in the hands of John Nicosia. "A deflected ball," Tremba shrugged. "It happens."
Meanwhile, the defense made Hawks quarterback Aidan McLaughlin earn every yard of his 17-for-31, 176-yard afternoon. With 43 seconds left in the game Mclaughlin threw a 6-yard TD pass to Anthony Roige as the backups saw significant action.
"I'm super proud of these guys," said Blumenauer, as the focus turns to the Centennial Conference opener against Dickinson, two weeks from now. "We played selfless, played together on both sides of the ball."
