MILLERSVILLE, Pa. - Behind a play-making defense and the steely demeanor of redshirt freshman quarterback Jared Jenkins, Millersville rallied from a nine-point halftime deficit to beat Lock Haven 31-29 at home Saturday in one of the wilder PSAC games of 2021. 

The thriller included a punt block for a touchdown, two fumble returns for touchdowns, a safety, a game-winning touchdown drive and a game-clinching interception by a defensive lineman. It also saw Millersville convert a fourth down on its final touchdown drive while also stopping Lock Haven on fourth-and-one to seal the victory. 

Jenkins went 21-for-36 for 234 yards and two touchdowns, connecting with Christan Drayton III twice. The Marauders also got its running game going for a season-high in yards as Jaheim Morris rumbled for 95 yards and a touchdown on 17 carries. It was Morris' one-yard plunge with 3:58 that put Millersville on top. 

Lock Haven entered the game averaging nearly 133 rushing yards per game, but Millersville's defensive line was a menace, suffocating Lock Haven's ground game to 0.7 yards per carry. Millersville sacked Lock Haven's quarterbacks five times and turned two of those sacks into points on two drives in the third quarter. Tyler Tate wrecked the Lock Haven offense with 3 1/2 sacks, two forced fumbles and a career-high nine tackles. One of his sacks forced the ball from the hands of Lock Haven QB Ethan Persa into Chase Alisauckas', who sprinted 12 yards for a game-tying touchdown. Christian Shepperson gave the Marauders a momentary lead six minutes later with a safety. 

The win improved Millersville to 2-3 (1-1 PSAC East) while Lock Haven falls to 1-4 (0-2 PSAC East). It was Millersville's fourth consecutive win over Lock Haven. 

HOW IT HAPPENED
• Drayton III made a leaping grab in the back of the end zone to give Millersville a 7-0 lead on its first drive of the game. Lock Haven immediately evened the score with a seven-play, 75-yard drive.  But breakdowns and miscues cost the Marauders dearly for the rest of the first half. Busted coverage resulted in a Persa 76-yard touchdown pass early in the second quarter, and after a muffed kickoff return buried the Marauders on their own 5, their punt was blocked. Lock Haven's Jacob Sturm came up with the loose ball and ran it in from the 8. Millersville cut the deficit to 20-14 following a 10-play, 82-yard drive that included four Jenkins completions, including a four-yard strike to Drayton III for six. But a second blocked punt with 26 seconds left in the half gave Lock Haven the ball at the Millersville 19, and despite not gaining a single yard, managed to build its lead with a 35-yard field goal. Millersville finished the first half with 12 penalties. 
• The Marauders cleaned up their play in the second half and closed the gap on the first drive when Tim Kissinger converted a 31-yard field goal. On Lock Haven's first snap of the quarter, Tate drilled Persa from his blindside, and the ball popped free, right into the hands of Alisauckas, who was rushing from the opposite side of the line. Alisauckas returned the recovery 12 yards for a touchdown. Shepperson's sack with 5:28 to play put Millersville on top, 25-23. 
• After clawing back into the lead, disaster struck for the Marauders with 6:19 left in the fourth quarter. They started with outstanding field position at their own 49, but on first-and-10, the snap sailed over the head of Jenkins, and a sprinting Haseem Johnson scooped up the ball at the Millersville 30 and ran the rest of the way for six, putting Lock Haven back into the lead, 29-25. 
• Undaunted, Jenkins and the offense answered with a nine play, 68-yard drive. Jenkins hit Mekhi Alexander for 34 yards on first down, but after a short run and two incomplete passes, Millersville faced fourth-and-six from the Lock Haven 30. Jenkins fired a strike to Alexander on a quick slant for a gain of 11, and after a Morris run for five, Jenkins connected with Hakim Melvin on a comeback route just outside the inside at the Lock Haven 1. Morris powered it in for a 31-29 Millersville lead with 3:58 left. 
• Millersville's defense stuffed Lock Haven for a quick three-and-out, and the Marauders forced Lock Haven to burn all three of its timeouts before pinning the Bald Eagles on their own 20 with 2:32 left. Persa found Alex Lantz for nine yards on second down, but another incompletion, forced by pressure from Tate, brought up fourth-and-one. Lock Haven called for a pass and Millersville's pass rush forced Persa to his left. As he neared the sideline, he released a pass just as he was hit by Isaiah Onuschak. The hit caused the ball to flutter, and Tez Adams grabbed it out of the air for his first career interception. 

INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
• Millersville's 353 yards of offense were a season high, as were Jenkins' 234 passing yards, Morris' 95 rushing yards and Alexander's 81 receiving yards. Morris' 34-yard run in the third quarter was Millersville's longest rush of the season. 
• In addition to Adams' interception, Tyler Patron-Penn made his first of the season and finished with two passes broken up. While Tate led the defensive charge with nine stops and 3 1/2 sacks, Garrett Cox and Shepperson both had two tackles for loss. 

POSTGAME REACTION FROM COACH J.C. MORGAN
• On the message at halftime: "We had to acknowledge that we were in a hole because of our mistakes. We had 12 penalties, two punts blocked. We gave up big plays. We put ourselves behind the sticks. The message was that if we clean it up we can win the game. We had to keep the pressure on Lock Haven, and we did that."
• On rallying in the fourth quarter: "It says a lot about the character of those guys. It started with Jared. He's a confident young man. He rallied the troops and led the drive. He made some plays. We ran the ball well at times today and that was a big part of it too. We knew that we could make the plays, it was just eliminating the mistakes."
• On the fourth-down conversion in the fourth quarter: "We wanted to attack them at all different levels. It put Mekhi in a position where he could work. It's been great to watch him develop from where he was a freshman to where he is now. That confidence is showing on Saturdays. Not only is he a good football player but he's an outstanding young man, and he deserves everything coming his way."
 • On what he saw from Jenkins: "He's a winner. Not just because he's a good quarterback. He does everything you want from a student-athlete. He works extremely hard. Coach (Matt) Sutjak recruited him and was raving about him as a person. I knew within five minutes that he was a guy we wanted in our program...He's poised, very cool under pressure. He's still making freshman mistakes, but he'll grow through them."
 • On the performance of the defensive line: "Even in the games they've lost, Lock Haven has gotten after people and moved the ball. They can move the line of scrimmage. Credit to our guys for finding ways to make plays. You can't say enough about Tyler Tate. He's starting to show out as one of the better defensive players in the conference. He's made plays against everyone. We had some depth issues on defense today with three of four guys out, so we had some guys step up. I'm proud of the job they did."

NOTES
• Already with 7 1/2 sacks through five games, Tate has the most sacks in a season by a Marauder since Lee Rizzotto in 1999. Rizzotto was at the game Saturday, recognized for his induction into the Millersville Football Wall of Honor earlier in the spring. Rizzotto will also be inducted into the Millersville Athletics Hall of Fame on Oct. 15. 
• Alisauckas' fumble return for a touchdown was Millersville's first since 2014. 

UP NEXT
• The Marauders are on the road next week, taking on East Stroudsburg on Oct. 9 at 2:05 p.m.