The Malone University football team earned its second win of the season on Saturday with an exciting 38-34 non-conference victory over Millersville University at Biemesderfer Stadium in Millersville, Pennsylvania.
 
After watching quarterback Deandre Clayton and the Pioneer offense generate what would be the game-winning touchdown with 3:23 left to play, the Pioneer defense, which has seen its share of struggles this season, came up huge in the final minute, holding the Marauders out of the endzone on seven-straight plays inside of the 5-yard line. A final fourth-down stop by the unlikeliest of players with 15 seconds left allowed Clayton to take a knee and give Malone its first non-conference win since 2016 and just the second road win since 2013.
 
Recap
In an evenly-matched battle between teams separated by over 300 miles, the score was 3-3 following one quarter as each team connected on opening-drive field goals. Marcus Moeller's 20-yarder capped a 13-play drive that lasted over six minutes on the game's first possession.
 
Malone went in front 10-3 on the first play of the second quarter when Clayton connected with senior wide receiver Ashton Dulin for a 6-yard score. The touchdown, Dulin's seventh receiving score of the season, ended an 8-play, 65-yard drive highlighted by a bruising 43-yard run by Clayton.
 
Just over five minutes later and following a Millersville touchdown, Dulin found the endzone again, this time from 56 yards out. The All-American track athlete brought in a short pass near the numbers, cut up-field, stiff-armed a defender to the ground, and then raced up the right sideline for his 12th touchdown of the year. The point after try gave a Malone a 17-10 lead with 9:32 to play in the second quarter.
 
The Millersville offense, which came into the contest scoring just 11.1 points per game, engineered a 12-play touchdown drive just before half to make it a 17-17 contest.
 
Coming out of halftime, Malone went back to work with two consecutive touchdown drives capped off by a pair of 1-yard touchdown runs. A 55-yard catch-and-run by Matt Blasiole set up Deandre Clayton for the first of the two scores, which put Malone ahead 24-17. On the next possession, the Pioneers took advantage of a short field and used eight plays to travel 51 yards. Xavier Garland's 1-yard plunge, his first touchdown run of the season, made it a two-possession game.
 
Down 31-17, the Marauders answered with a field goal on the next drive to cut the deficit to 31-20. Then after forcing a turnover on downs, Millersville used a little trickery to cut the deficit to 31-26 on a 51-yard touchdown with 14:03 left in the fourth quarter. The 2-point conversion try failed, however, as Malone remained in front by five.
 
That five-point advantage didn't last long as Clayton was picked off inside his own 25 on the subsequent possession and the Marauders scored from a yard out two plays later. This time, the 2-point try was successful as Millersville grabbed its first lead of the game with 11:32 remaining in the fourth quarter.
 
Malone's next possession stalled on a fake punt attempt near midfield before the Marauders settled for a field goal attempt on the next possession. The 46-yarder was wide left, however, as the costly miss kept Millersville in front by just three.
 
Taking over at the 28-yard line with 7:06 to play and down 34-31, the Pioneers went out in search of a go-ahead score, but faced a setback after back-to-back holding penalties left them with 3rd down and 29. Undeterred, Clayton tossed up a deep ball down the left sideline just over the reach of the roaming defender as fearless freshman Markell Stephens-Peppers went up for the football and came down with a 49-yard reception at the Millersville 15.
 
Two plays later, Clayton ran his way into the endzone from 12 yards out to give Malone the 38-34 lead with 3:23 to go.
 
Back-to-back sacks to start Millersville's next drive left the Marauders facing 3rd-and-21, but a 28-yard completion kept the drive alive. Two pass plays later, Millersville saw themselves at 1st-and-goal from the Malone 5-yard line with just under 90 seconds left.
 
A rush for no gain and an incomplete pass set up 3rd-and-goal, but a pass interference call in the endzone gave the Marauders a fresh set of downs and the ball at the 2-yard line. A rush for a loss of one, a rush for no gain, and an incomplete pass batted down by Arrington Dulin at the line of scrimmage gave Millersville just one final chance at the game-winner.
 
On fourth down, Marauder quarterback Collin Shank hit an open receiver in the right flat, but freshman cornerback Corey Allen, who had not played a collegiate snap before Saturday and was thrust into the lineup midway through the second half due to injuries in the secondary, came up with the game-saving tackle. Clayton's kneel down just moments later put the finishing touches on an outstanding team victory.
 
Game Highlights
-Malone racked up 511 yards of offense in the win, the most-since piling up 562 yards in week three of the 2016 season against Notre Dame.
-The Pioneers' 251 rushing yards were also the most since that same game.
-Malone controlled time of possession (35:29 to 24:31), went 6-for-13 on third downs, and finished 5-of-5 in the redzone with four touchdowns.
-Despite giving up 393 total yards (317 passing), the Malone defense was in the Marauder backfield all night and was credited with three sacks and nine tackles for loss.
-Saturday's triumph gave Malone its first two-win season since 2013.
 
Malone Individual Highlights
-Deandre Clayton accounted for over 400 yards and four touchdowns. He completed 18-of-34 passes for 260 yards and two touchdowns while rushing 15 times for 144 yards and two more scores. In the process, Clayton set the single-season record for rushing touchdowns (8) by a quarterback and single-game record for rushing yards by a Malone quarterback.
-Ashton Dulin caught five passes for 97 yards and two touchdowns and became Malone's all-time leader in career receptions with 166.
-Markell Stephens-Peppers caught four passes for 77 yards.
-Linebacker Mason Alexander was charted for a team-high nine tackles and half sack while Mahlon Slaughter was credited with eight tackles and two quarterback hurries
-Defensive ends Arrington Dulin (eight tackles) and Matt Ramsey (six tackles) both collected quarterback sacks.
 
Millersville Individual Highlights
-Collin Shank completed 26-of-41 passes for 266 yards and two touchdowns.
-Wide receiver/kicker Joey Farley caught four balls for 132 yards and two touchdowns, went 2-for-2 in PATs, and 2-for-3 on field goals.
-Defensive tackle Malik Diggs totaled a game-high 15 tackles.
 
Up Next
Malone will return home for the first time in four weeks next Saturday, October 27th to host Alderson Broaddus in G-MAC battle at Tom Benson Stadium at 1:00 pm.