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John Harrison completed a two-yard touchdown pass with eight seconds to go to fullback Ryan Murray lifting the Diplomats to a 29-24 win over Wilkes University in the ECAC South Atlantic Bowl. The score capped off a 14-point fourth-quarter deficit comeback for Franklin & Marshall.

Leading 24-10 at the start of the fourth quarter, Wilkes was only able to pick up two first downs offensively the rest of the way and saw its defense on the field for 19 plays that took nearly 10 minutes off the game clock.

Franklin & Marshall scored its first touchdown of the second half two plays into the fourth quarter when Harrison hit John Kaschak on a nine-yard scoring strike to pull the Diplomats within seven. Kaschak finished with 137 yards on 22 carries to go along with seven catches for 54 yards as he was named the South Atlantic Bowl Most Outstanding Player.

The Colonel offense cruised in the first half, moving the ball at will, punting just one time while picking up 189 yards. Although scoring their final touchdown of the game on their first possession of the third quarter, Wilkes had the ball for just three minutes and ran just six plays, one of which was a punt. On their second play of the third quarter, quarterback Rob Johnson (Bridegwater, N.J./Bridgewater) hit Genarro Zangardi on the run for an 81-yard scoring strike, their longest of the year, to put the Colonels up 24-10.

After going three-and-out on Wilkes' next possession, Franklin & Marshall went 79 yards on 15 plays and chewed up 7:36 off the clock when Harrison threw his second touchdown pass of the season. The Colonel defense had the Diplomats on a third-and-12 situation, but a facemask penalty gave them a fresh set of downs at the 50 yard-line. “I thought we had the momentum in the third quarter up 24-10 and had them in a third-and-long situation, but we had that penalty to give them the first down and you could see the momentum start to shift their way,” head coach Frank Sheptock said. The Colonels were penalized six times for 60 yards which led to three Franklin & Marshall first downs.

The Diplomats put together another long drive in the fourth quarter when Kaschak scored ran to the left side from five yards out, capping off an eight-play, 86-yard drive that took 4:12 off the clock. Trailing 24-23, the Diplomats opted to go for the two-point conversion, where Kevin Gerhart (Hummelstown, Pa./Lower Dauphin) was there to make the stop on an option play.

Wilkes got the ball back with 6:57 to go in the game, but Johnson was sacked for a loss of four yards on the first play of the drive which set the tone for the offensive series. The Colonels were unable to get a first down and punted the ball back to the Diplomats with 4:34 to go.

Despite trailing by one point, the Diplomats were not going to settle for a field goal as they were inside the 10-yard line with just under a minute to play. They would run three more plays until Harrison's pass sailed just over the out-stretched hand of Sean Madden (Dunmore, Pa./Bishop O'hara) before Murray caught the pass for the game-winner.

“We played with a lot of heart and spirit today. We executed very well both offensively and defensively. This season has been very streaky for us, but when you end the season and you have more wins than losses, that's always a good thing,” Sheptock said.

The Colonels end the 2009 season with a 6-5 record and have now made seven appearances in the ECAC Championships.