CARLISLE, Pa. - Dickinson stormed out of the gates strong in their first game in over 600 days as they took a 14-3 lead in the opening quarter, but the visiting No. 17 Randolph-Macon College Yellow Jackets scored 21 points in a row to overcome the Red Devils 31-21 on Saturday afternoon at Biddle Field in non-conference play.

RMC took a 3-0 lead on their first drive of the game helped by a balanced attack with three passes and two runs capped off by a 39-yard Chris Vidal field goal.  

On the ensuing drive for Dickinson, Tim Graham began the series with a 34-yard strike to Robert Geiss. That was followed by back-to-back completions to Princeton Douglass putting the ball at the RMC 15.  After a nice pickup on the ground by Geiss, Graham hit Johnny Knight for a six-yard score.  Raleigh Wynot added the point after for the 7-3 edge.

The Jackets next drive stalled when Presley Egbers pass was fumbled by Tim Hanratty recovered by Taj DeFrance. Graham found Diante Ball for 21-yards and Geiss for 12 to get the ball inside the red zone.  On the next snap, Douglass took a handoff and scampered into the endzone to extend the lead to 14-3.   

The scoring dried up for quite a while until the visitors used a 10-play, 63-yard drive in the final 4:07 of the half capped off by a five-yard Joey Hunt run to cut the deficit to 14-10 as the teams went to the locker room. 

RMC received the ball to begin the third quarter and used nine rushes during a 12-play series that culminated in a three-yard touchdown run for Holden Hodge to give the visitors their first lead since their opening drive of the contest at 17-14 with 8:13 left.

Dickinson went three-and-out on their next possession to give the ball back to RMC. The ensuing drive was all on the ground lasting nine plays before Nick Hale took it in from 18-yards out making it 24-14 after three.

The Red Devils stunted the charge with an 11-play march of their own sparked by a pair of 17-yard plays. First, Geiss took off on the ground, then Graham hooked up with Douglass to move the ball to the RMC 13.  Three plays later they were in the house with Geiss running it in from five-yards out which brought the hosts within 24-21 still with 11:51 left.    

RMC continued the "ground and pound" mentality with seven straight runs during a nine-play charge finished off by Nick Hale rushing in from a yard out extending the lead to the final of 31-21.  

On Deck

Dickinson returns to Biddle Field next Saturday at 1 p.m. when they square-off with Muhlenberg University in their first Centennial Conference game of the season.