HIRAM, Ohio – Allegheny fired on all cylinders to improve to 3-1 in the North Coast Athletic Conference with a convincing 52-20 win over Hiram at Charles Henry Field.

Allegheny (3-2) quarterback Logan Lee threw two touchdown passes, the 55th and 56th of his career, to become the Gators' all-time career leader, leading a Gator offense that rolled up 524 yards and 27 first downs.

Running back Tyler Balla ran for 123 yards and three touchdowns, marking his third 100-yard performance of the season, while Alex Victor amassed 183 yards of total offense, making three catches for 121 yards and a touchdown, while rushing four times for 62 yards and a score.

Defensively, Allegheny totaled six sacks and forced a pair of turnovers, with Moses Snell Jr. making his first career interception, and Timen Mason forcing and recovering a fumble.

Hiram would find the scoreboard first, taking a 7-0 lead on a 52-yard touchdown pass from Rodney Myers to Jaris Foreman with 8:51 left in the opening quarter, but it was all Allegheny after that.

After the Hiram score, the Gators went to the ground, with Balla covering 16 yards and Victor 20 to set up first down inside the Hiram 25. Lee would promptly cap off the four-play drive, keeping it himself and scrambling 25 yards for the touchdown to tie the with 7:12 left in the quarter.

Following a Hiram three-and-out, the Gators would score on another quick drive, with Balla rattling off a career-long 50-yard run for his first touchdown of the day to give Allegheny its first lead, 14-7, with 3:07 to go in the first.

Another Hiram punt would lead to a quick Gator scoring drive yet again, with Victor hauling in a tipped pass from Lee and scampering down the sideline for a 66-yard touchdown to push the Gator advantage to 21-7.

On the ensuing kickoff, Mason forced and recovered a fumble on the Hiram 28, and the Gators quickly capitalized on the miscue, as just two plays later, Victor scampered around the end and down the sideline for a 29-yard touchdown run on the final play of the quarter to put the Gators on top 28-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Midway through the second quarter, the Terriers would cut into the deficit, with Myers connecting with Tahj Lorthridge for a 12-yard touchdown. The extra point attempt was blocked by Laskey, and the score remained 28-13.

The Gators would then counter with an impressive lengthy scoring drive that led to their fifth touchdown of the afternoon. Allegheny picked up five first downs on the trip, including Lee completions of 12 and 19 yards to Ben Bachik, before Balla closed it out the 9-play, 79-yard possession with a three-yard touchdown run to make it 35-13 with 3:21 left until the intermission.

The ensuing Hiram drive ended in another punt, and taking over at their own 33, the Gators would embark on another impressive drive. A pair of passes to Tristan Rhoades gained 16 yards, before Lee hooked up with Victor for a 44-yard pass that set up first down inside the Hiram 10. After the drive stalled at the Hiram three, Zach Bednarowicz came on to connect on a 19-yard field goal as time expired to give Allegheny a 38-13 halftime lead.

Over the first half, the Gator offense came up with points on six of its eight possessions, while defensively, Allegheny forced five Hiram punts.

The Gators picked up right where they left off to start the third quarter. Rhoades returned the second half's opening kickoff 31 yards to the Allegheny 39, and after a pair of Austin French receptions that covered 24 yards, Balla picked up 25 yards on three carries. Lee would then enter the school record books with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Angel Alvarez that gave Allegheny a 45-13 lead with 12:30 left in the third quarter.

Hiram looked to put together a promising drive to end the third quarter, marching 56 yards in 11 plays to set up first-and-goal at the Allegheny nine, but the Gator defense would come up with a big stop. On first and goal, Marcus Davenport sacked Myers for a two-yard loss, before Quinten Hunt broke up a pass in the end zone. On third down, Grayson Lee would sack Myers for a loss of three-yards, before Corey Laskey broke through on fourth-and-goal to drop Myers for a 13-yard sack and complete the goal line stand.

On the first play following the Laskey sack, Lee hooked up with Dwaine Barber for a 33-yard gain to move the ball to midfield to end the third quarter. An unsportsmanlike conduct penalty on the Terriers would advance the ball inside the Hiram 30, setting up Balla's third touchdown run of the game, a 26-yarder that put Allegheny in front 52-13 just over a minute into the fourth.

The Terriers scored the game's final points on an 18-yard touchdown pass from Floyd Shackleford to Jaris Foreman with 9:10 left to play, but it was too little, too late, as the Gators coasted down the stretch to win their second straight.

Lee completed 14 of 22 passes for 280 yards, with French hauling in four receptions for 44 yards, Bachik three for 42, and Victor three for 121.  The Gators also gained a season-best 245 rushing yards, paced by Balla's 123 and Victor's 62.

Kyle McGee totaled nine tackles, including one for a loss, to pace the Allegheny defense, while Zack Martin finished with seven stops, and Mason and Bryan Lopez five apiece.  Six different players accounted for the Gators' six sacks, including Davenport, Grayson Lee, Laskey, Chase Balla, Terran Moore, and Seth Warburton.

Myers completed 13 of 26 passes for 137 yards and two touchdowns for the Terriers, with Foreman finishing with three grabs for 81 yards. Isaiah Jones led Hiram with 46 rushing yards on 10 carries, and Horace Johnson totaled a team-high 13 tackles, including 2.5 for loss.

The Gators will now take their two-game winning streak into the bye week, and will return to action on Sat. Oct. 13, facing off against NCAC-leading Wittenberg at 1 p.m. at Frank B. Fuhrer Field.

Gator Bytes:  Lee broke the career touchdown pass record previously set by Bubba Smith in 2003. Lee also vaulted to second in program history in both career passing yards (6,018) and career total offense (6,200)... Tyler Balla became the first Gator to rush for three touchdowns in a game since Mario Tarquinio did so in an Oct. 15, 2005 win over Kenyon... The Gators' 245 rushing yards as a team were their most in a game since amassing 247 on Sept. 30, 2017 also against Hiram. It marked Allegheny's second straight game in which it gained over 200 rushing yards... As a team, Allegheny totaled five rushing touchdowns, their most in a game since going for eight on Oct. 23, 2004 in a win over Hiram, while it was Balla's third 100-yard rushing performance of the season, and eighth of his career... Davenport has at least one sack in four straight games, while the Gators posted at least five sacks for the third time in five games this season...With his 19-yard field goal, Bednarowicz is now a perfect 7-for-7 on field goal attempts on the year, and 11-for-14 since the beginning of the 2017 season... Victor amassed 150 yards of total offense for the third time this season, and sixth time in 24 career games, while it was his ninth career game with over 100 receiving yards... Snell's interception marked the Gator defense's sixth this season, already the team's most since totaling nine interceptions in 2014.