The wait is finally over.

The Franklin & Marshall College football team earned its first trip to the NCAA Division III playoffs by going overtime to defeat Johns Hopkins, 29-28, in the de facto Centennial Conference championship game Saturday in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. The Diplomats (9-1 overall) overcame a 21-0 deficit to deal then third-ranked Johns Hopkins its first loss of the season as both teams came into the game with perfect conference records.

Five lehighvalleylive area graduates started for the Diplomats, who moved up from No. 25 to No. 16 in this week’s D3football.com Top 25. Two former Parkland stars made significant contributions to the win on offense and a pair of Thanksgiving Day rivals and a Nazareth product delivered big-time plays on defense.

Senior quarterback Ty Tr

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