GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Gettysburg College football team fell short in its home and Centennial Conference opener on Saturday as Ursinus College scored the game-winning touchdown with 55 seconds left to seize a 35-28 decision at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.
Gettysburg (0-2, 0-1 CC) received 170 rushing yards on 28 carries from freshman tailback Reggie JeanCharles(Galloway, N.J./Holy Spirit). Senior quarterback Justin Davidov (Ossining, N.Y./Ossining) added 63 yards and a rushing touchdown, while completing 12-of-24 passes for 96 yards and a score. After Davidov took a hard hit late in the fourth quarter, sophomore Kevin Martinez (Harrington Park, N.J./Northern Valley Old Tappan) came in and completed four passes for 62 yards and a score. Senior Ty Abdul-Karim (Washington, D.C./Woodberry Forest (Va.)) hauled in four passes for 74 yards and a touchdown.
After posting 194 yards against Bethany College last weekend, Stacey Gardner raced for 153 yards on 26 carries for Ursinus (2-0, 1-0 CC). Samuel Ragland added 59 rushing yards and a pair of touchdowns, while Thomas Garlick finished 15-of-29 for 240 yards and a score. Thomas Cardozo caught four passes for 86 yards.
Gettysburg seized the early lead with a 13-play, 71-yard drive to start the game. Davidov capped the drive with a pair of passes to junior Johnny Davis (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah), the last going for 21 yards and a touchdown. The extra point was no good.
The next two drives came up empty for the Bullets as Davidov was picked off and an attempted field goal was thwarted with a bad snap. Ursinus took advantage at the end of the quarter as a pair of strong carries by Gardner setup Ragland for a nine-yard plunge into the end zone.
The Bears added to the lead following another interception to start the second quarter as Alex DeSpirito booted a 24-yard field goal to make it 10-6. Gettysburg answered with a 38-yard kick by sophomore Justin Geisel (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Country Day) later in the period, but the visitors ended the half with a touchdown by Gardner to make it 17-9 at halftime.
Gettysburg mounted its longest drive of the game to start the third quarter, covering 86 yards in 13 plays. Davidov polished off the possession with a six-yard rush to pull the hosts to 17-15.
Despite muffing a punt later in the quarter, Ursinus managed to recover the loose ball and proceeded to use a pair of big plays to set up another score. A 26-yard reception by Asa Manley put the Bears on Gettysburg's side of the field and a 28-yard rush by Ragland finished the drive. Ursinus took a 24-15 lead with 3:19 to go in the third quarter.
Early in the fourth quarter, JeanCharles bulled his way to a 29-yard carry to push the Bullets into the red zone. A bit of misdirection with a fake hand-off set up sophomore Kevin Benavente (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) for an 16-yard dash to the end zone to cut the deficit to 24-22 with 11:10 remaining.
A 32-yard field goal extended the lead for Ursinus, but Gettysburg was quick to respond. Davidov was sidelined on the initial play of the drive, but Martinez came right in and provided a spark off the bench. He completed a third-down pass to Davis to extend the drive and threw a deep ball to Abdul-Karim for 33 yards to put the Bullets in front 28-27 with 2:56 remaining. The attempted two-point conversion failed.
Junior Matt Graziano (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley) sacked Garlick for a loss of nine yards on the opening play of the ensuing drive, but the Bear quarterback came right back with five passes totaling 84 yards, the last of which found Jacob Clifford in the back of the end zone. Manley rushed in for the two-point conversion to push the lead to 35-28 with 50 seconds left.
An unsportsmanlike penalty following the touchdown put the Bears deep in their own territory on the final kick-off and Gettysburg drove down to the 24-yard line. Ursinus brought the pressure to force two incomplete passes to finish the game.
Defensively, freshman Thomeir Richardson (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Central) paced Gettysburg with a dozen tackles. Senior Brad Walker (Gaithersburg, Md./Quince Orchard) added a career-high 11 stops and a pair of pass break-ups, while junior Mike McKnight (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) turned in 10 tackles. Senior Dakota Brovero(Monroeville, N.J./Delsea) posted eight tackles and one sack and junior Logan Aikey (Lewsiburg, Pa./Lewisburg) picked up seven stops and two tackles for a loss.
Jacob McCain led Urisnus with 13 tackles. Cody Richmond posted nine tackles and Nick Vandevere added two tackles for a loss.
Gettysburg will host Dickinson College on Homecoming next Saturday at 1 p.m. The two teams will battle for the Little Brown Bucket, which was won by Dickinson 37-34 in double overtime a season ago.
Bullets’ Comeback Bid Falls Short in Home Opener
/seasons/2017/boxscores/20170909_rk2k.xml
2017
Ursinus
35
Gettysburg
28
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Ursinus (2-0) | 7 | 10 | 7 | 11 | 35 |
| Gettysburg (0-2) | 6 | 3 | 6 | 13 | 28 |
Sep 09, 2017