COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus football team built an early lead and never looked back as they defeated Stevenson 31-13 in one of the three eighth annual Centennial-MAC Bowl Series games on Saturday afternoon at Patterson Field.
The Bears took home their second-straight bowl series win and move to 3-1 all-time in those contests. Ursinus will conclude their 2023 season with an 8-3 record while the Mustangs conclude theirs at 7-4.
Junior quarterback
Jalen Bradford capped a successful first season as the Bears starting quarterback by being named the MVP of the game behind a dynamic performance. Bradford accounted for all four Ursinus touchdowns with three touchdown passes and one rushing. He threw for 283 yards on 19-of-35 passing with no interceptions and rushed for a season-high 67 yards on 16 carries.
Game MVP Jalen Bradford
Sophomore
Markel Roberts-Jackson led the Bears wideouts with 77 yards on four catches with a touchdown while classmate
Cody House totaled 70 yards on three catches. First-year
Ryder Zulkowski brought in two passes for 47 yards and one touchdown.
Junior running back
Tony Holden rushed for 71 yards on 13 carries to lead a balanced Bears rushing attack. Senior fullback
Dawson Fresses tallied 63 yards on 15 touches to complete a ground attack that finished with 192 yards as a team.
Stevenson opened with the ball and moved into Bears territory before an interception by senior linebacker
Julian Jones at the Ursinus 25-yard line ended the threat. House set the Bears in the red zone by taking a short pass 40 yards and Bradford scampered into the end zone from 16 yards out to put Ursinus up 7-0 at the 9:35-mark of the first quarter. Ursinus went into its bag of tricks following a Mustangs three-and-out as senior tight end/punter
Billy Cook converted a fake punt on 4th and 1 just inside their own territory. The Bears took advantage as Bradford tossed a dart across the middle to Zulkowski in the middle of the end zone for a 12-yard score, making it 14-0.
The Bears made it 3-for-3 on scoring off offensive drives to start the game early in the second quarter when sophomore kicker
Jordan Carr extended the Ursinus lead to 17-0 following a 22-yard field goal at the 10:42-mark. However, Stevenson refused to go away as they scored a touchdown on the ground at the 8:16-mark from four yards out to make it 17-6 following a missed extra point. A 68-yard catch-and-run by tight end Tylor Blake on the first play of the drive set the Mustangs in motion to score. Stevenson continued gaining momentum as they forced a Bears three-and-out before driving down the field to score another touchdown, cutting the advantage to 17-13 with 2:01 left in the first half. Ursinus held their 17-13 lead into the half after Carr just barely missed a 45-yard field goal in the final seconds of the second quarter.
Ursinus made sure Stevenson lost any possible momentum on their first drive of the second half when Bradford found a wide open Roberts-Jackson for a 55-yard touchdown pass to make it 24-13 Bears just 1:21 into the quarter. The Bears stuffed the Mustangs on a 3rd and 1 and responded by methodically driving down the field to extend their lead to 31-13 with just over six minutes left in the third quarter. Ursinus rushed on eight of its 10 plays of the drive and senior defensive end
Ryan Bodolus this time made an impact on offense by snatching his first career collegiate touchdown pass after lining up at tight end on the goal line.
The two early third quarter touchdown passes were all the Bears defense needed to close out the win as they allowed just one first down the rest of the way. Junior cornerback
Aaron Anderson intercepted Mustang quarterback Nyaire Wilson early in the fourth quarter which began a 10:22 Ursinus drive that took the game into the final minute.
Senior linebacker
Brett Gross polished off a decorated Ursinus career by leading the team with seven tackles (five solo) and finishes with 276 career tackles which ties him for fourth all-time in program history. Four players: Junior
Connor Carter, Bodolus, junior
Pat McManus, and senior
Michael McCuen all tallied six tackles while Carter and McCuen each had half a sack.
The Bears held a 475-219 advantage in total yards and held a decisive 37:40 to 22:20 time of possession advantage. Blake had two catches for 74 yards and a touchdown for the Mustangs while Louis Clouser posted a game-high 74 yards on the ground off 11 carries.
