GAME NOTES
 
Ursinus (8-1, 4-1) at Dickinson (5-4, 2-3)
When: Saturday, November 16th
Where: Carlisle, Pa.
Stadium: Biddle Field (2,200)
Kickoff: 1:00 p.m.
Live Video: VIDEO
Live Stats: STATS
 
 
SERIES BREAKDOWN
All-Time Series: Dickinson leads 46-42-6
First Meeting: `1894 – Dickinson won 20-6
Last Meeting: Nov. 11, 2023 @ Ursinus – Ursinus won 21-10
Streak: Ursinus +2
 
 
The Ursinus Bears Football Team will travel to face Dickinson in their final game of the regular season.
 
Last Saturday, the Ursinus football team posted a 34-0 shutout of Gettysburg on Senior Day for its second straight overall shutout. The Bears staved off a slow offensive start by scoring 20 of their points in the second quarter following a scoreless first quarter. Ursinus turned away Gettysburg in the red zone to start the third quarter and scored their fourth touchdown to make it 27-0. The Bears continued to dominate on defense and posted one last touchdown in the fourth quarter to cap off the win. Ursinus rushed for a whopping 436 yards as a team and had two running backs over 100 yards.  
 
Meanwhile, The Red Devils were shutout 30-0 by Johns Hopkins this past Saturday afternoon on the road. Following a scoreless first quarter, the Blue Jays surged ahead with 20 points in the second quarter. Johns Hopkins held that same advantage until the fourth when they put the game away with 10 more points.
 
 
LAST MEETING: Last season, the Bears downed Dickinson 21-10 at home. After a scoreless first quarter, the Bears scored two touchdowns in the second quarter around a trick play Dickinson touchdown and held a 14-7 lead at the half. Up 14-10, Ursinus added an insurance touchdown in the fourth quarter to preserve the win and made key defensive stops down the stretch.
 
 
 
CROSSING 1K: Senior running back Tony Holden eclipsed the 1,000+ rushing yard mark for the season following his seventh 100+ rushing yard outing against Gettysburg this past Saturday. Holden finished with 186 yards on 21 carries and scored two touchdowns while averaging a whopping 8.9 yards per carry. He paced a rushing attack that amassed 436 total yards and became the sixth Ursinus player in program history to rush for over 1,000 yards in a single season. He now has 1,141 yards for the year which is the fourth most all time in a single season for Ursinus. Holden was also named the Centennial Conference Offensive Player of the Week for the second time this season. His 14 rushing touchdowns are just five shy of the single-season mark held by Shearrod Duncan who had 19 in the 2001 season.
 
 
 
FIELD GENERAL: Senior linebacker Marc Clayton caused a lot of problems for the Gettysburg defense this past Saturday. He registered a career-high 13 tackles (five solo), 1.5 tackles for a loss, and one sack while breaking up a pass. Clayton was also named the Centennial Conference Defensive Player of the Week for the first time in his career while garnering his second Centennial weekly accolade after getting the special teams nod in 2022. Clayton paces the Centennial Conference with 80 total tackles and has now recorded five double-digit tackle outings during the 2024 season.
 
 
 
HEAD OF THE PACK: Senior wide receiver Justin Collier broke the Bears all-time receiving touchdown record of 23 that was once held by Nick Giarratano with a pair of touchdown receptions on Saturday against Gettysburg. Collier now has 25 touchdown receptions for his career and finished with four receptions for 37 yards. He ranks third in the Centennial Conference with 577 yards and 47 receptions. He is also up to 1,583 receiving yards for his career which currently places him eighth all time in program history. Collier just needs one more touchdown catch to match his career high of 10 set in 2022.
 
 
 
 
GOING BACK TO BACK: The Bears defense posted its second straight shutout after dispatching Gettysburg on Saturday. It was the first time since September 1997 that the team has posted back-to-back shutouts when they shut down Washington & Lee and Franklin & Marshall. The shutout was the first one at Patterson Field since 2021 when they downed Franklin & Marshall 28-0 and they have not allowed a point in nine quarters. Ursinus ranks third in the Centennial Conference by allowing just 15 points per game and have allowed just over 20 points in one game this season.
 
 
 
1-2 PUNCH: In addition to Holden's big game on the ground, sophomore running back Jason Bernard also rushed over 100 yards against Gettysburg. Bernard followed up his career day against McDaniel with 122 yards on 12 carries against the Bullets and scored his second touchdown of the season. It was the first time since that a pair of Bears rushed for over 100 yards in a single game since Thomas Garlick and Samuel Ragland in 2019 against Johns Hopkins. The Bears nearly had a third 100+ yard rusher as senior quarterback Jalen Bradford had 85 yards.
 
 
 
PLAYOFFS?: The Bears have themselves in a position to possibly make the NCAA Tournament field for the first time since the 1999 season with an at-large berth if they win against Dickinson on Saturday. The Division III management council approved expanding the tournament field from 32 to 40 teams back in April which opened eight more at-large bid opportunities and a new way to select the teams using the NCAA Power Index (NPI). Even if Ursinus does not get into the tournament, they are assured a home Centennial-MAC Bowl Series game once again after being locked into finishing second in the conference.
 
 
 
SCOUTING THE RED DEVILS: Fifth-year quarterback Presley Egbers has thrown for 1,548 yards this season and 13 touchdown passes that is tied for third in the Centennial. Senior running back and two-time All-Centennial First Team selection Diante Ball remains a formidable threat in the backfield for the Red Devils as he leads the team with 425 yards on the ground with two rushing touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Bobby Markey is having a career season as he leads the Centennial Conference with 58 receptions and is second with 685 receiving yards. Markey is also second in the Centennial Conference with seven touchdown receptions.
              
On defense, the Red Devils have a strong unit as they sit third in the Centennial Conference in passing yards allowed per game at 177.2 yards per game and is fourth in rushing defense at 140.3 yards per game. Fifth-year linebacker John Prochniak leads the team and ranks fourth in the Centennial Conference with 66 total tackles.  Senior Cole Catalano paces the team with three sacks and sophomore Joaquin Acuna has the team lead in tackles for loss at 6.5. Classmate defensive backs Keon Eady and Alex Sulin are tied for the team lead with two interceptions.