COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus football team closed out the regular season by knocking off Carnegie Mellon 27-20 on Senior Day Saturday at Patterson Field in Centennial Conference action.
 
 

With the win, the Bears improved to 6-4 overall and 3-4 in conference play to ensure itself a spot in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series next week. Meanwhile, the Tartans fell to 5-5 overall and 3-4 in conference play. The top three non-NCAA Tournament qualifying teams from the Centennial Conference will make up the spots in the bowl series. With three Centennial teams expected to qualify for the tournament, the seedings will come down to positioning NCAA Power Index (NPI) rankings between the trio of 3-4 Centennial Conference teams: Carnegie Mellon, Ursinus, and Dickinson.
 
 

Junior quarterback Tristan Machado threw for a career-high 347 yards on 29-of-40 passing with four touchdowns and one interception. Junior wide receiver Aidan Roselle led the Bears with 106 passing yards on six receptions with a touchdown and classmate Ryder Zulkowski snagged two touchdown passes with six receptions for 79 yards. Senior Cody House caught six passes for 56 yards in the win.
 
 

The Bears opened the game by putting together a lengthy 13-play 70-yard drive that took off 7:44 of the clock but came away empty-handed in the red zone after being stopped on fourth-and-1 at the Tartans 5-yard line. Ursinus struck back on its next drive and took the initial 7-0 lead when Machado hit Zulkowski for a 35-yard flea flicker touchdown pass with 1:55 left in the first quarter. Carnegie Mellon countered with a 13-play 61-yard drive that ended in a 25-yard field goal to make it a 7-3 game at the 11:23-mark. The Tartans momentum continued two plays into the ensuing Ursinus drive when Machado had a pass deflected into a 25-yard pick-6 to put Carnegie Mellon ahead at 10-7. After a pair of punts, the Bears took the lead back at 14-10 when Roselle had a 21-yard catch-and-run touchdown at the 1:51-mark. However, the Tartans executed the two-minute offense to perfection and took a 17-14 lead into halftime with a 26-yard touchdown pass on third-and-17.
 
 

Ursinus forced a Tartans punt to open the second half and drove 80 yards in 11 plays to take the lead back at 20-17 when Zulkowski grabbed a 6-yard touchdown pass over a defender at the 5:16-mark of the third quarter. Carnegie Mellon took advantage of a missed extra point and tied the game up at 20 with 1:01 left in the third quarter on a 36-yard field goal. The Bears punched right back and took the lead for good when Machado found junior Aidan Donahue for an 18-yard touchdown pass at the 11:21-mark of the fourth quarter. The Bears defense stepped up and forced a pair of three-and-outs and got the ball back on its own 7-yard line with 6:39 left in regulation. Ursinus took off 5:51 of the clock behind a pair of third down conversions and left the Tartans with just 48 seconds left with no timeouts at their own 23-yard line. Sophomore defensive lineman Manney Saenz delivered a sack on the third play of the drive and a false start penalty ran off the final 10 seconds to preserve the win.
 
 

Senior defensive back D.J. Clarke recorded a career-high 11 tackles (eight solo) and junior linebacker Ethan Turber-Ortiz matched his career-high of eight tackles (four solo). Sophomore defensive back Andy Zigbuo made seven tackles (six solo) and three pass break-ups while Saenz finished with six tackles (two solo) and 1.5 sacks.
 
 

The Bears will await their Centennial-MAC Bowl Series game opponent which will be announced following the NCAA Division III selection show tomorrow evening.