GETTYSBURG, Pa. – The Ursinus football team got a touchdown in the final minute of regulation to rally and escape with a 28-27 win over Gettysburg in Centennial Conference action on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Bears improved to 7-1 overall and stayed in the Centennial Conference title hunt by moving to 4-1 in conference play. Meanwhile, the Bullets fell to 2-6 overall and 0-5 in conference play.
Senior quarterback
Tristan Machado threw for a season-high 277 passing yards on 22-of-40 attempts with two touchdown passes. Senior wide receiver
Aidan Donahue led the Bears with 85 receiving yards on six catches and senior wide receiver
Ryder Zulkowski caught seven passes for 74 yards and both touchdown passes.
Junior running back
Devon Green led the Bears with 52 rushing yards on 12 carries while senior
Jason Bernard added 49 yards on 18 carries with a touchdown.
Gettysburg got a strong opening kickoff return and drove 54 yards down the field and scored to take a 7-0 lead on a 4th-and-2 touchdown pass. It was the first time this season that the Bears did not score first in their games. Ursinus responded by driving into the red zone and settled for a 46-yard field goal by junior
Ben Kiedrowski to make it 7-3 with 4:12 left in the first quarter, matching his career long. Machado was intercepted in Ursinus territory on the Bears next drive and the Bullets converted with a touchdown early in the second quarter to go up 14-3 at the 12:13-mark. Following a pair of punts, the Bears were pinned at their own 1-yard line and put together a 17-play 95-yard drive that ended in a 21-yard field goal from Kiedrowski that in the final minute of the quarter that sent the game to 14-6 at the half.
Ursinus opened the with the ball to start the second half and tied the game at 14 off a 1-yard touchdown from Bernard and successful two-point conversion by senior wide receiver
Aidan Roselle at the 9:18-mark of the third quarter. However, the Bullets countered and went back up 21-14 at the 4:20-mark of the third quarter. The Bears countered by putting together a 6+ minute drive that went into the fourth quarter and tied the game at 21 at the 13:05-mark following a 6-yard touchdown catch by Zulkowski. Gettysburg took the lead back at 24-21 off a 37-yard field goal with 9:16 left in regulation and had a chance to put the game away after turning the Bears over on downs at midfield on the following drive. The Bullets got as far as the Bears 6-yard line before having to settle for a 24-yard field goal that made it 27-21 at the 2:28-mark which left the door open for Ursinus to have a shot to take the lead. Machado took advantage of the opportunity by driving the Bears down the field and finding Zulkowski for a 17-yard touchdown on 3
rd-and-10 with 43 seconds left in regulation. Kiedrowski knocked through the extra point to give the Bears their first lead of the game at 28-27. Junior safety
Jake Ziegler sealed the win on the second play of the Bullets final drive with an interception.
Ziegler led the Bears with eight tackles (two solo) with his game-sealing interception and sophomore defensive end
Loui Goin matched him with eight tackles (two solo) and 1.0 TFL.
The Bears return to action on Saturday, November 7
th as they will host Dickinson for Senior Day in a pivotal Centennial Conference matchup at 1:00 p.m.
