GETTYSBURG, Pa. – Senior Corwyn Gordon blocked an extra point with 46 seconds left and Dickinson edged the Bullets 21-20 to win back the Little Brown Bucket at a sunny Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium Saturday afternoon in a Centennial Conference affair.
After junior quarterback Kody Smith scored on a 2-yard touchdown run, Gordon got his hand on senior Rob Pennella's point-after attempt. The ball fluttered in the air before bouncing off the crossbar and back into the end zone. The Red Devils then recovered Gettysburg's onside kick attempt and were able to run out the rest of the clock.
The Bullets had won the Little Brown Bucket – which has been awarded to the winner of the Gettysburg-Dickinson game since 1938 – with a 28-24 victory in Carlisle last season.
It was the final home of the season for Gettysburg, which honored its 19 seniors in a ceremony before the game.
Dickinson (4-5, 4-4 CC), which scored 21 unanswered points after falling behind 14-0 early, rushed for 306 yards. Senior tailback Mike Shimkin ran for 139 yards on 18 carries while sophomore fullback Kyle Smith gained 115 yards and one touchdown on 17 rushes. Freshman quarterback Cole Ahnell rushed for a touchdown and also threw the go-ahead touchdown pass with 7:12 left.
Senior tailback Ted Delia led Gettysburg (5-4, 5-3 CC) with 99 rushing yards while senior wing John Pesce scored a pair of touchdowns – one rushing and one receiving. He finished with six catches for 73 yards – both career-highs.
Sophomore receiver Aden Twer made six receptions – including an acrobatic 43-yard grab that set up Smith's touchdown – for 78 yards while becoming just the second player in Gettysburg history to surpass 1,000 receiving yards in a season.
Smith finished 13-for-23 for 152 yards while senior Kyle Whitmoyer was 6-for-13 for 75 yards.
Pesce scored on each of Gettysburg's first two drives, first on a 30-yard pass from Whitmoyer, then on a 16-yard run. However, Dickinson's defense would hold the Bullets scoreless until the game's final minute.
The Red Devils got on the scoreboard with a 38-yard touchdown run from Smith with 45 seconds left in the first half before tying it on a 1-yard run from Ahnell with 8:55 remaining in the third quarter. Dickinson then scored what held up as the game-winning touchdown when Ahnell connected with a wide-open Matt McDonald in the middle of the end zone, capping off a 15-play, 93-yard drive that lasted 7:48 Ahnell's TD strike was just his second pass attempt of the march.
The two teams then exchanged punts, and the Bullets took over at their own 20 with 3:39 left before Smith went to work. He completed 6-of-7 passes, culminating with a 43-yard bomb to Twer at the Dickinson-4. After a Delia two-yard run, Smith took it in himself to set up the dramatic finish.
Junior linebacker Mark Covington made a game- and career-high 11 tackles for Gettysburg while also forcing and recovering a fumble. Junior linebacker Larry DelViscio also made 11 stops while senior defensive end Chris Douthett tied a career-high with nine tackles.
Sophomore linebacker Dave Wald added eight hits while senior safety Peter Hak made seven tackles to go with his first collegiate interception.
Senior safety Scott Sullivan paced Dickinson with 10 tackles.