COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Ursinus College Football team celebrated its senior class with its second straight shutout as they downed Gettysburg 34-0 on a beautiful November afternoon at Patterson Field in Centennial Conference action.
With the win, the Bears improved to 8-1 overall and 4-1 in Centennial Conference action. It was the first time since September 1997 that Ursinus shutout back-to-back opponents when they blanked Washington & Lee and Franklin & Marshall. Prior to today's contest, the Bears honored its 26 seniors as part of senior day ceremonies. Meanwhile, the Bullets fell to 2-7 overall and 1-4 in Centennial Conference play.
Senior wide receiver Justin Collier became the Ursinus Football career touchdown reception record after catching two touchdown passes to move to 25, passing the former record holder Nick Giarratano. Collier finished with 37 yards on four catches and junior Markel Roberts-Jackson led the Bears with 49 yards on four catches. Senior quarterback Jalen Bradford threw for 139 yards on 13-of-22 passing with two touchdown passes and no interceptions while adding 85 yards on the ground as well on six carries.
The Bears once again flexed its muscles on the ground by totaling a whopping 436 yards of a team that was just two yards shy of the 438 posted against Rowan back in September while averaging 9.3 yards per carry. Senior running back Tony Holden bounced back with 186 yards on 21 carries and scored two touchdowns and eclipsed the 1,000-yard mark in season rushing yards for the first time in his career. He averaged a whopping 8.9 yards per carry and currently has the fourth most rushing yards by a Bear in a single-season with 1,141. Sophomore Jason Bernard recorded his second straight 100-yard outing with 122 on the ground on 12 carries and one touchdown. The combo of Holden and Bernard became the first duo since Thomas Garlick and Samuel Ragland in 2019 against Johns Hopkins to each rush for over 100 yards in a single game.
Each team started the game with a pair of punts in the first quarter before the Bullets had the first extended drive that made it into Ursinus territory. The Bears defense made a stand at their own 44-yard line to force a punt and turned around with a 14-play 92-yard drive that ended in Collier's record breaking touchdown catch to put Ursinus up 7-0 with 11:29 left in the second quarter. Ursinus drove deep into Bullets territory again on its next drive, but a fumble from Holden ended the threat. However, Holden more than made up for the turnover with a 54-yard touchdown run on the following Ursinus drive to make it 14-0 with 4:09 left in the first half. Ursinus forced another punt and Bradford executed the two-minute offense to perfection by finding Collier for the second time, this time from five yards out with five seconds left, giving the Bears a 20-0 lead at the half.
The Bears went three-and-out to start the second half and the Bullets put together its furthest drive of the game by getting as far as the Ursinus 19-yard line. The Bears defense stood tall again by forcing a turnover on downs to keep the lead at 20. Bernard opened the next Ursinus drive with a bang with a 46-yard run and Holden finished the job from a yard out with his second touchdown of the game that made it 27-0 with 4:13 left in the third quarter. Gettysburg turned the ball over on downs again on its next drive but caught a break when Bradford fumbled the ball out of the endzone for a touchback after a 58-yard run. Ursinus fended off the turnover and capped its scoring output when Bernard scored from 12 yards out to make it 34-0 with 9:48 left in regulation. The Bears defense preserved the shutout by forcing two final Gettysburg punts.
Senior Marc Clayton was all over the field for the Bears with a career-high 13 tackles (five solo), 1.5 TFL, and one sack while breaking up a pass. Senior Connor Carter added his 11th sack of the season and finished the game with three tackles (two solo). Senior Michael McCuen added seven tackles (two solo) and 0.5 tackles for loss. For the game, the Bears held a 579-220 yards advantage.
Ursinus wraps up its regular season next Saturday, November 16th as they will travel to face Dickinson at 1:00 p.m.
Football Shuts Out Gettysburg 34-0 on Senior Day
/seasons/2024/boxscores/20241109_8z7u.xml
2024
Gettysburg
0
Ursinus
34
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Gettysburg (2-7) | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Ursinus (8-1) | 0 | 20 | 7 | 7 | 34 |
Nov 09, 2024