COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - With a potential berth in next weekend's MAC-Centennial Bowl Games on the line the Dickinson football team knew all they needed was a win to lock it up, while a loss would force the Red and White to play the "waiting game" until Sunday night. Unfortunately, for the Devils they were unable to get the offense on track most of the day as the host Ursinus College picked up a 21-10 conference win at Patterson Field in the regular season finale for both squads.
Ursinus appeared to be on their way to some points with the first drive of the game as Jalen Bradford found the trio of Michael D'Amico, Caden Johnson and Daniel Painter one time each to advance the drive down to the DC34. Rushes by Dawsom Fresses and Tony Holden put the rock on the 18-yardline setting up third-and-six. That was when the drive came to an abrupt end when
Alex Sulin stepped in front of the Bradford pass and picked it off putting the Devils offense on the field for the first time. However, Dickinson would go "three and out" thanks to a pair of
Presley Egbers incompletions and a four-yard carry from
Diante Ball. After DC forced the Bears to punt on the ensuing drive the Devils started on their own 19 with 7:53 left in the first. Two rushes and a pair of receptions from Ball advanced the drive to the plus-side of the 50 at the UC49. An eight-yard carry for
Princeton Douglass, followed by a three-yard plunge by Ball pushed things to the UC38. Passes to
Devlin McCool and Douglass left things at fourth-and-six on the UC18. That brought out
Kieran O'Neill for a 35-yard kick, but it would go wide left to end the first scoreless.
The Bears began the ensuing march with a 33-yard strike from Bradford to Markel Roberts-Jackson moving down to the DC47. A 21-yard reception by Justin Collier and a six-yard carry for Bradford brought the home side into the redzone (DC19). A sack from
Julien Devlin brought up third-and-eleven on the 26, but a pass to Collier at the sticks gave UC a fresh set of downs on the DC15. From there the ground game took over as runs by Fresses and Bradford pushed it down to the four, before Fresses hit the house for the 7-0 lead (Jordan Carr kick). The ensuing the Dickinson possession began on their own 11 and using runs from Ball and Egbers as well as a pass to
Bobby Markey set up first-and-ten at the 34. Rushes from
Noah Boyd and Egbers left the Red and White with a decision to make on fourth-and-one on the DC43. The offense remained on the field and Boyd plowed forward just far enought for the first down (DC44). Dickinson continued to ride the momentum from the conversion as Ball ripped off a 31-yard run up the middle to the UC25. That was when the Devils got tricky as Egbers flipped the ball off in the left-flat to Douglass who loaded up his arm and found a leaping Ball for a 25-yard TD strike to tie the game (
Justin Worobel kick). Unfortunately, for Dickinson the Bears had an immediate answer as Bradford using both his legs and arm engineered an eight-play drive in just over four minutes ending on a 15-yard hookup to Collier for the 14-7 halftime edge (Jordan Carr kick).
The third quarter began rough for the Devils as after a seven-yard carry for Ball and a one-yard completion to Douglass, the "turf monster" would trip up Egbers on third-and-four for a loss of 20 yards back to the DC6. On the ensuing
Matt Maiona punt Cody House would muff the catch allowing
Justin Rocha to fall on the pigskin at the UC39. After Ball collected a dozen yards on first down, a run each by Ball and Egbers along with an incompltion left DC facing fourth-and-eight on the 25. Electing not to kick the field goal Egbers hit Markey for seven-and-a-half yards which gave the rock back to Ursinus at the UC18. The remainder of the period saw the defenses for both teams lock things down as neither side reached the good-half of the 50 yardline to send the game to the fourth still in the balance at 14-7.
A Billy Cook 30-yard punt to the DC45 less than a minute into the final period put the Dickinson offense back to work. Consecutive completions to Douglass and McCool respectively were followed by a pair of Ball rushes for 11 and nine yards to get down to the UC13. An eight-yard pass to Douglass and a one-yard run by Ball had DC looking at third-and-goal. After Egbers was unable to link up with Markey in the endzone the Devils would have to settle for a 22-yard Worobel field goal cutting it down to 14-10 with 10:35 left. On the ensuing kick return for House he found a seam and raced 65 yards back to the spot of the kickoff the DC35. Runs by Bradford and Holden, in addition to a ten-yard pass to Collier gave the home side first-and-ten on the DC20. It then became the Fresses show as he ran four straight times, before taking the fifth touch to the house making it 21-10 (Jordan Carr kick). The Devils started out the next drive with an eleven-yard carry for Egbers, prior to him hooking up with McCool for another eleven up to the DC37. Unfortunately, after that Dickinson was unable to keep things as an incompletion to Markey on fourth down turned the ball over on downs and allowed the Bears to run out the clock.
Defensively, the Devils were led by 13 tackles (nine solo) for
James Basilii, while his secondary mate
Jeremy Reid finished with eight hits including one-and-a-half for loss. The quartet of
Keon Eady,
Neville Krueger, Devlin and Sulin each posted four stops and combined for two-and-a-half tackles for loss, three pass breakups and one interception.
Up Next
Dickinson (6-4, 3-3 Centennial) will now have to wait until Sunday evening to find out if their season will last one more week as their eyes will be glued to the NCAA Selection Show hoping that conference foe Muhlenberg College secures an at-large bid in the tournament. A berth for the Mules would give the Devils the third and final Centennial spot in next weekend's Centennial-MAC Bowl Series which would mean the Red and White would host one more game at Biddle Field. Stay tuned to dickinsonathletics.com and all Red Devil social media for more information as it becomes available.
