GETTYSBURG, Pa. – For the second consecutive season in the 125-year old rivalry, Dickinson College slipped past Gettysburg College by a field goal in the annual battle for the Little Brown Bucket held at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium.
After winning 37-34 in double overtime last fall, Dickinson (1-2, 1-1 CC) erased a 14-point second-half deficit and received a 31-yard field goal from Ethan Fusco as time expired to get by Gettysburg (0-3, 0-2 CC) 24-21 on Homecoming Weekend.
Senior Justin Davidov (Ossining, N.Y./Ossining) finished 19-of-31 for 269 yards and a touchdown for the Bullets. Freshman Reggie JeanCharles (Galloway, N.J./Holy Spirit) posted 55 rushing yards and a touchdown, while adding 56 receiving yards on three catches. Sophomore Kevin Benavente (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) logged career highs with six receptions and 85 yards.
Gettysburg piled up eight sacks in the game, including 2.5 each by junior Logan Aikey (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg) and sophomore Ryan Greene (Easton, Pa./Easton). Aikey finished with nine tackles and 3.5 tackles for a loss. Sophomore Cole Keyes (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape) led the defense with 15 stops, while junior Mike McKnight (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) logged 11 tackles.
Making his first career start, Robert Geiss completed 26-of-45 passes for 304 yards and three touchdowns for Dickinson. All three scores went to Chris Longo, who finished with seven receptions and 137 yards. Jeremy Walsh picked up 107 yards rushing. Tyler Heisey led the Red Devil defense with nine tackles.
The Bullets didn't waste any time lighting up the scoreboard. On the team's second play, Davidov fired a pass to senior Ryan Thompson (Oakland, N.J./Indian Hills) on the right side. It looked like it would be a first down at least, but Thompson didn't settle and deftly avoided his defender and raced down the sideline for the opening score.
Gettysburg forced Dickinson to punt on four of its first five drives of the game. Aikey accounted for all of his sacks on the Red Devils first two drives, including combining with Greene for one that helped stop a 15-play drive into Gettysburg territory.
The Bullets came right back with an 89-yard drive highlighted by a 43-yard shovel pass from Davidov to JeanCharles. Junior Nick Rella (Denville, N.J./Morristown-Beard) completed the drive with a three-yard plunge to make it 14-0 in the first quarter.
Dickinson scored its lone first-half touchdown on a 23-yard pass from Geiss to Longo with 5:25 left in the second quarter.
Gettysburg was forced to punt on its opening possession of the third quarter, but a penalty on the kick returned the ball back to the Bullets in Dickinson territory. Davidov completed an 18-yard strike to Benavente to reach the red zone and JeanCharles bulled his way for the final 11 yards for a touchdown and 21-7 lead.
Later in the third quarter, the Red Devils converted twice on third-and-long with the final conversion covering 52 yards on a reception to Longo with 3:22 left. Longo added another touchdown grab at the start of the fourth to pull the score even.
With 6:35 left in the game, senior Kamau Bridges (Ellicott City, Md./Mount Saint Joseph) picked off a pass at the goal line, but the Bullets were unable to convert on the turnover as the drive stalled on Dickinson's side of the field.
The Red Devils received the ball with 2:17 remaining in the game. Two Gettysburg penalties helped push the visitors up the field and the team converted twice on third down. With just three seconds left on the clock, Fusco lined up for his first career field goal try and his ensuing kick just cleared the bar from 31 yards.
Gettysburg visits McDaniel College (2-1, 1-1 CC) next Saturday at 1 p.m.
Red Devils Rally Past Bullets in Bucket Tilt
/seasons/2017/boxscores/20170916_9mq1.xml
2017
Dickinson
24
Gettysburg
21
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Dickinson (1-2) | 0 | 7 | 7 | 10 | 24 |
| Gettysburg (0-3) | 14 | 0 | 7 | 0 | 21 |
Sep 16, 2017