Tartans Drop Regular Season Finale 27-20 at Ursinus

(COLLEGEVILLE, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University football team traveled to Collegeville, Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon for its final Centennial Conference game of the season against the Bears of Ursinus College. The Tartans dropped a 27-20 contest and ended the regular season at 5-5 overall and 3-4 in CC play while the Bears have the identical mark in CC play and 6-4 overall.

Game Information
Carnegie Mellon 20, Ursinus 27
Records: Carnegie Mellon (5-5, 3-4 CC), Ursinus (6-4, 3-4 CC)
Location: Collegeville, Pa. (Patterson Field)

How it Happened

• With two minutes remaining in the first quarter, Ursinus grabbed a 7-0 lead off a 35-yard flea flicker touchdown pass from Tristan Machado to Ryder Zulkowski.
• Carnegie Mellon answered with a 13-play drive that resulted in a 25-yard field goal from senior Justin Caputo to make the score 7-3 with 11:23 to play in the first half.
• On the second play of the Bears ensuing drive, sophomore Robert Sturges intercepted Machado and returned it 23 yards for the Tartan touchdown. Caputo's extra point left the score 10-7.
• With 1:51 to play in the half, Ursinus retook the lead at 14-10 when Machado tossed his second touchdown of the afternoon. This time he found Aidan Roselle from 21 yards out.
• The Tartans' two-minute offense responded with a 10-play, 85-yard drive that resulted in a 26-yard touchdown pass to junior Reece Kolke from sophomore Jackson Salters with 24 seconds remaining in the half, as the teams went into the locker room with Carnegie Mellon leading 17-14.
• A second touchdown connection from Machado to Zulkowski with five minutes to play in the third quarter made the score 20-17 after the PAT bounced off the right upright.
• Four minutes later, a 36-yard field goal by Caputo knotted the score at 20-all.
• An 18-yard touchdown pass from Machado to Aidan Donahue with 11:21 to play gave the home team a 27-20 advantage. The score capped off a 12-play, 75-yard drive for the Bears and was the last points scored of the contest.

Stats

• Carnegie Mellon totaled 290 yards of offense while Ursinus totaled 423.
• Salters threw for a career-high 182 yards and one touchdown as he completed 18-of-29.
• Senior Willem Bouma rushed for a team high 53 yards on 14 carries.
• Kolke and junior Brendan McCullough finished the afternoon with four catches, collecting 52 yards and Kolke having one touchdown.
• Defensively, senior Jacob Franze and junior Ethan Ming led the Tartans with 12 tackles each. Senior Leighton Tarke finished with 11 tackles.
• Machado finished the game with 347 yards passing on 29-of-40 and four touchdowns along with one interception.
• Roselle led the Bears receivers with six catches for 106 yards and a touchdown while Zulkowski ended the game with 93 yards on seven receptions and two touchdowns.

Game Notes

• This was the first meeting in the series.
• Brendan McCullough moved into second all-time in program history in career receptions. He has 150 receptions for his career.
• Reece Kolke moved into 11th all-time in program history in career receiving yards. He has 1,324 receiving yards for his career. McCullough ranks fourth in receiving yards with 1,848.
• The Tartans streak of winning 23 straight games when scoring a special teams or defensive touchdown was snapped.
• The Tartans streak of winning 30 straight contests when winning the turnover battle was snapped.