COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – Behind a 27-point second half, the Ursinus Football team earned a 44-7 win over Juniata on Saturday afternoon at Patterson Field in Centennial Conference action.
With the win, the Bears improved to 7-2 overall and 6-2 in Centennial action as they celebrated senior day prior to today's contest. Meanwhile, the Eagles fall to 1-8 overall and 1-7 in conference action.
Junior quarterback Jack Psenicska went 18-of-28 for 268 yards through the air with three touchdown passes and one interception. Psenicska now sits three touchdown passes away from setting a new single-season program record for touchdown passes. Senior running back Samuel Ragland registered his fourth 100-yard game of the season with 125 yards on 22 carries and scored two touchdowns. Senior Dash Dulgerian led the Bears wide receivers with a career-high 105 yards on three catches and two touchdowns. Senior wide receiver Zachary Throne caught four passes for 52 yards and one touchdown in the win.
After forcing a three-and-out to start the game, the Bears made it as far as the Juniata 49-yard line before having to punt after a sack on third down. Both offenses were unable to cross the 50-yard line in the first quarter until the Eagles marched down to the Ursinus 42-yard line at the end of the quarter. The Bears stopped Juniata at their own 42-yard line on third and one and forced a punt to open the second quarter.
On the third play of the next drive, Psenicska found a wide open Dulgerian for a 73-yard touchdown pass to put Ursinus up 7-0 at the 12:40-mark of the second quarter. The teams traded punts on their next respective drives before the Eagles made it as far as the Ursinus 49-yard line until being stopped on third down. Juniata punter Beckett Leary could not handle a low snap into the turf and the Bears tackled him in the backfield to gain excellent field position. Ursinus took advantage of the short field by scoring in six plays that was capped by Dulgerian's second touchdown reception of the game from 11 yards out to bring the score to 14-0 with 3:22 left in the first half. Junior defensive lineman Ethan Belville punched the ball out from Eagle running back Hunter Wofley on the first play of the ensuing drive to set the Bears up in the red zone after senior Anthony Reginelli recovered the ball. A holding penalty and a sack drove the Bears back on the drive and they settled for a 40-yard field goal from junior kicker Dakota Wherrity to make it a 17-0 game at halftime.
Psenicska was intercepted in Juniata territory on the Bears opening drive of the third quarter, and the Eagles took advantage of the turnover by scoring on a one-yard touchdown run to make it a 17-7 contest at the 9:50-mark. Juniata converted a fourth and three from the Ursinus 30 with a 29-yard pass that set the Eagles up for the score. Ursinus quickly responded to the Eagle touchdown by driving 65 yards on seven plays in just 1:46 to go up 24-7 following a one-yard run from Ragland. After another Eagles punt, the Bears used a 12-play 75-yard drive in 5:12 that was capped by Ragland's second rushing touchdown of the game from four yards out to put Ursinus up 31-7 early in the fourth quarter.
A sack ended the next Eagles drive and Ragland went back to work by opening the ensuing Ursinus drive with a 34-yard run. Psenicska continued the Bears scoring run by finding Throne over the middle for a 22-yard touchdown to put Ursinus up 38-7 with 7:42 left in the fourth quarter. The Bears continued to dominate on defense as they forced another Eagles punt late in the fourth quarter. Junior running back Joshua Bowman put the bow on the dominant Bears win with a 50-yard rushing touchdown, his first collegiate score, to make it a 44-7 game.
The Bears outgained the Eagles 477-143 and held a sizable 209-24 advantage on the ground. Senior linebacker Jonathan Klee led the Bears with a game-high 11 tackles (five solo) and 0.5 tackles for loss. Belville finished with six tackles (three solo) and 1.0 tackles for loss and forced two fumbles. Junior defensive lineman Sean Leyden recorded two sacks on the day to lead a Bears defense that recorded five sacks. Eagles wide receiver Javon Heggs led Juniata's offense with three catches for 65 yards.
Ursinus will return to action on Saturday, November 13th as they will close out their regular season at Dickinson with a 1 p.m. start.