GETTYSBURG, Pa. – As if the football rivalry between Gettysburg College and Dickinson College needed any more drama, this year's edition of the quest for the Little Brown Bucket will take place on Gettysburg's Homecoming for the first time in nearly four decades.
OPENING KICKOFF
Gettysburg (0-2, 0-1 CC) and Dickinson (0-2, 0-1 CC) each seek their first wins of the campaign on Saturday. The Bullets have lost a pair of close decisions to Bridgewater (Va.) College (27-24) and Ursinus College (35-28), while the Red Devils have found the end zone just once in two decisive setbacks.
GAME COVERAGE
Friday's game will feature
live stats and live video courtesy of Stretch Internet and the generous support of Wellspan Sports Medicine. A full recap of the game will be posted on
GettysburgSports.com.
THE SERIES
Gettysburg leads the all-time series 44-36-2. The two teams officially tangled for the first time in 1892, though two meetings not condoned by the institutions took place 13 years prior in 1879. After meeting nearly every year from 1892 to 1953, the two teams did not lock horns again until 1978. Gettysburg won the first three meetings upon joining the Centennial Conference in 1983, but Dickinson won 22 of 25 from 1986-2009. The Bullets had won three in a row until Dickinson's win last fall. Today's meeting is just the fourth on Gettysburg's Homecoming, and first since 1979.
LAST MEETING
Dickinson managed a heart-pounding 37-34 double-overtime win over Gettysburg in Carlisle last November. The Bullets looked to be seizing control late in the first half with back-to-back touchdown catches by junior
Ryan Thompson (Oakland, N.J./Indian Hills), but the Red Devils stormed back with the first three scores of the second half. Freshman
Justin Geisel (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Country Day) tied the contest with a 29-yard field goal with 22 seconds left to force overtime. Dickinson struck first in the extra session with a one-yard run by
Billy Burger, but Gettysburg answered as
Danny Thompson '17 found junior
Ty Abdul-Karim (Washington, D.C./Woodberry Forest (Va.)) in the back of the end zone. The Red Devils secured the win on a 27-yard field goal by
Stephen Walker in the second overtime.
Danny Thompson finished 12-of-21 for 171 yards and three touchdowns, while Abdul-Karim hauled in five catches for 78 yards. Junior
Frank Olmo (Eatontown, N.J./Red Bank Catholic) piled up 19 tackles and sophomore
Mike McKnight (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) added 11 stops.
LAST TIME OUT
Ursinus scored the winning touchdown with 55 seconds to go and slipped past Gettysburg 35-28 last Saturday. The Bears took the lead at the end of the first quarter and didn't relinquish the upper-hand until sophomore
Kevin Martinez (Harrington Park, N.J./Northern Valley Old Tappan) fired a 33-yard pass to senior
Ty Abdul-Karim to make it 28-27 with 2:56 left to play. Ursinus completed a 75-yard drive for the final score and two-point conversion. Freshman
Reggie JeanCharles (Galloway, N.J./Holy Spirity) carried the ball 28 times for 170 yards to pace the Bullets. Abdul-Karim finished with 74 receiving yards and senior
Justin Davidov (Ossining, N.Y./Ossining) threw a touchdown and rushed for 63 yards. Freshman
Thomeir Richardson (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Central) posted a dozen tackles.
SCOUTING DICKINSON
Dickinson is in search of its first win of the season after dropping a non-conference contest to Randolph-Macon and its Centennial opener against Muhlenberg. The Red Devils have been held to one offensive touchdown this season, which was a 13-yard pass from
Robert Geiss to
Kyle Donahue against Muhlenberg.
Dickinson is coming off a 1-9 season in which its lone victory came against Gettysburg. The Red Devils are under the direction of first-year Head Coach
Brad Fordyce. Fordyce was an assistant coach at McDaniel for nine years and most recently worked at Bucknell. Junior
John Minicozzi was an honorable mention all-conference selection on the defensive line last season after posting 9.5 tackles for a loss. Junior
Billy Burger totaled nearly 2,000 yards of total offense and 13 touchdowns last season at quarterback.
LITTLE BROWN BUCKET
The Little Brown Bucket or Old Oaken Bucket has been a staple of the Gettysburg-Dickinson rivalry since 1938. The trophy was created by
S. Walter Stauffer and
George Hummel, members of the Dickinson and Gettysburg Board of Trustees, respectively. The first game was played on Thanksgiving and the Bullets emerged victorious 14-0, kicking off a string of nine consecutive wins by the Orange and Blue. Since the introduction of the Bucket, Dickinson has led the rivalry 25-22-1.
AT THE HELM
Barry Streeter enters his 39th season at the helm of Gettysburg's football program. Streeter is the longest-tenured active coach in Division III and ranks second in longevity among all current NCAA football coaches. With 193 career wins, Streeter ranks eighth among active Division III coaches. Streeter has led Gettysburg to three Centennial Conference championships (1983-85) and he has twice been named CC Coach of the Year. In 1985, he led the Bullets to the only undefeated regular season in school history (9-0-1) and an appearance in the national semifinals. Streeter is a 1971 graduate of Lebanon Valley and is a member of the Dutchmen's Hall of Fame.
GETTYSBURG OFFENSE
Gettysburg is averaging 216.6 yards rushing and 199 yards passing through its first two games. Freshman
Reggie JeanCharles leads the team with 248 rushing yards and is averaging yards per carry. He ranks fourth in the conference in rushing average. Senior
Justin Davidov ranks second on the team with 157 yards on the ground and has thrown for 336 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Senior
Ty Abdul-Karim ranks third in the Centennial with 21.7 yards per reception and has totaled 152 yards and a touchdown. A dozen Bullets have hauled in a catch this season. Gettysburg's offensive line led by junior center
Nick Rollo (Haddonfield, N.J./Haddonfield Memorial) has allowed only three sacks this season.
GETTYSBURG DEFENSE
Gettysburg has racked up 14 tackles for a loss and seven sacks this season. Junior linebacker
Logan Aikey (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg) leads the way with 3.5 tackles for a loss, while junior
Matt Graziano (Pennington, N.J./Hopewell Valley) and senior
Dakota Brovero (Monroeville, N.J./Delsea) have each posted a pair of sacks. Junior
Mike McKnight leads the team with 19 tackles, while freshman
Thomeir Richardson has logged 17 tackles and a pair of pass break-ups.
GETTYSBURG SPECIAL TEAMS
Sophomore
Justin Geisel (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Country Day School) has hit a pair of field goals this season, including a career-long 39-yarder against Bridgewater. He is also averaging 57.9 yards on kickoffs. Sophomore
Evan Tannenbaum (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga) is averaging 34.9 yards per punt and has placed four punts inside the opponent's 20-yardline. Freshman
Thomeir Richardson has averaged 21 yards per kickoff return this fall.
BLOCKED KICKS
Gettysburg swatted a pair of kick attempts in the season opener. Senior
Dakota Brovero blocked an extra point and classmate
Andrew Major (St. Davids, Pa./Radnor) denied a 30-yard field goal. It was Major's third career blocked kick and first since his freshman season. It was also the first time Gettysburg managed two blocked kicks in the same game since beating Misericordia in 2013.
ROOKIE RUSHER
With 170 rushing yards against Ursinus, freshman
Reggie JeanCharles posted the best rushing day by a first-year tailback since
Tom Sturges '08 went for 180 against Ursinus on Oct. 23, 2004. The most rushing yards in a game by a Gettysburg freshman was 242 by
Paul Smith '00 against Swarthmore in 1996. Smith also holds the program record for rushing yards by a freshman with 888 in 1996.
IN THE ARMY NOW
Seven members of the Gettysburg community will receive the Oath of Enlistment into the Army prior to Saturday's game, including sophomore football player
Tyrus Legenski (Glendora, N.J./Triton Regional). All of the cadets will receive full tuition and fee scholarships for college valued between $100,000-200,000.
HALL OF ATHLETIC HONOR
Six former Bullets will be recognized at halftime of the football game Saturday. This year's class includes football and baseball player
Seth Bendian '87, field hockey and lacrosse player
Susan Cannon Britton '82, volleyball player
Samantha Chereb Bradshaw '93, soccer player
Wendy Elles '96, swimmer
Todd Peters '98, and swimmer and soccer player
Gregory Stevcic '98.
NATIONAL CHAMPS
The women's lacrosse team will be honored at halftime on Saturday. The Bullets claimed the program's second national title this past spring by defeating top-ranked College of New Jersey 6-5 in the finals. The team finished the year 21-3 and defeated eight of the top-14 teams in the country on the way to the championship.
