GETTYSBURG, Pa.  – The Bullets take on the Bears to kick off the Centennial Conference football schedule this Saturday at 1 p.m. at Patterson Field.
 
GAME COVERAGE
Saturday's game will feature live stats at http://www.ursinusathletics.com/sports/fball/2018-19/boxscores/20180908_1frv.xml and live video at https://portal.stretchinternet.com/ursinus/. You can also follow in-game updates on Twitter (@GburgBullets) and check out post-game coverage at GettysburgSports.com.
 
THE SERIES
Gettysburg holds a 35-22-4 edge in a series that began 115 years ago. Ursinus won last year's meeting 35-28, but the Bullets took the last decision in Collegeville 42-17 in 2016. Gettysburg is 16-11-3 against the Bears on their own turf.
 
LAST MEETING
Ursinus scored the go-ahead touchdown with 55 seconds left and then stopped Gettysburg's final drive for a 35-28 win at Shirk Field last fall. The Bullets erased a nine-point deficit entering the fourth quarter with a 16-yard touchdown run by Kevin Benavente '20 (San Diego, Calif./Mt. Carmel) and a 33-yard touchdown catch by Ty Abdul-Karim '18. Trailing 28-27, the Bears drove 75 yards in just over two minutes with Thomas Garlick finding Jacob Clifford for a 14-yard score. The two teams totaled over 900 yards of offense and 50 first downs in the game. Justin Davidov '18 finished 12-of-24 for 96 yards and a touchdown and added 63 rushing yards and a score. Abdul-Karim hauled in four passes for 74 yards, while Johnny Davis (Mahwah, N.J./Mahwah) caught five passes for 53 yards and a touchdown. Thomeir Richardson (Trenton, N.J./Trenton Central) led the Gettysburg defense with a dozen tackles. Garlick finished 15-of-29 for 240 yards and a touchdown, while Stacey Gardner piled up 153 yards with one score. Jacob McCain totaled 13 tackles for the Bears defense.
 
LAST TIME OUT
Gettysburg dropped a 34-17 decision to Bridgewater at Shirk Field at Musselman Stadium last weekend. The Eagles led throughout and took advantage of a pair of 52-yard offensive plays and a 41-yard pick six to pull away. Senior Chase Fee (Spotswood, N.J./Spotswood) and sophomore Joey Razzano (Dillsburg, Pa./Northern York) each hauled in touchdown catches from sophomore Mike Welsh (Medford, N.J./Shawnee), who finished 15-of-32 for 199 yards. Junior Justin Geisel (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Country Day School) kicked a 42-yard field goal for the Bullets, while junior Cole Keyes (Mount Laurel, N.J./Lenape) led the defense with 11 tackles.
 
Ursinus led from start-to-finish on the way to a 34-13 victory over Bethany (W.Va.). The Bears racked up 485 yards of offense, while holding the Bison to 263. Thomas Garlick threw three of his four touchdown passes to freshman wide-out Ryan Loughlin and finished 21-of-35 for 291 yards on the afternoon. Loughlin hauled in six receptions for 124 yards, while Stacey Gardner gained 59 yards on 11 carries. Marcus Weathers totaled eight tackles, two sacks, and a forced fumble for the Bears.
 
FROM THE COACH'S DESK
"We were obviously disappointed with the score at the end of the game. We were happy with a lot of things; there were a lot of positive signs and we had great effort, energy, and enthusiasm. I think we grew as a football team. We took the lessons learned last week into our practice plans this week and we're looking to have a great game on Saturday." – Kevin Burke, Gettysburg Head Coach
 
CONFERENCE OPENERS
Gettysburg is 18-17 in its Centennial Conference debut since 1983. The Bullets have faced Ursinus in the league opener every year since 2011. The teams have split those eight meetings.
 
GETTYSBURG OVERVIEW
It's the start of a new era of Bullets football as former offensive coordinator Kevin Burke '90 takes on the mantle of head coach. Burke spent 14 seasons as an assistant coach under Barry Streeter, who retired as the program's all-time leader with 196 victories over 39 seasons. Burke is looking for his first win as a head coach since coaching Juniata College to a 20-7 victory over FDU-Florham in 2003. Gettysburg was picked sixth in the Centennial Conference Preseason Poll.
 
GETTYSBURG OFFENSE
After managing less than 100 yards of offense in the first half against Bridgewater, Gettysburg tripled its output in the second 30 minutes. Welsh completed 15 passes to seven different receivers with Razzano, Davis, and Fee each grabbing three. Senior Nick Rella (Denville, N.J./Morristown-Beard) carried the ball nine times for 31 yards, while junior Andrew Howard (Swansea, Mass./Moses Brown School) picked up 27 yards on 10 attempts.
 
GETTYSBURG DEFENSE
Gettysburg held Bridgewater to just 260 yards of total offense with 104 coming on two plays. The Bullets picked off three passes and allowed just two passing first downs. Richardson and seniors Mike McKnight (West Chester, Pa./Bayard Rustin) and Jake Skinner (Annapolis, Md./Broadneck) each recorded interceptions with Skinner adding eight tackles. Keyes paced the team with 11 tackles and senior Logan Aikey (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg) picked up where he left off 2017 with 2.5 tackles for a loss. Over his last 11 games, Aikey has racked up 20 tackles for a loss. Richardson posted three pass break-ups against the Eagles and has already recorded 14 pass break-ups in his young career.
 
SPECIAL TEAMS
Junior Justin Geisel (Charlotte, N.C./Charlotte Country Day School) hit his third career field goal of 40 or more yards in the season opener. Geisel has already climbed into fourth on Gettysburg's career list with 17 made field goals and is one behind Rich Eppleman '79 for third. Sophomore punter Evan Tannenbaum (Berwyn, Pa./Conestoga) was busy in the opener with nine punts, which is tied for the third-most in a game in program history. He averaged 36.2 yards per punt. Richardson averaged 23.7 yards on three kickoff returns.
 
URSINUS OVERVIEW
Ursinus was projected to finish fifth in the conference in the preseason ballot. The Bears return nine starters on both sides of the ball. The team averaged 386 yards last season – its best mark since 1999. Last season, Ursinus won its first five games highlighted by a 21-17 victory over Johns Hopkins. The Bears dropped four of their final five games to finish 6-4 last fall. Head Coach Peter Gallagher is in his 18th season and is 84-88 overall.
 
URSINUS OFFENSE
Garlick has started 17 of the last 21 games at quarterback for the Bears. The junior has totaled 3,718 yards and 21 touchdowns against 15 interceptions. He finished one shy of the program record with four passing touchdowns in the season opener. In the backfield, Ursinus features a strong 1-2 punch in Gardner, a second-team All-CC pick last fall, and Samuel Ragland, who was the 2017 CC Offensive Rookie of the Year. Gardner has led the team in rushing each season, while Ragland followed up his strong debut season with 127 all-purpose yards in the opener against Bethany.
 
URSINUS DEFENSE
The Bears allowed only 127 passing yards and hit the Bethany quarterback four times last Saturday. Weathers accounted for two of those QB sacks, while Matt Hartigan and Charles Anderson posted the other hits. Anderson was All-CC Second Team last fall after posting 39 tackles and five tackles for a loss at nose tackle. Junior Jack Spingler posted seven tackles, two tackles for a loss, and two pass break-ups against Bethany.
 
URSINUS SPECIAL TEAMS
Spingler averaged 39 yards on three punts and posted one touchback. Senior Kirk Cherneskie knocked in 4-of-5 extra-point attempts for the Bears. Three players fielded kickoffs with junior Jacob McCain busting loose for a 32-yard return.
 
LOOKING AHEAD
Following this weekend's affair in Collegeville, the Bullets will head north to face long-time rival Dickinson College in the battle for the Little Brown Bucket on Saturday, Sept. 15, at 1:30 p.m. The two teams have first met in 1892 and Gettysburg holds a 44-37-2 lead in the series. The last three meetings have each been decided by three points with the Red Devils winning the last two.