COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. – The Lebanon Valley football team started strong with the first 10 points of the game before Ursinus College roared back over the final three quarters to defeat the Dutchmen 31-13 on Saturday afternoon at Patterson Field in the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series.
 
The Dutchmen (6-5) won the toss and elected to receive. They took the ball and orchestrated a 10-play, 65-yard drive that took up the first 5:44 of the game. Logan Klitsch completed three passes on the drive, including a deep ball down the left side to Adam Acker for a 26-yard gain that put LVC at the Ursinus 36. Dion Bryant had three rushes for 19 yards, and Avrey Grimm added two rushes up the middle for four yards to put the Dutchmen inside the 25. The drive stalled at the 18 as Trey Freeman was tackled just short of the first down marker on third and six. Brian Dym stepped up and kicked a 35-yard field goal, giving LVC a 3-0 lead. The defense held strong after a first down on two plays, forcing a punt that gave LVC the ball back at its own six.
 
Klitsch found Drew Campbell down the right side for a 34-yard gain on a long pass, and then hit Tommy Delgado, Acker, and Freeman for a trio of short completions. The quarterback then found Blake Weaver open over the middle for a 20-yard reception to put the ball at the Ursinus 25. A few plays later, after a penalty backed the ball up to the 35, Klitsch found Delgado open over the middle at the 11 for a touchdown pass of 32 yards. Dym kicked the extra point to put the Dutchmen ahead 10-0 with 1:18 left in the first.
 
Ursinus (7-4) had a pair of big runs and a long pass to end the first quarter. They scored three plays into the second quarter on a one-yard touchdown run that cut the lead to three points. They stopped the Dutchmen short of getting a first down on fourth and two to get the ball back at the LVC 33 with just under 12 minutes to play in the second. The Bears drove the ball inside the 10 in three plays with a pair of runs for five yards and a 15-yard reception. The defense held strong and forced a couple of incompletions to set up a field goal try. The Bears connected on the 25-yard attempt to even the score. Bryant had three consecutive runs to start the offensive drive that resulted in a first down. Klitsch found Cameron Hirshman for a 28-yard reception. Four straight incomplete passes gave the Bears the ball back at their own 32 with 6:33 on the clock. The Bears went 68 yards in 11 plays using all but 19 seconds of the clock, ending on a two-yard touchdown run up the middle to take the halftime lead.
 
The Bears began the second half with the ball and drove down to the LVC 30 on four plays. Ryan Fink broke up a pass, made a tackle on a quick pass, and then Owen Chernich knocked a ball away to bring up fourth down. Ursinus went for it, and a throw to the end zone fell incomplete. The Dutchmen used the momentum of the stop to drive the ball down the field. Bryant had the biggest plays of the drive with an 11-yard rush and a 10-yard rush up the middle to get LVC into field goal range. Klitsch tried to hit Ethan Heisey on back-to-back plays in the end zone, but both passes were off the mark. Dym stepped up and kicked a 34-yard field goal to cut the deficit to 17-13 with 6:10 to go in the quarter.
 
Both teams were able to move the ball, gaining a pair of first downs on the final two drives of the quarter. However, both defenses came up with stops when they needed them, and both teams punted the ball inside the 10-yard line. The Dutchmen forced another punt on the first drive of the fourth quarter and got the ball at their own one. Bryant ran the ball on three consecutive plays to move the ball to the 15. Klitsch was able to complete a few short passes before LVC was forced to punt the ball. Ursinus ran the ball seven times for 62 yards, ending with a seven-yard touchdown run to extend the lead to 24-13 with 3:37 left.
 
The Bears intercepted a pass by Klitsch on the second play of the following drive and returned it to the LVC 3. Three plays later, they scored on a one-yard touchdown run. LVC got the ball back with 1:50 remaining. Ursinus picked off a Carter Speyerer pass with a minute left to end all chances of a comeback.
 
Inside the Box

• The Dutchmen end the season with a 6-5 record. It is the second time in the past three years that LVC has won six games in a season. They have also qualified for the Centennial-MAC Bowl Series in three of the past four years.
• Bryant rushed for 73 yards on 14 carries with a long of 11. He averaged 5.2 yards per carry. The senior finishes the year with 888 rushing yards and seven touchdowns. He rushed for over 2,200 yards in his four-year career.
• Klitsch threw for 206 yards with one touchdown and one interception. He completed 18 of his 31 passes and rushed for 13 yards on three carries. He finished the year with 1,885 passing yards and 14 touchdowns to go with 562 rushing yards and six touchdowns.
• Delgado led 10 Dutchmen to record a reception in the game with four receptions for 47 yards and a touchdown. His 32-yard touchdown reception was the longest touchdown reception of his career.
• Acker finished with three receptions for 38 yards, Campbell had a reception for 34 yards, Hirshman recorded two receptions for 32 yards, and Weaver had three receptions for 26 yards.
• Carter Foust led the defense with 10 total tackles in his final game. The safety finishes his career with 64 tackles this season and 116 in his career.
• J.D. McCallion recorded nine tackles while Owen Chernich had eight in his first career start. Fink and Alex Brown had seven tackles each.
• Dym made his two field goal attempts and converted an extra point for seven points on the day. The senior finishes the year leading the team in scoring with 57 points on 33 extra points and eight field goals.
• LVC had an advantage in time of possession, 30:03-29:57. The Dutchmen ran 61 plays for 330 yards, including 230 passing yards.

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