By The Daily Item
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COLLEGEVILLE — Eventually, the Susquehanna defense just wore out on Saturday.
Unbeaten Ursinus battered the SU defense for four quarters and the Crusaders held on for as long as possible, before the Bears finished things off with two fourth-quarter touchdowns in a 24-7 Centennial Conference win.
Susquehanna’s defense held up better than could be expected after being forced into action for 44 minutes. The the first half was bend but do not break for the SU defense, but their excessive time on the field caught up with them in the second half as Ursinus put 17 points on the board en route to the win.
Susquehanna’s defense got next to no time to rest as they were on the field for 89 plays while the offense finished with only seven points and 205 yards, 179 of which came through the air.
Several SU players put up impressive numbers on defense, highlighted by Jack McCarty’s 14-tackle effort. Susquehanna also recorded a season-high three sacks and had 12 tackles for loss. Two of those sacks came from freshman Bill Mancini.
After a three-and-out by both teams early in the first quarter, SU got the ball back in solid position at their own 40. An 18-yard completion from Rich Palazzi (Newfoundland, Pa./Wallenpaupack) to Spencer Ercole (Lewisburg, Pa./Lewisburg Area) quickly moved the Crusaders into Ursinus territory. However, Palazzi fumbled on third-and-three to end the chance of a lengthy drive.
The game was scoreless for most of the first half until it looked like SU got a spark thanks to a Mitch Phillips interception. But on the very next play the Bears’ (4-0, 3-0) Joe Galie responded with an interception of his own that placed the ball at the Bears’ 48 yard line with 59 seconds left in the half.
Ursinus QB Justin Decristofaro capped off a six-play, 52-yard scoring drive with a 20-yard touchdown to Nick Giarratano with 25 seconds on the clock that made it 7-0 at the break.
The second half did not start on a positive note for the Crusaders when Mike Ritter fumbled the kickoff return and Ursinus took over at its own 22.
The Bears quickly worked into a first-and-goal situation but as was the trend all day, the Susquehanna defense forced Ursinus into negative yardage and kicker Michael Bennett connected on the 36-yarder for the 10-0 score.
After Susquehanna turned the ball over on downs, Ursinus slowly moved down the field with Bryan Ellis rushing in from three yards out to cap off a 17-play, 76-yard scoring drive and make it 17-0 with only the fourth quarter remaining.
Susquehanna did get put points on the board late in the game with the aid of several penalties against Ursinus that ultimately resulted in a five-yard touchdown connection from Rich Palazzi to Ritter.
The Crusaders had just 11 first downs, none via the rush, and failed to convert on third down.
