PITTSBURGH - The Centre football team made its fourth NCAA Division III Playoff appearance on a cold day in the Steel City as the Colonels hit the road to face the no. 13 Carnegie Mellon Tartans. In a game dominated by the defenses, the Tartans prevailed by a score of 24-15.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
- The opening Centre drive saw
Jack Gohmann connect on four straight passes to get the Colonels into enemy territory before an interception stopped the drive in its tracks.
- CMU got a short field late in the first quarter after a mishap on a Centre punt and took four plays to score the game's first points on a 20-yard touchdown pass.
- Centre controlled time of possession early, again reaching CMU territory before a penalty took the Colonels out of field goal range and they failed to convert on fourth down.
- The Tartans looked to make it a two-score game early in the second quarter as they reached the red zone, but a corner blitz from
Drake Byrd resulted in a sack, jarring the ball loose.
Adam Wicktom fell on the ball for the Colonels to give possession back to the offense.
- The momentum lasted one play as Carnegie Mellon recovered a fumbled snap to reclaim possession. They would convert that turnover into a field goal to take a 10-0 lead.
- From there, the two teams traded punts for the rest of the second quarter, with the Tartans also missing a long field goal. CMU crossed the 50 on their final drive of the period, but
Evan Elder and
Carson Combs combined for a sack to keep it a 10-0 game at the half.
- After the defense forced a punt to start the third quarter, Gohmann went to work. The junior quarterback moved the Centre offense into the red zone thanks to a pair of long completions to
Blake Busson. The Colonels got on board as
Luke Hammons found
Jakei Tarter in the end zone for the first Centre touchdown of the day and the deficit had been cut to 10-7.
- Centre caught another break on the next series when
Parker Guillaume picked off a CMU pass and returned the ball to the Centre 45. Another long pass to Busson got Centre into the red zone, but the tying field goal attempt went wide right
- A good punt return gave CMU a short field as the fourth quarter began and they took advantage with a touchdown drive to go back up by ten at 17-7.
- Gohmann completed all six of his passes on Centre's next drive, covering 87 yards with help of a defensive personal foul. The final 27 yards came on a touchdown strike to
Dant Bowling. Centre then made it 17-15 as holder
Zane Cartwright ran it in for a two-point conversion with less than nine minutes left.
- More punts followed by both teams as CMU pinned Centre deep with three minutes to go. A Centre interception gave the Tartans the ball at the Centre 23 and CMU punched it in a few plays later for the final 24-15 margin.
INSIDE THE BOX SCORE
- Gohmann had season highs in nearly every category, completing 38 of 63 passes for 402 yards.
- Busson and Bowling each had career days receiving. Busson caught 13 passes for 212 yards, while Bowling caught ten balls for 121 yards and a touchdown.
- The defense played tremendously all day, limiting CMU to just 222 yards of total offense. The Tartans finished 153 passing yards on 14 of 38 attempts and a net 69 rushing yards.
Evan Elder led the Centre defensive unit with eight tackles.
