Saturday’s final home game between Bucknell and Georgetown at Christy Mathewson Memorial Stadium had a little bit of everything. The Bison scored 29 points unanswered at one point, erasing a 22-point deficit and took the lead with 3:14 left to play in the fourth, but the Hoyas tied it and sent it to overtime, leading the Bison to six points in the final. Defeated 3-3. A 50-47 victory and a chance to escape.
It was the second consecutive year the Bison and Hoyas were tied until the fourth quarter, and Matt Shearer’s 41-yard field goal in overtime this year was one yard shorter than the game-winner in Washington, D.C., 364 days ago. .
The Bison were unable to make the final stop this year, as Georgetown’s Joshua Stakeley ran into the end zone one last time to stop the game. This was the 13th touchdown scored on Saturday.
“I was surprised by the slow start. I was surprised by how poorly we handled the first quarter of a football game, but they got it right and did a great job. Unfortunately, we fell one play short.” said head coach Dave Cecchini.
Bucknell scored three touchdowns on the ground, all of which went to Rashaun Baker.
The junior became the first Bison player to rush for three scores since 2017 and finished the game with 97 net yards. At one point, Baker had six carries for -4 yards and two touchdowns.
Ralph Rucker finished four yards short of his third consecutive 300-yard passing game and the Bison scored three touchdowns, something no Bison had accomplished before. All three touchdown tosses came in the fourth quarter after a shaky start, as the Bison had -20 offensive yards in the first 15 minutes.
Rucker scored through the air from three different receivers, led by Christian Tate, who had 85 receiving yards and scored the go-ahead touchdown late in the fourth. It was a career day for Tate, who was one of 27 seniors honored before kickoff.