The annual battle for the Little Brown Bucket proved to be another nail-biting game for the Dickinson football team. The Red Devils would fall short as the Bullets of Gettysburg retained the Bucket, winning 20-17.

The Gettysburg offense got an instant boost from the word go as Matt McFadden returned the opening kick to his own 45-yard line. The Bullets capitalized on the field position for the only points of the quarter, as RB Kyle Wigley punched in the ball from two yards out on his sixth carry of the 10-play drive. 

At the start of the second quarter, the Red Devils had promising field position as the offense took over at their own 44 yard-line. On a 16-play drive that ate up eight minutes of clock, the Red Devils pounded the ball with their run game to find pay dirt. Running backs Chris Soulas ’16 and Cedric Madden ’16 along with first-year quarterback Billy Burger rushed for all 56 yards on the drive. Burger capped off the drive on 2nd and goal with a 9-yard touchdown run.

Junior Ned Emala ’17 flipped the field for the Red Devils, forcing a fumble that was recovered by Pat Schlecker ’16 to give Dickinson the ball back around midfield. The Dickinson offense marched the ball down the field and into the red zone for a chip-shot field goal from Stephen Walker ’19, giving the visitors a 9-7 lead with seconds before half.

The Red Devils received the second half kickoff, but were forced to punt to the Bullets 37-yard line. Gettysburg went the whole 63 yards for the touchdown in under two minutes, as Wigley rushed for 38 yards on the drive to set up a 16-yard touchdown pass. The Bullets failed on a two-point conversion, but claimed a 13-9 lead.

After forcing a turnover to regain possession, the Red Devils were punished on a trick play, giving the ball right back. Madden got the ball for the running back pass, but threw an interception on the play to turn the ball back to the Bullets.

A Red Devil defensive unit that played well all afternoon, held strong again to keep the deficit to four. The offense moved down the field fairly well, but faced a fourth and two in Gettysburg territory. Madden was stuffed for a gain of only one, turning the ball over on downs.

Like their first scoring drive of the second half, the Bullets marched down the field quickly, this time with a balance of yards through the air and on the ground. Sam McDermott threw his second touchdown of the day, this one for 20 yards to take a 20-9 lead for the home side with just over 12 minutes to play.

After failing to score in consecutive possessions, the Red Devils got the ball back down 11 with 4:43 to play thanks to a defensive stand on fourth and one. The Red Devils moved the ball methodically down the field to cut the game close. Berger tallied 44 yards of total offense on the drive before Madden punched the ball in on 2nd and goal from the one. Madden also scored the vital two-point conversion for Dickinson, cutting the lead to a field goal with 2:13 to play.

After a failed onside kick and a 24-yard run from the Gettysburg QB, the Bullets were able to run out the clock out and take the 20-17 victory.

With the loss the Red Devils fall to 3-6 overall with a 3-5 clip in the conference. Dickinson will host Ursinus on Saturday, Nov. 14 in their final game of the season. The Centennial Conference matchup against the 2-7 Bears begins at 1 p.m. out at Biddle Field.