From University of Chicago Athletics
The University of Chicago football team recorded another dominant performance with nine sacks and three turnovers forced in a 28-7 victory against Carnegie Mellon University on Saturday.
The Maroons improved to 7-1 overall and 2-0 in the University Athletic Association (UAA). The Tartans fell to 3-6 overall and 0-2 in the UAA.
Prior to kickoff, UChicago individually recognized the team's 12 seniors – Brandon Bolock, Ben Cheaney, Scott Mainquist, Miguel Maseda, Schuyler Montefalco, Tom O'Neill, Zak Ross-Nash, Patrick Ryan, Isaac Stern, Tom Sutrinaitis, Bryan Tisdale and Jake Winkel. The senior class has a cumulative record of 22-16 in their four years.
The senior defenders then came out and bedeviled the Tartans all afternoon. The starting trio of Bolock, Mainquist and Montefalco blazed through the offensive line for a combined 21 tackles, 5.5 sacks and 7.0 tackles for a loss. UChicago posted a season-high nine sacks over the course of the game and the defense held Carnegie Mellon to 34 yards rushing on 28 attempts (1.2 yards per carry). It marks the fifth time this year that the Maroons have held an opponent to less than 100 rushing yards.
UChicago collected three sacks on CMU's opening possession and the Maroons began their first offensive drive on their own 10-yard line. The home team reached midfield and freshman running back Chandler Carroll broke off a 50-yard touchdown jaunt up the left side. At the beginning of the second quarter, the Maroons made it 14-0 with a 15-yard touchdown pass from senior quarterback Patrick Ryan to junior wide receiver Sam Coleman.
After receiving the ball to start the second half, the Maroons put together a 14-play drive that ate up seven minutes of game time. On third down from the CMU's 11-yard line, Ryan tossed a pass towards Colin Macri in the back of the end zone. The junior wide receiver made a leaping touchdown catch over his defender and then landed with both feet in before toppling out of bounds.
UChicago's final score of the day came from the defense with under nine minutes left in the fourth quarter. Bolock intercepted the quarterback at the CMU 45-yard line and sprinted the other way for a touchdown of his own. In the game's final minutes, Tartans converted twice on fourth down and broke up the shutout bid with an 18-yard touchdown throw to account for the 28-7 final score.
Defensively, the Maroons also intercepted two passes, recovered a fumble and made 11 tackles for a loss. Mainquist broke through the interior frequently, amassing seven tackles and three sacks. Bolock added two sacks amongst his five tackles and one interception. Junior cornerbackVincent Beltrano provided the other interception with an acrobatic, one-handed grab in the end zone. Beltrano posted six tackles and four pass breakups. Montefalco and sophomore linebacker Jackson Garrey (1.5 sacks) tallied nine tackles each. Junior safety Greg Thome collected eight tackles and one sack.
Carroll ran for a team-high 110 yards and one touchdown on his 20 carries. Ross-Nash ran 15 times for 62 yards as the Maroons led the game's rushing yards 177-34 over the Tartans. Ryan completed 14 of 23 passes for 142 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. Coleman was his most frequent target with six catches for 63 yards and a touchdown. Junior tight end Nathan Massey snagged three catches for 34 yards.