Widener Tallies 14-7 Victory for Southwest Championship

COLLEGEVILLE, Pa. - Ian Decker scored the game-winning touchdown on a one-yard run early in the fourth quarter to lead Widener past Ursinus 14-7 in the ECAC Division III Southwest Bowl Championship on Saturday.

In a defensive battle, the Pride (7-4) managed to hold the Bears (8-3) to 151 yards of offense to capture their second straight ECAC title. Quarterback Matt Campbell completed 10 of 17 passes of offense, while Matt Patricelli rushed for 85 yards on 32 carries to earn MVP honors.

Aaron Harper (Philadelphia, PA/Peddie School) scored the lone touchdown for Ursinus and Eric Mast (Manheim, NJ/Manheim Central) recorded a game-high 11 tackles, including two and a half for a loss of 13 yards. He also recovered a fumble.

The Bears earned the first seven points late the first quarter thanks to Harper. Wallingford made two consecutive passes to Mark Greim (Morton, PA/Cardinal O'Hara), getting a 15-yard penalty in Ursinus' favor on the second completion to get to the Widener 34.

On the next play, Brandon Evans (Mohnton, PA/Governor Mifflin) made a 33-yard catch to put the Bears on the one-yard line. Harper then took it in for the touchdown with 37 seconds left in the first quarter.

The Pride was able to knot the game at 7-all in the second quarter, going 77 yards on 10 plays and using five minutes, 20 seconds. Three first downs along with two Ursinus penalties, Widener got in the end zone on a 27-yard pass from Campbell to Mike Schmidt.

Late in the third quarter, the Bears were forced to punt from their own 9 and the Pride took over on the Ursinus 27. Campbell rushed for 25 yards, leaving the rest for Decker on two carries with the later resulting in the game-winning touchdown.

Matt Duppel (Wildwood Crest, NJ/Wildwood) blocked a Widener field goal with 1:48 left in the game to give the Bears one last chance, but Ursinus used four plays and turned the ball over on downs.

Todd Fairlie and Shawn Wister each recorded seven tackles for the Pride. Fairlie also forced a fumble and had two pass breakups.