Ursinus Ready For Friday Night Under The Lights
By Matt Leon
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) – It's a short week for the Division III Ursinus Bears as they will kick-off the local college football weekend with a Friday night game under the lights in Collegeville against Susquehanna.
The 4-2 Bears have been on a roll as of late, winning three in a row while averaging nearly 34 points a game. Ursinus head coach Pete Gallagher says the formula for that success isn't hard to break down.
"First of all, we've been able to complete balls and not turn it over," Gallagher tells KYW Newsradio. "We're not turning the football over, whether it be fumbles or interceptions. Keeping drives alive, controlling the clock and finishing drives. And putting points on (the board) when we get inside the red zone."
The man at the center of this Ursinus offense is junior quarterback Chris Curran who is in the midst of a very special season. In six games, the Oceanview, New Jersey native has thrown for 1607 yards and 16 touchdowns against just four interceptions.
LISTEN: Matt Leon interviews Pete Gallagher
"Chris is really getting comfortable in what he's doing," Gallagher says. "He's reading defenses well, he's checking the ball down when teams are dropping eight against us. He's getting the ball out of his hands quickly when teams are pressuring us. And I think the biggest thing is, he is throwing the football accurately down the field. Several of his touchdowns have been long yardage touchdowns, whether it be into coverage and just that accurate or just accurate over people's heads where we're having some skill kids be able to run underneath the deep ball and connecting on those."
Susquehanna will come to town 3-3 and on a two-game winning streak.
"They started the season out and they lost both of their starting quarterbacks, they lost their first kid and then they lost their second kid and I think they were in a little bit of a tailspin," Gallagher says. "(Head coach) Steve Briggs has found an identity offensively, (senior fullback) Connor McGrath has touched the football over 30 times a game, really kind of grinding it out. So we're going to have to step up on defense and be able to make some stops and get our offense the football back. Defensively, they have some big kids in the middle, they play a little bit more coverage than they do pressure, so I think we should have some time to be able complete some passes down the field."
Ursinus and Collegeville will kick-off at 7:00pm on Friday night.
You can follow Matt on Twitter @mattleonkyw.
