Football Falls Short in Exciting Fourth Quarter at Chicago

(CHICAGO, Ill.) – The Carnegie Mellon University football team traveled to the Wind City to play the Maroons of the University of Chicago Saturday, November 9.  In the University Athletic Association (UAA) contest the Tartans fourth quarter comeback was not enough in a 14-12 setback.  Carnegie Mellon is now 3-6, 0-2 while the Maroons move to 6-3, 1-1.

The Tartans pulled within two at 14-12 with 1:39 to play in the game when senior quarterback Rob Kalkstein (Monroeville, Pa./Gateway) found fellow senior wide receiver Tim Kikta (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) for a 13-yard touchdown.  Carnegie Mellon's two-point attempt failed setting up an onside kick which was recovered by Tartan freshman Samer Abdelmoty (McLean, Va.).

On Carnegie Mellon's final drive of the game they were faced with a 4th-and-36 deep in its own end following three penalties.  The Tartans converted the fourth down as Kalkstein found sophomore Graham Schilling (Export, Pa./Franklin Regional) for 37 yards.  After converting another first down, the Tartans moved the ball down to the Chicago's 32-yardline, but that was as close as they got as the Maroons held them to turn the ball over on downs.

Chicago jumped on the board first with 2:12 left to play in the first quarter.  Quarterback Vincent Cortina found Vincent Beltrano on a 28-yard bubble screen for the Maroon touchdown.  The point after attempt sailed through the uprights making the score 7-0.

On the ensuing kickoff, Chicago's Ben Clark recovered a fumble and five plays later the home team took a 14-0 lead.  Cortina found Colin Marci on a 5-yard scoring strike with 34 second s left in the quarter.  

Carnegie Mellon opened the second half with a 15-play, 73-yard drive that took 7:23 off the clock and resulted in an 8-yard touchdown scamper by senior running back Ryan Quinn (Potomac, Md./Winston Churchill).  The missed point after left the score 14-6 in favor of the Maroons.

Carnegie Mellon outgained Chicago 357-177 yards, as the Tartans tallied 175 yards on the ground. Senior running back Zachary Erra-Hernandez (Las Cruces, N.M./Onate) led all Tartan rushers with a 68 yards on 19 carries.  Sophomore running back Troy Witt (Cranberry Twp., Pa./Seneca Valley) finished the contest with 51 yards.

Kalkstein ended the game 14-of-24 for 182 yards.  His 14 completions moved him into first on the school's all-time completion chart with 383 for his career.  The senior currently has passed for 5,192 career yards ranking second all-time and needs 186 more to become the all-time leader.

Defensively, senior defensive lineman Ryan Jok (Novi, Mich.) led the Tartans with a career-high 12 tackles while senior inside linebacker Eric Rolfes (Cincinnati, Ohio/Madeira) tallied 10 in the setback.

The Tartans will conclude the regular season, as they play host to Case Western Reserve University Saturday, November 12 on the turf of Gesling Stadium.  Kick is slated for 6:00 p.m.