Tartans Top Brockport 37-7 to Win ECAC Asa S. Bushnell Bowl

(PITTSBURGH, Pa.) – The Carnegie Mellon University football team hosted Brockport in the 2023 Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Asa S. Bushnell Bowl on Saturday and defeated the Golden Eagles 37-7. Senior quarterback Ben Mills was named MVP of the Asa S. Bushnell Bowl after throwing for a season-high 291 yards on 25-of-39 and two touchdowns.

Game Information
Carnegie Mellon 37, Brockport 7
Records: Carnegie Mellon (10-1), Brockport (8-3)
Location: Pittsburgh, Pa. (Gesling Stadium)

How it Happened

• The scoring started six minutes into the contest when sophomore Joey McGinnis IV capped off an 11-play, 73-yard drive with a 1-yard touchdown run.
• After holding Brockport to a three-and-out, Carnegie Mellon's Robert Coury blocked a punt to set the Tartans up on the Golden Eagles' 24-yard line. Two plays later, McGinnis scored his second 1-yard touchdown of the game making the score 14-0 with 7:39 on the clock in the first quarter.
• The home team's lead was extended to 17-0 when sophomore Justin Caputo drained a 35-yard field goal early in the second quarter.
• On the ensuing kickoff, senior Thomas Coury forced a fumble and freshman teammate Ethan Ming recovered on the Brockport 25-yard line. Mills then found junior Dominic Voiland on an 11-yard touchdown strike to make the score 24-0 at the nine-minute mark of the second quarter.
• Caputo then added two field goals, 29 yards and 39 yards, before the end of the half to push the score to 30-0 at the break.
• On the Tartans' first possession of the second half, Mills marched the Cardinal and Gray 81 yards on 12 plays and capped it off with a 14-yard touchdown to senior Brian Stacy.
• Brockport's lone score came in the closing seconds of the third quarter when Isaiah Simmons scampered 16 yards for the touchdown which closed the scoring at 37-7.

Stats

• Carnegie Mellon totaled 401 yards of offense with Brockport totaling 250.
• Senior Ethan Reifer led the Tartan receivers with eight catches for a career-high 137 yards.
• Tre Vasiliadis ended the game with 67 yards on the ground on 18 carries.
• Defensively, Carnegie Mellon was led by Thomas Coury with a season-high 11 tackles, five solo. He also finished with a forced fumble, fumble recovery and a half sack.
• Sophomore Leighton Tarke finished the game with a career-high nine tackles.
• Brockport was led in offense by Simmons who finished with 81 yards on 20 carries and a score.

Game Notes

• This was the first-ever meeting between the two institutions.
• Carnegie Mellon has an ECAC Bowl record of 4-4.
• The 10 wins mark the fifth time in program history that a team has recorded double-digit wins. In 1979 and 1990 the Tartans were 10-1, In 2006 and 2022 they went 11-1.
• Carnegie Mellon has now won 18 straight games at home dating back to the spring season of 2021.
• The Tartans have now won 21 straight games when winning the turnover battle.
• The Tartans have won 20 straight games when holding their opponent to under 300 yards of total offense.
• Mills moved into fourth in program history in career passing yards and now has 5,264 for his career.
• Vasiliadis ranks fifth in program history in career rushing yards with 2,650.

Thoughts From Head Coach Ryan Larsen

"I couldn't be prouder of our program! Back-to-back years with 10 or more wins is extremely hard to do, and our win today against a really good Brockport team was the byproduct of all of the work we have done! We are going to greatly miss the seniors, but couldn't be happier that we sent them out the right way!"