Sea Gulls Soar to Legacy Bowl Triumph over Carnegie Mellon
BOX SCORE
PHILADELPHIA — Salisbury’s Connor Canonico was named MVP of the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) Legacy Bowl and the Sea Gulls pulled away with a 52-20 win over Carnegie Mellon on Sunday afternoon at Franklin Field.
Canonico rushed for 203 yards and one score. Quarterback Brandon Lewis ran for 127 yards with three touchdowns and threw a one-yard pass into the end zone.
Both sides scored early in the first quarter with Carnegie Mellon’s Sam Benger rushing in from seven-yards away. A minute later, it was Lewis that tied the score on a 49-yard run.
In the second quarter, the Sea Gulls scored 17 unanswered points to take a 25-7 lead at the half. Aaron Moore scored from 24-yards away followed the one-yard pass from Lewis to Ryan Kolb. With 15 second left, Alex Potocko nailed 23-yard field goal.
Lewis scored twice in the third quarter to increase Salisbury’s lead to 37-7. Carnegie Mellon added a score on a short run by Benger to cut the deficit to 24 (38-14).
Salisbury continued its offensive dominance with touchdowns by Aaron Moore and Canonico and led 52-14 with 9:55 remaining. Benger finished the game with his third touchdown at 6:13 on an 18-yard run.
Tartan’s quarterback Alex Cline tossed for 218 yards.
Salisbury improves to 6-2 all-time in ECAC Bowl appearances, while Carnegie Melon moves to 3-2 in ECAC Bowl contests.
ABOUT #ECACD3FBFEST
Now in its second year, ECAC Division III Football Fest (#ECACD3FBFEST) is a one-of-a-kind event in college athletics.
The ECAC moved the Division III football bowl games to a neutral site in 2015 in an effort to enhance the postseason experience offered to itsr student-athletes, and in that regard, last year's event was a resounding success. The ECAC is excited to partner with Penn Athletics to bring this year's DIII Football Fest to historic Franklin Field, and look forward to creating the memorable championship experience our student-athletes deserve.
Following the success of last year's event, the 2016 #ECACD3FBFEST sees the ECAC team up with multiple corporate partners to serve as "Presenting Sponsors."
The presenting sponsors for the 2016 #ECACD3FBFEST are: Best Western, the official hospitality partner of the ECAC; N&D Sports, the official merchandise provider of #ECACD3FBFEST; Academy Bus, the official travel partner of the ECAC; GuardLab; TeeVee Media & Production; and Dual Fuel.
For all live updates follow the ECAC on Twitter @ECACsports. Heading to Philly? Be sure to tag us in your Instagram photos @ECACsports #ECACD3FBFEST.
Check out the official event page at
ECACsports.com/d3fbfest for the latest news and results.