FRANKLIN, Mass. – The message was repeated throughout the week to the Gallaudet University football team to not look past Dean College. The Bison did not want to stub their toe against the winless Bulldogs. Dean demonstrated Saturday that it had some bite against GU in this Eastern Collegiate Football Conference game.

Gallaudet leaned on its defense and special teams' units to step up and keep the Bison from falling into a trap. In the end, GU escaped with a 23-6 victory over Dean before a homecoming crowd of 850.

The Bison defense held Bulldogs to just 92 yards of offense (53 rushing) and created four turnovers with three interceptions and one fumble recovery. GU's special teams surprised Dean with an on-side kick to begin the game and later blocked a punt in the end zone for a safety.

Gallaudet (4-3, 2-0 ECFC) scored on drives of 44, 23 and 19 yards as the Bison started many of their drives in Dean territory.

The Bison finished the game with 190 yards on the ground led by first year Zion Ortiz (Frederick, Md.) who ran the ball six times for 63 yards. Ortiz scored on an 18-yard touchdown in the second quarter to send GU into the half up 15-0.

Senior superback Dre'Vaughn Mackall (Prince Frederick, Md.) scored an early touchdown as he bounced off a defender and into the end zone from six yards out just three minutes into the game. Mackall finished with 47 net yards on 14 carries.

It was an uneventful third quarter until the closing minute when Dean (0-7, 0-2 ECFC) forced the Bison to punt. Junior defensive back/punter Andrae' Green (Washington, D.C.) was set to punt but dropped the snap and rolled out to kick the ball on the run. Green barely got his foot on the ball as it only went a few yards on the ground where Dean defensive lineman Christian Donalson scooped up the ball and ran it back 23 yards for the touchdown.

Green got his revenge on the next Dean drive in the fourth quarter when he picked off quarterback Nick Levine and returned it 21 yards to the Dean 19.

GU started the drive in the red zone and only needed five plays to put the game away. Senior quarterback Brandon Washington (Citronelle, Ala.) dove over the top of the line at the 11:11 mark to put the Bison up 21-6. Mackall ran in the two-point conversion as Gallaudet went up 17 points.

BISON TRACKS

• Gallaudet is 5-2 all-time against Dean since 2017
• The Bison have won four straight games over the Bulldogs
• GU is 2-1 at the Longley Athletic Complex

UP NEXT
Gallaudet controls its own destiny as it travels to Alfred, N.Y., next Saturday, Nov. 2, to face the Pioneers of Alfred State College (3-5, 1-1 ECFC) with the top-seed in the ECFC championship game on the line.

The Pioneers lost, 35-23, on the road to Anna Maria College in the other ECFC game this weekend.