McGovern Throws For 312 Yards In Collegiate Debut, Brown Falls to Cal Poly, 44-15

Friday, September 14

San Luis Obispo, Calif.

7:00 pm PDT

Brown University

Cal Poly

Scott Boylan '20 scoring on a 26-yard run. photo by Nathan Nybakke

McGovern Throws For 312 Yards In Collegiate Debut, Brown Falls to Cal Poly, 44-15

9/15/2018 2:07:00 AM | Football

Box Score

San Luis Obispo, CA - Playing west of the Mississippi for the first time in over 100 years, Brown trailed at the half by nine points before falling to the run-oriented Mustangs, 44-15, Friday evening at Alex G. Spanos Stadium. The last time Brown played in California was the 1916 Rose Bowl Game against Washington in Pasadena.

Making his collegiate debut at quarterback, Bears' sophomore Michael McGovern (St. Louis, MO) threw for 249 of his 312 yards in the opening 30 minutes  Overall, McGovern completed 25-of-51 passes.

Brown's offense accounted for 420 total yards, but the triple-option Mustangs gained 420 yards of their 499 total yards on the ground, led by Joe Protheroe, who rushed for a career high 228 yards and three touchdowns.

McGovern targeted senior tight end Anton Casey (Bethesda, MD), who made six catches for 61 yards, while junior Jaelon Blandburg (Orange County, CA) had five catches for 45 yards. Junior Jakob Prall (Tipp City, OH) and sophomore Scott Boylan (Bakersfield, CA) made four catches each, with Boylan scoring Brown's lone touchdown on a 26-yard run.

Bears' freshman kicker Dylan Brady (Rancho Santa Margarita) connected on all three of his field goal attempts on boots of 29, 23 and 30 yards. Brady's three field goal conversions eclipsed the total number of two field goals the Bears kicked all of last season.

Leading the Bears' defense was junior defensive end Michael Hoecht (Oakwood, OH) and senior linebacker Daniel Aidman (Austin, TX), who each had a game high 14 tackles. Sophomore defensive back Chima Amushie (Richmond, TX) senior tackle Zach Genaway (Medford, NY) and sophomore linebacker Kingsley Ejiougu-Dike (Brockton, MA) made nine tackles each.

The Mustangs opened the scoring with a field goal of 29 yards by Alex Vega for a 3-0 lead with 6:06 left in the first quarter.

Without a first down in the opening nine minutes, Brown's offense got on track.

The Bears tied the game, 3-3, when Brady connected on his first career field goal, converting a 29 yard boot with 11:48 left in the second quarter.

Cal Poly didn't wait long to take the lead when Broc Mortensen returned the ensuing kickoff 99 yards for a touchdown to lift the Mustangs to a 10-3 advantage.

Brown came right back with a 23 yard field goal by Brady to trail, 10-6, with 10:05 left in the half. A 43 yard pass play from McGovern to Prall set up the field goal.

After Cal Polly pulled ahead by a 17-6 margin, Brown marched down the field and pulled to within 17-12 on a 26-yard touchdown run by Boylan, capping a 75-yard, five play drive with 6:11 remaining in the half.

Brady booted his third field goal of the game, this time from 30 yards with 3:06 left in the half to trail, 17-15.

A five yard touchdown run by Cal Poly's  Protheroe lifted the Mustangs to a 24-15 lead at intermission.

Consecutive touchdown runs by Protheroe on Cal Poly's first two possessions of the second half, lifted the Mustangs to a 37-15 advantage. Cal Poly scored with just 16 seconds left for the final margin.

Brown returns home to open its Ivy League schedule next Friday evening, September 21, hosting Harvard under the lights at Brown Stadium.  Kick-off is 7:00 pm in a game televised nationally on ESPNU.