NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Westminster College football team lost its first game of the season after its 45-35 loss to the No. 16 Thomas More College at home Saturday afternoon.

The Titans dropped to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC), while the Saints improved to 4-1 overall and 3-0 in the conference.
 
Titan junior Dominique McKinley (Greensburg, PA / Greensburg-Salem) ran for a game-high 102 yards on 12 carries, including a career-long 64-yard touchdown. He also had a 15-yard score.
 
Junior Paul Columbo (Boca Raton, FL / West Boca Raton Community) finished the game 14 of 36 for 162 yards, with one touchdown and an interception. He passed Shawn Lehocky (2008-2011) for sixth all-time in school history with 4,046 career passing yards. Columbo added 92 rushing yards on 16 carries and a score.
 
Titan senior Mac Quinn (Pittsburgh, PA / Northgate) led the defense with a season- and game-high 14 tackles and a fumble recovery. Classmate Gator Phillips (Deland, FL / Deland) added a season-high 11 tackles and a forced fumble, while senior Bobby Noble (Greensburgh, PA / Greensburg Central Catholic) earned eight tackles, two tackles for a loss, and a sack.
 
Westminster senior kicker Justin Dahl (Cochranton, PA / Maplewood) went a perfect 3-for-3, including a career-long 46 yarder.
 
For the game, Thomas More out-gained Westminster 506 (279 rushing, 227 passing) to 358 (196 rushing, 162 passing).
 
Westminster wasted no time getting on the board with a touchdown on its first drive, after Columbo scored from 10-yards out, capping off a 9-play, 80-yard drive. The two-point try was unsuccessful and the Titans led, 6-0 with 11:27 on the clock.
 
Thomas More responded on its first possession of the game with a 16-play, 69-yard drive, capped off with a six-yard touchdown run by CT Tarrant. After an extra point by Cole Mathias, the Saints led 7-6 with 5:16 on the clock.
 
In the second quarter, the Saints took advantage of a Titan penalty (running into the kicker) on 4^th-and-five from their own 48-yard line and took the lead four plays later with a 35-yard touchdown pass from Brenan Kuntz to Daylin Garland. Thomas More led 14-6 after an extra point by Mathias with 14:17 on the clock.
 
Westminster stopped Thomas More on 4th-and-two on its next possession and took over on its own 36-yard line. Two plays later, McKinley scored with a 64-yard touchdown run to cut the Saints' lead to 14-12 with 11:48 remaining in the second. The Titans were unable to convert on the two-point attempt.
 
The Saints added two more scores (21-yard touchdown catch by Hjavier Pitts and a 2-yard run by Tarrant) and led 28-12 with 2:54 remaining in the half.
 
Dahl cut the Saints' lead to 28-15 with a career-long 46-yard field goal as time expired in the half, capping off an 8-play, 43-yard drive.
 
McKinley added his second score of the game from 15-yards out in Westminster's first drive of the second half, capping off a 5-play, 37-yard drive. A Dahl extra point cut Thomas More's lead to 28-21. The drive had started at Thomas More's 37-yard line after junior Tyler Beatrice (Monaca, PA / Central Valley) forced a Thomas More fumble and Quinn recovered it at the Saints' 37-yard line.
 
Both teams traded field goals and Thomas More led 31-25 with 3:56 remaining in the third quarter.
 
In the fourth quarter, Garland grabbed his second touchdown of the game, this time from 34 yards out, and after an extra point by Mathias, Thomas More led 38-25 with 14:21 remaining.
 
Dahl made his third field goal of the game after a 27-yarder with 8:01 remaining, bringing the score to 38-28.
 
Later in the quarter, Thomas More's Hjavier Pitts ran it in from 20 yards out and the Saints led 45-28 following a Mathias extra point with 3:49 on the clock.
 
Columbo found junior Jametrius Bentley (Lake Worth, FL / Park Vista Community) for an 11-yard touchdown, cutting Thomas More's lead to 45-34. A Dahl extra point, brought the score to 45-35 with 2:03 remaining.
 
Westminster had the ball with 1:09 remaining, but a Thomas More interception at the Saints' nine-yard line sealed the Saints win.
                                               
The Titans will next host Saint Vincent College for its Homecoming game on Saturday, October 8 at 1 p.m.