NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – The Westminster College football team lost, 26-22, to No. 24 Case Western Reserve University in Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) action at home on Senior Day Saturday afternoon.
Case Western (9-0, 7-0 PAC) scored 23 unanswered points and out-scored the Titans 26-7 in the second half, after being down 15-0 at halftime.
Westminster (6-3, 4-3 PAC) was driving for the go-ahead score with 39 seconds remaining in the game, but a Titan fumble at the Spartans' 2-yard line sealed the win for Case Western.
The Spartans out-gained the Titans 359 yards (102 rushing, 257 passing) to 330 (268 rushing, 62 passing).
Titan junior
Dominique McKinley (Greensburg, PA / Greensburg-Salem) rushed for a game- and season-high 133 yards. Freshman
Bryce Hill (Boynton Beach, FL / Boca Raton Community) added a career-high 74 rushing yards and a score, while sophomore
Bill Madeja (Pittsburgh, PA / Brentwood) also registered a rushing touchdown.
Westminster junior
CJ Armstrong (Lake Worth, FL / Park Vista) had an interception return for a touchdown, to go along with a game-high two tackles for a loss, a sack, a fumble recovery, and five tackles. Senior
Mac Quinn (Pittsburgh, PA / Northgate) tied a season high with a game-high 14 tackles, including a sack. Junior
Tyler Beatrice (Monaca, PA / Central Valley) and senior
Bobby Noble (Greensburgh, PA / Greensburg Central Catholic) added eight and seven tackles, respectively.
The Titans took a 2-0 lead on a safety after a bad Case Western snap in to the back of the end zone on 4
th-and 24 with 8:20 on the clock. On the first play of the Spartans' ensuing drive, Armstrong picked off Case Western's Rob Cuda's pass at the Spartans' 12-yard line and returned it for a score. An extra point by senior
Justin Dahl (Cochranton, PA / Maplewood) extended the Titans' lead 9-0.
Case Western was driving midway in the second quarter, however junior Titan
Todd Jeter (Monroeville, PA / Gateway) picked off Cuda's pass on 4
th-and-3 at Westminster's 16-yard line and returned it 21 yards to the Titans' 37. Three plays later, Hill scored on a 45-yard touchdown run, his second score on the season. The Titans' two-point attempt was unsuccessful.
The Spartans scored on their first drive of the second half with a 26-yard field goal by Ben Carniol, capping off a 13-play, 56-yard drive, and cut Westminster's lead to 15-3 with 10:21 remaining in the third. Westminster responded on its ensuing drive with a 12-play, 73-yard drive, capped off with a 1-yard rushing score by sophomore
Bill Madeja (Pittsburgh, PA / Brentwood), his fifth on the year. After Dahl's extra point, Westminster led 21-3 with 3:22 remaining in the third. On Case Western's ensuing drive, the Spartans scored their first touchdown of the game after Rob Cuda found Justin Phan for a 24-yard touchdown pass. Cuda connected with Joey Spitalli for a two-point conversion and brought Westminster's lead to 22-11 with 1:50 remaining in the third.
Case Western reduced Westminster's lead to 22-19 with 9:44 remaining in the fourth quarter, after Cuda found Brendan Lynch for a 15-yard touchdown and Cuda ran it in for the two-point conversion. The Spartans' took their first lead of the game on their next possession, after Jacob Burke scored on a 1-yard run on fourth-and-goal at the Titans' 1-yard line, capping off an 8-play 70-yard drive with 4:25 remaining. Ben Carniol's extra point was good and the Spartans' led 26-22.
Westminster will close out the regular season on Saturday, November 12 with a road game at Geneva College. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
