CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky. – The Westminster College football team defeated Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) foe Thomas More College, 24-21, in thrilling fashion in overtime. The win marked the first time the Titans have defeated the Saints since 2004.
Westminster improved its record to 3-1 (2-0 PAC) on the year, while Thomas more dropped to 1-4 (0-3).
The Titans found the end zone on their first possession of the game off a one-yard touchdown run from senior
Kimu Kim (Canfield, OH / Canfield). The drive lasted 8:05 and consisted of 15 plays and an extra point by freshman John Cybak (Massillon, OH / Tuslaw) made the game 7-0 for the rest of the quarter.
Thomas More's quarterback Darryl Keels found teammate Brenan Kuntz in the air for an eight-yard touchdown pass with 5:44 left in the first half. Westminster answered right back with a seven-yard touchdown run by senior quarterback
Paul Columbo (Boca Raton, FL / West Boca Raton), making it a 14-7 lead for the Titans after Cybak's made the point after attempt.
Thomas More tied the game late in the third quarter off of running back Luke Zejac's 10-yard touchdown run. The Saints landed themselves into field goal range early in the fourth quarter, but Titan senior defensive tackle
Tyler Beatrice (Monaca, PA / Central Valley) blocked the attempted kick and Titan junior cornerback
Marvin Liberiste (Naples, FL / Lely) recovered the ball at the Westminster 42-yard line with 8:26 left in regulation.
Westminster's eight play, 62-yard drive was fueled by senior running back
Jametrius Bentley (Lake Worth, FL / Park Vista Community) who ran a 23-yard reverse to the Thomas More 20-yard line. Columbo added another rushing touchdown to his day with a seven-yard score and Cybak converted on the extra point to give the Titans a 21-14 lead with 4:30 left in the game.
Thomas More's Hjavier Pitts scored from three yards out and Saints kicker Cole Mathias converted the point after to tie the game up, 21-21, with 1:27 left in the 4
th quarter. The Titans used Columbo's legs, including a 36-yard-3
rd-down run to get into Saints' territory. Cybak missed the potential game winning 39-yard field goal as time expired, putting the game into overtime.
Westminster won the toss and deferred, bringing out the defense that held the Saints to just 76 yards passing. On first and ten at the Titan 14-yard line, Westminster senior cornerback
Todd Jeter (Monroeville, PA / Gateway) forced and recovered a fumble off the hands of Saint running back Hjavier Pitts. After three plays and six-yards, Titan kicker John Cybak kicked the 33-yard field goal to win the game for Westminster.
Titan junior
Miguel Luis (Hollywood, FL / Mater Academy) finished the game with 13 total tackles, including five solo. Senior linebacker
CJ Armstrong (Lake Worth, FL / Park Vista) tallied three tackles for loss and totaled nine tackles on the game. He also forced a fumble. Jeter finished with eight tackles (five solo) and sophomore
Paul Gonzalez (Miami, FL / Florida Christian) recorded six solo tackles and finished with seven total tackles for the afternoon.
On the ground, the Titans and Thomas More mirrored each other with 262 yards each. Columbo hit the century mark, rushing for 100 yards on 19 attempts. Senior
Dominique McKinley (Greensburg, PA / Greensburg-Salem) ran for 99 yards on 14 attempts. McKinley is now fifth all-time in school history with 2,924 career rushing yards. and Bentley totaled 35 yards off of four carries. Columbo went 9-15 for 77 yards in the air for Westminster.
Thomas More had 338 total yards compared to Westminster's 335, but the Titans averaged 5.5 yards per play and had three sacks for a total of 14 yards lost. Thomas More averaged 5.2 yards per play and had one sack on the day.
The Titans are back on the field Saturday, October 7 at Saint Vincent College. Kick-off is set for 1 p.m.
