NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. – Scott Benzel has taken his Titans to a pair of Presidents' Athletic Conference championships. But Saturday's 14-13 Westminster College win over Case Western Reserve University was Benzel's best, he said.
"I think it's number one," Benzel said from the Harold Burry Stadium/Memorial Field turf. "I'll tell you what, though, the 'Ghosts of Harold Burry' were out, 'cause with that wind, it was a huge help for us. … I'm ecstatic for the guys."
With Westminster leading 14-13, Joseph Rhodes' 47-yard field goal attempt sailed wide with 33.1 ticks to play.
" … Wide somewhere. I don't even know if I looked, to be perfectly honest with you," a smiling Benzel admitted.
Case Western Reserve (5-2 PAC, 6-3 overall) came into the contest featuring a prolific offense led by the PAC passing leader Drew Saxton. But after a 10-for-20, 87-yard passing performance that included a Pick-Six by Westminster's Corte Williams, Saxton sat out the second half.
Westminster (5-2, 6-3) – working with its third starting quarterback this season – went for only 122 total yards of offense and 5 first downs, but Benzel emphasized,
"It was all heart, all guts. … I think that was the difference. That was a senior-laden effort. They care. They've won a lot of games here. They have a lot of pride. They could've easily folded up, but those seniors really care."
Sophomore southpaw Billy Levak (Macedonia, Ohio/Nordonia High) was subbing for first-year standout Tyler McGowan, who had won his first three collegiate starts before tearing an elbow ligament in practice. McGowan (Coraopolis, Pa./Moon Area High) replaced senior Cole Konieczka (Coraopolis, Pa./Moon Area High), who sustained a broken ankle at midseason.
Both, Benzel noted, "were out there, cheering the guys on ...
"Of all the games that we've been involved in, that one was special because of the things we were dealt," Benzel admitted. "You've got forty-eight hours to try and figure out how to run an offense with a guy – he's a good player and he'll be good – but that's a hard defense to compete against. But we figured it out."
Defensively, the Titans have been at or near the top of the PAC in every meaningful category.
Westminster limited CWRU to 249 total yards on 75 snaps. Only Antonio Orsini – with a game-high 87 yards rushing on 18 carries and Gage Duesler (9 for 46) – did damage.
"We want the game on our shoulders. It's all about us. We're making sure we're the team out there, making plays. … Anytime they want to put the game on us, we're willing to do it," said senior Tyree Reeder (Youngstown, Ohio/Ursuline High).
"Most of the time it's not about us seniors, but the younger guys seeing us fighting through adversity. But with everything we've been through these four years, to pull something off like this, a one-point win, we stay hungry, and we get after it," Reeder added.
Some Titans' trickeration resulted in the game's first TD. Westminster was working out of a Wildcat formation with senior Ryan Gomes (Tampa, Fla./Walter L. Sickles High) orchestrating the offense.
But Brayden Thimons swept right end and out-ran the Spartans' secondary 13 yards to the pylon with a minute remaining in the 1st frame, erasing a 3-0 deficit. Thimons traded his usual number 7 for number 93, and the former scholastic quarterback showed his speed.
Just 8 seconds into the 2nd stanza, Williams (Sharon, Pa./Sharon High) pilfered Saxton's pass, returning it 32 yards, and Ben Pugh's (Canfield, Ohio/Canfield High) second PAT extended Westminter's lead to 14-3 by the break.
"Corte is starting to become a big-time player for us. He's starting to believe in himself and I was really happy for him," Benzel said in praise of his junior cornerback, later adding, "How fitting that we had an opportunity to score on defense, because those guys have been carrying us all year."
Rhodes' 25-yard field goal with 8:27 accounted for the lone Spartans' 1st-half score.
With Ian Kipp subbing for Saxton, the Spartans scored on his 1-yard plunge with 9:15 remaining in the 3rd period. Then Rhodes' 26-yard field goal with 3:44 in the 4th frame drew CWRU within 14-13.
Kipp connected on half of his 16 pass attempts for 42 yards. But he was sacked by Reeder for a 12-yard loss. Saxton twice was sacked by Brayden Thimons – the latter was recovered by sophomore tackle Carter Chinn (Grove City, Pa./Grove City High).
Westminster went for only 58 first-half offensive yards. Levak completed 3 of 8 pass attempts, including an interception by CWRU's Nate Chikalo.
Levak ended 6 of 14 for 31 yards passing, Gomes gained 56 yards on 22 totes, and sophomore Evan Lewis (Pittsburgh/Elizabeth Forward High) lent 18 yards rushing.
Sitting 2-3 at midseason including back-to-back setbacks to nationally-ranked Carnegie Mellon University (which visits CWRU next week) and Washington & Jefferson College, Westminster has won 4 consecutive contests, all the while relishing the role of underdog.
"Don't think that I didn't use that as a motivator," Benzel related. "I told our guys, 'Nobody expected us to reel off four or five in-a-row, but that's how we're gonna go out because that's who you are, and that's gonna be our calling card. That's our signature moment this year – to just keep fighting."
Serving as spokesman for his senior classmates and his other Titans' teammates, a smiling Reeder said, "We're always alive, you can never count a Titan out. We're gonna fight to the end, and I'm just thankful for this team and the guys we have, and their willingness to fight for us.
"This is just beautiful."
