PHOTO GALLERYThe Saint Vincent Bearcats fought hard against the 12th-ranked Thomas More Saints, giving up two fourth-quarter touchdowns to fall by a score of 42-28 at Chuck Noll Field.
DJ Oceant-Kelly started things rolling for the Bearcats on the opening kickoff, returning it 31 yards to the Bearcat 40. Â With the ball near midfield, quarterback
Tyler Donahue picked up 19 yards on a run to take it to the Saints' 30, then connected with
Dalton Dietrich on a scoring pass on the next play, putting the Bearcats in front. Â
Steven Scherer's extra point made it 7-0 with 11:51 remaining in the first quarter.
After the defense held Thomas More to a net of -5 yards on their first possession, a punt gave the Bearcats the ball on their own 32. Â Donahue completed a pass to
Damon Black to move the ball to midfield, and two plays later it was
Shavonta Craft picking up 17 on a run, putting the ball at the TMC 30. Â Craft was given the ball on the next play as well, taking it the rest of the way for a touchdown, making it 14-0 at the 8:28 mark.
Later in the first, the Saints got on the board, putting together a 7-play, 80-yard drive that was capped by a CT Tarrant 5-yard scoring run, making it 14-7. Â
Early in the second quarter, after an SVC punt, Thomas More took only three plays to tie the game, as Jensen Gebhardt threw to Goose Cohorn for a 58-yard scoring strike that tied the game.
The Bearcats stormed right back, as Donahue called his own number, taking off untouched on an 88-yard quarterback draw that put the Bearcats back in front. Â Scherer's PAT made it 21-15 at the 11:53 mark of the second quarter.
Later in the quarter, Thomas More's Trey Wells intercepted a Donahue pass at the Bearcat 43, and Gebhardt hit Tyler Vogelpohl for a touchdown pass on the first play of the drive, tying it at 21-21.
After a Bearcat punt, the Saints took their first lead of the day at the 6:12 mark, as Gebhardt hit Cohorn for a 37-yard completion to the 2-yard line, and Tarrant carried it into the end zone on the next play to make it 28-21, and the game remained that way into the halftime break.
On Thomas More's first possession of the third quarter, Gebhardt's pass over the middle was intercepted by
Renny LaRue-Holloman at the 45, and he picked up blockers and took it to the end zone. Â Scherer's PAT tied the game at 28-28, and neither team was able to score the rest of the third quarter.
Early in the fourth, the Bearcats were stopped for a 13-yard loss on a 4th-and-4 play, giving Thomas More the ball at their own 47. Â The Saints scored 4 plays later on a Brendan Kuntz to Colin Justice 9-yard pass to take a 35-28 lead.
Later in the quarter, the Saints were forced to punt from their own 35, and Kyle Fuller's punt bounced and rolled 64 yards, inside the SVC 1-yard line. Â Two plays later, Donahue was again intercepted by Wells, who returned it 9 yards into the end zone for the touchdown with 3:33 remaining, ending the scoring action on the day.
Offensively, Saint Vincent was led on the ground by Donahue, who carried the ball 23 times for 158 yards. Â Craft had 11 rushes for 79 yards, while
Jhanard Dorsett had three carries for 37.
Donahue was 7-18 through the air for 54 yards. Â
Ariel Martinez and Craft had two catches each.
Tarrant had 27 carries for the Saints, good for 141 yards, while Gebhardt was 14-29 through the air for 235 yards. Â Cohorn caught 8 passes for 132 yards, while Vogelpohl had 4 catches for 113.
Defensively, Holloman and
Devin Anderson each had 8 tackles for the Bearcats, and each had an interception. Â
Dwayne Brown also had an interception. Â Both Anderson and Brown intercepted passes in the end zone.
Erick Butler had 8 tackles for the Saints.
Thomas More is now 7-0 overall, 5-0 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. Â Saint Vincent is 3-3 overall, 2-2 in the PAC. Â
The Bearcats return to action at Carnegie Mellon University next Saturday, October 24 at 1PM.
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