PHOTO GALLERYThe Bearcats dropped a physical contest to Westminster by a score of 39-14 on the road in New Wilmington.
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SVC fell behind 39-0 in the fourth quarter before adding a pair of late scores, as
Evan Shimensky threw touchdown passes to
Ryan Crawford and Dustin Lowman.Â
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The Bearcat defense set up the offense early in the first quarter, as a sack by
Renny LaRue-Holloman caused a fumble by the Westminster quarterback, Shamon Walker.Â
Cody Henry recovered at the Westminster 31. Eight plays later, SVC appeared to take the lead when
Steven Scherer hit a 27-yard field goal, but the points were taken off the scoreboard by a holding penalty. Scherer's second attempt, from 37 yards, was blocked.
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On the ensuing possession, the defense came up with another turnover, this time from
Devin Anderson, who intercepted a Walker pass at the Bearcat 39. However neither team was able to push the ball into the end zone in the first quarter.
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Early in the second quarter, the Titans wrapped up a 16-play, 87-yard drive, capped by a Paul Columbo pass to Ryan Kohler from 5 yards out. A successful 2-point conversion made the score 8-0.  The Bearcats were forced to punt on their next three possessions of the half, and the teams went into the locker room with the score 8-0.
Westminster got off to a quick start in the third, as Columbo took off for a 66-yard scoring run that made it 15-0, eventually scoring TDs on three straight possessions to make it 29-0. Â
After an early fourth quarter field goal made it 32-0, a blocked punt in the end zone made the score 39-0 before Shimensky got the offense back on track. Â
Shimensky completed four passes to
Dalton Dietrich on a fourth quarter drive, setting up Crawford's catch in the end zone from 4 yards out. Â After the kickoff, Westminster fumbled and
Noah Emerick recovered, leading to Shimensky's TD pass to Lowman from 3 yards out on a fourth down play.
For the day, Westminster's defense held the Bearcats in check, as SVC had just 18 total yards until the midway point of the fourth quarter. Â SVC ended up with 115 yards while the Titans tallied 401. Â The most notable stat, however, was the penalty total. Â The final stats showed a total of 24 penalties, 13 for SVC (129 yards) and 11 for Westminster (122 yards). Â
Offensively,
Tyler Donahue had 11 yards rushing, which was tops for Saint Vincent, as the team finished with just 8 net yards rushing on the day. Â Shimensky was 12-for-17 passing for 83 yards, while Donahue was 3-11. Â Dietrich had 5 catches for 48 yards, with Crawford catching 4 for 24.
Defensively, Anderson had 12 tackles and an interception, while LaRue-Holloman had 7 tackles, including a sack.
Saint Vincent is now 3-5 overall, 2-4 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. Â Westminster improves to 6-2, 5-1 in the conference. Â SVC returns home for its next game, facing Geneva at 1PM on Saturday, November 7 at Chuck Noll Field. Â