NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (Nov. 13) – The Saint Vincent football team closed its 2021 road schedule with a 41-6 loss at Presidents' Athletic Conference co-leader Westminster College.
Hampered by a number of injuries, the Bearcats (4-5, 3-5 PAC) committed five turnovers and were held to just 240 of total offense by a stout Westminster (7-2, 6-1 PAC) defense.
The Bearcats opened the game in fine fashion, as
Cam Norris recovered a Westminster fumble on the opening kickoff on the Titans' 14 yardline. However, SVC was unable to cash in on the field position, turning the ball over just two plays later on a fumble near the goal line.
Westminster scored the game's first points midway through the opening quarter on a 49-yard touchdown pass from Cole Konieczka to Tylon Elon to make it 7-0 with 8:50 left in the quarter.
Saint Vincent committed its second turnover of the quarter with another fumble with 3:53 left, and the Titans responded by embarking on a 6-play, 47-yard drive that capped off with a 1-yard rushing touchdown by Nicholas Treloar with 44 seconds remaining in the quarter.
The Bearcat defense turned the Titans over four times in the second quarter.
Jack Poling earned his second interception of the season with 11:22 left until the break,
Jermel Ward recovered a fumble at the 8:51 mark and
Ahmad Shaw intercepted a pass with 6:30 remaining. However, the SVC offense was unable to turn the first three miscues into points, and Westminster upped its lead to 21-0 on a 27-yard run by Vincent Giles with 1:50 let in the half.
With 30 seconds remaining, Westminster set up to punt at its own 34-yard line. The snap was misplayed by the punter, and the Bearcats made their second fumble recovery of the half. This time, SVC was able to find the scoreboard, with
Billy Beck bursting through the middle from 13 yards out to cut the deficit to 21-6 at the intermission.
The Titans wasted little time in the second half to add onto the lead, as Brayden Thimons stepped in front of a Gleason pass on the sideline and returned it 27 yards for the pick-six, making the score 27-6.
On the Bearcats' next drive, Gleason began with a pair of passes to
Phil Harding, covering 22 yards and advancing the ball into Westminster territory. A 9-yard rush by
Julian Howard and a 3-yard run from Beck on third-and-one set up first-and-goal for SVC at the Westminster 7. However, the Titans would abruptly end the SVC scoring chance with an interception in the end zone with just under 7 minutes left in the quarter.
The Titans would again make SVC pay, with Thimons hauling in a 9-yard touchdown pass from Konieczka to make it 34-6 heading into the final minute of the third.
The Bearcat offense was unable to cut into the deficit, while the Titans added a final score on their first trip of the fourth quarter to close out the day's scoring.
Gleason completed 11 of 23 passes for 101 yards in relief of Walker, who went 4-for-8 through the air for 24 yards.
Austin Slye completed all three of his pass attempts for 45 yards in the fourth quarter.
Beck led SVC's ground game, rushing for 53 yards on 13 carries, while Howard gained 34 yards on 13 totes. In the penultimate game of his career, Harding was SVC's top receiver, making five catches for 77 yards.
Defensively, Norris and
Kevin Childress each made 10 tackles, with Norris making 1.5 stops behind the line of scrimmage.
Kyle Coombe added 7 tackles, including 0.5 TFLs, while
Desonio Powell had 1.5 TFLs, including a sack.
Konieczka went 10-for-22 through the air for 145 yards, with two touchdowns and two interceptions, while Ryan Gomes ran for a game-high 123 yards on 19 tries, with one touchdown.
The Bearcats will now prepare for their season finale, as they face Bethany College on Saturday, Nov. 13, at Chuck Noll Field beginning at 1 p.m. The team's 13 seniors will be recognized prior to kickoff.
