LATROBE, Pa. (Sept. 10) – Saint Vincent was unable to recover from a hot start by Washington & Jefferson, falling 52-21 at Chuck Noll Field.
After the Presidents (2-0) opened up a 28-0 lead early in the second quarter, the Bearcats (0-2) battled back to make it a two-score game at the half. The Presidents would then put the game away with 17 unanswered points in the third to cruise to their eighth straight victory in the series between the two squads.
W&J out-gained SVC 539-316 in total offense, with the Presidents rushing for 287 yards, while SVC was hamstrung by 13 penalties and three turnovers.
D.J. Gray Jr. led the SVC offense by rushing for 76 yards on 14 carries, while also making a 33-yard touchdown reception.
Brady Walker completed 10 passes for 206 yards and two touchdowns, while Matt Esdelle caught two touchdowns and
Jeffrey Downs II made a team-high four catches for 64 yards.
In the opening quarter, SVC's defense stopped W&J on fourth down on the Presidents' first possession, before almost repeating the feat on W&J's next trip. After a third down SVC sack was nullified due to a penalty, the Bearcats buckled down again, forcing a W&J fourth-and-two from the SVC 14. On the next play, Colton Jones connected with Justin Huss for a 14-yard touchdown to give W&J a 7-0 lead with 7:22 left in the quarter.
The Bearcats' next two possessions ended with a punt and an interception, and the Presidents cashed in both times, adding two more touchdowns over the final 5:56 of the quarter, one on a one-yard scramble by quarterback Jacob Pugh and the second on a 57-yard pass from Jones to John Peduzzi, to open up a 21-0 lead at the end of one quarter of play.
After W&J scored on its first trip of the second quarter to make it 28-0, the Bearcats came to life. Facing a third-and-8 on their own 34, Walker completed a 42-yard pass to
Wayne Corbin Jr., before a 5-yard pass to
Molayo Irefin brought the ball inside the red zone. Walker then connected with Esdelle for a 19-yard touchdown to put SVC on the board with just under nine minutes left in the half.
W&J's next drive ended prematurely when
Ethan Facey picked off a deep throw for his first career interception. On the second play of the ensuing drive, Walker and Irefin hooked up for a 39-yard pass play go bring the ball inside the W&J 40, before Walker flipped a screen pass to Gray, who made a dazzling run into the end zone to cut the deficit in half, 28-14, with 5:28 remaining.
The Presidents countered with a lengthy drive, using 13 plays to advance inside the SVC 30, but it would end with a leaping interception by
Ahmad Shaw in the end zone in the final minute of the half, and the score would remain 28-14 as the teams headed into the break.
W&J received the opening kickoff of the second half and drove 66 yards in seven plays to up the lead to 35-14 on a 7-yard Huss touchdown run two minutes into the third quarter.
W&J's next offensive trip ended with its third turnover of the day, with SVC's
Desonio Powell forcing and
Jaden Edmonds recovering a fumble, but the Bearcats couldn't cash in, as their subsequent trip ended in an interception. The Presidents would then embark on another long drive, with the 14-play, 64-yard trip ending in a field goal to up the lead to 38-14 with 2:47 left in the quarter.
Sixty-five seconds later, the President defense added onto the lead, with a 10-yard fumble return touchdown by Adam Rudzinski making it 45-14 with 1:42 remaining.
The Saint Vincent defense returned the favor early in the fourth quarter, with
Brandon Nolder recording his first interception near midfield with 10:29 left in regulation. Four plays later,
Austin Slye fired his first career touchdown pass, a 3-yarder to Esdelle, to cut the gap to 45-21 with 7:04 left in regulation.
W&J would then close out the game's scoring with just under three minutes left on a one-yard plunge from Donavin Chambers.
Joanes Polynice led SVC's defense with nine tackles, while Shaw added seven stops to go with his interception and two pass break-ups. Facey and
KeShawn Davis each made six tackles for the Bearcats.
For W&J, Jones completed 19 of 30 passes for 249 with three TDs and two interceptions, while Huss ran for 113 yards on 20 attempts and Raymond Holmes 102 yards on 12 totes. Peduzzi led the Presidents with five receptions for 116 yards, and Justin Johns recorded a team-leading eight tackles. Along with forcing three turnovers, the W&J defense also recorded six quarterback sacks.
The Bearcats will be back in action on Saturday, Sept. 17, wrapping up the rare three-game homestand with a 1 p.m. matchup against Presidents' Athletic Conference foe Thiel College on Homecoming at Chuck Noll Field.
