LATROBE, Pa. (Nov. 4) – For the second consecutive week, a late comeback effort from the Saint Vincent football team fell just short, as the Bearcats were defeated, 30-27, by Thiel College on Senior Day at Chuck Noll Field.
 
Trailing 30-13 midway through the fourth quarter, Saint Vincent (2-7) scored a pair of unanswered touchdowns, including a 1-yard pass from Max Pisula to Pete Billey with 29 seconds left in regulation. The Bearcats would then recover the onside kick and quickly advance inside the Thiel 40-yard line, but the Tomcats (3-6) would quash the comeback with an interception with three seconds left on the clock.
 
The Tomcats took the lead for good with 9:00 left in the first quarter, when Andrew Plowden broke off a 40-yard touchdown run to make it 7-0. After forcing a Saint Vincent punt, Thiel then rattled off a long 11-play drive that was capped off with some trickery, as Plowden's 10-yard halfback pass to Jamar Jeter made it 14-0 with exactly two minutes left in the opening quarter.
 
Fueled by sophomore running back Brandon Saint-Preux, the Saint Vincent offense came to live on its opening drive of the second frame. Saint-Preux opened the drive with a 6-yard run, before hauling in a screen pass from quarterback Austin Slye and breaking off a 29-yard gain to advance the ball inside the Thiel 4. On the next snap, Saint-Preux would finish the drive off with his first rushing touchdown of the season to trim the gap to 14-6. Thiel, however, would block the ensuing extra point and return it 97 yards into the end zone for two points and increase the lead to 16-6.
 
On each of Thiel's next three trips, the Saint Vincent defense would come up big. Following Saint-Preux's score, a third down sack by Dwight Collins Jr. followed by a pass break-up by Pisula forced a Thiel punt, before the Tomcats' next two possessions ended with interceptions, first by sophomore safety Kyle Murray, and then by junior linebacker Wiley Purry, to keep the halftime deficit at 16-6.
 
Saint Vincent would make it a 3-point game with a methodical drive midway through the third quarter. The 11-play, 55-yard journey included a 16-yard completion from Slye to Vinny Chirdon, and a 22-yard screen pass to Gino Caesar, before Pisula battered his way into the end zone from a yard out to make it 16-13 with 6:26 left in the third.
 
Thiel countered with a scoring drive of its own, using a similar recipe as the previous Bearcat scoring march, as a 44-yard reception from Jamar Jeter setting up a 23-yard scoring strike from Joseph Fell to Donny Pattison to up the lead to 23-13 with 2:58 to go in the quarter.
 
The Tomcats would then open up their largest lead of the day, 30-13, when Plowden scored his second touchdown of the day to cap off a 9-play, 73-yard drive with 11:27 left in the fourth quarter.
 
After the two teams traded scoreless possessions, the Bearcat offense came back to life. Taking over on their own 19, Slye completed a 7-yard pass to Keegan O'Brien, a 43-yarder to Kaelib McElroy and a 6-yard toss to Caesar to advance inside the Thiel 30. Following a 15-yard pass interference penalty on the Tomcats, Slye connected with O'Brien for a 14-yard touchdown pass over the middle, with the receiver muscling the ball away from a Thiel defender, to close the gap to 30-20 with 6:45 left in regulation.
 
Thiel's next trip resulted in a missed field goal, giving the Bearcats the ball at their own 18, and they would go to the air, with Slye engineering another productive scoring drive, completing six passes for 72 yards, including two to McElroy for 39, to set up first-and-goal at the Thiel 1-yard line. Lining up from the Wildcat spot, Pisula then took the next snap and flipped it over the line to Billey for the touchdown to close the gap to 30-27 with 30 seconds left.
 
Billey pounced on the ensuing onside kick on the Thiel side of the 50-yard line, before Slye connected with Austin Wells for a 12-yard gain to set up first down at the Thiel 40 with 12 seconds left. The Bearcats would get no closer, however, as Slye's pass over the middle was picked off by Thiel's Justin Logan at the 25.
 
Slye completed 19 of 34 passes for 253 yards, with one touchdown and two interceptions. McElroy was his favorite target, hauling in five grabs for a game-high 91 yards, while O'Brien finished with four catches for 34 yards and the fourth-quarter score. Caesar led Saint Vincent on the ground, with 22 yards on eight carries.
 
Plowden paced the Thiel offense, gaining 134 yards on 24 carries, while Fell ran for 54 yards, and completed 14 of 25 passes for 150 yards. Jeter gained 54 yards on two catches to lead the Thiel receiving corps.
 
Defensively, Purry and Nathan Sullivan each recorded 13 tackles to lead the Bearcats, with Sullivan adding a solo sack and Purry an interception and pass break-up. Ethan Facey made seven solo tackles and one TFL, as the Bearcats recorded a season-high seven tackles behind the line of scrimmage.
 
Jared Curcio made a team-leading 11 tackles for Westminster, while Jordan Volpe registered 2.0 TFLs and a sack.
 
Prior to the game, Saint Vincent recognized its senior class, with Collins Jr., McElroy, Pisula, Slye, Sullivan, Nathan Bettwy, C.J. Ciecierski, Zac Herbinko, Molayo Irefin, Dammion Bundridge, Joel Loomis, Colby Missel, Connor Petrunak, Laird Stover and James Sword honored in a pregame, on-field ceremony.
 
The Bearcats will now wrap up the 2023 season on Saturday, Nov. 11, traveling to West Virginia to take on Bethany College. The annual "Green Game" will kick off at 1 p.m.