LATROBE, Pa. (Nov. 9) – The Saint Vincent football season came to a close with a 21-13 loss to Bethany College on Senior Day at Chuck Noll Field.
Trailing by eight points with inside a minute left in the fourth quarter, the Bearcats drove to the Bethany 33-yard line, but saw the comeback attempt fall just short, with a last-second pass into the end zone falling incomplete.
A pair of SVC seniors had big days in their final career game, as
Billy Beck ran for a career-high 132 yards and a touchdown, while
Adam Koscielicki buried a pair of field goals, including a 45-yarder late in the second quarter which marked the longest in the Bearcat football program's modern era (2007-present).
Bethany looked poised to score an early touchdown, driving deep into SVC territory, but the Bearcats'
Robbie Labuda ended the threat by picking off a pass inside the end zone for his team-leading fourth interception of the season. On the second play following Labuda's pick, Beck reeled off a career-long 70-yard run to advance the ball inside the Bethany 10. A pass from
Jaret Yonker to
Jeffrey Downs II advanced the ball inside the 2-yard line, before Beck closed the drive out by plunging into the end zone to give SVC a 7-0 lead with 3:28 left in the quarter. It marked Beck's 10th career rushing touchdown, good for fifth in the team's modern era.
The Bison closed out the first quarter driving, before tying the game at 7-7 on the third play of the second quarter on Brett Phillips' 6-yard touchdown pass to Elijah Moffatt.
On SVC's ensuing trip, Yonker completed passes of nine yards to Tristay Doy, 20 yard to
Chris Downs and 11 yards to
Jeffrey Downs II before the drive stalled out. Koscielicki then came on to nail his first field goal of the day, from 39 yards out, to up the SVC lead to 10-7 with 8:04 left in the half.
After
Josiah Weyandt and
Payton Hrehovchak teamed up for a third down sack to force another Bethany punt, Yonker completed a 17-yard pass to O'Brien and a 25-yarder to
Austin Wells to advance the ball inside the Bison 30. The drive again stalled out, but with 48 seconds left in the half, Koscielicki entered the SVC record book with his 45-yard field goal, sending the Bearcats into the locker room with a 13-7 lead.
Following halftime, Bethany needed little time to take its first lead of the game, as Phillips connected with Ray Adames for an 81-yard touchdown to jump in front, 14-13, with 12:14 left in the third quarter.
The two teams would then trade scoreless possessions throughout the third quarter, before the Bearcat defense came up with a pair of stops on fourth down in the opening stages of the fourth quarter, first forcing a Bethany missed field goal with 13:06 left in regulation, before
Wiley Purry and
Sean Peterson teamed up to stuff a Bethany rush on fourth-and-one on the SVC 3-yard line with 7:08 to go.
The SVC offense was unable to capitalize, however, and Bethany would add onto the lead with 2:34 left in the fourth quarter on Phillips' 14-yard touchdown pass to Moffatt to make it 20-13.
The Bearcats turned it over on downs on their next trip, with Bethany taking over at the SVC 32, but the SVC defense came up with another stop on fourth down to get the ball back with 55 seconds left at its own 21.
The SVC hurry-up offense saw Yonker complete a 19-yard pass to
Chris Downs, before a pair of completions to Wells netted 30 yards and advanced the ball to the Bethany 43. The Bison were then whistled for defensive holding, moving the ball to the 33 with one second left, but Yonker's last-second Hail Mary into a crowd in the end zone fell incomplete to end the game.
Yonker completed 18 of 29 passes for 196 yards, with Wells hauling in four grabs for 59 yards, and O'Brien four for 46 yards.
Defensively, Purry tallied a team-best eight tackles to finish the season with an even 100 stops, the second straight year in which he reached the century mark.
Lamar Daniels had seven tackles, including six solos, while also breaking up a pair of passes. In addition to his interception, Labuda recorded six tackles and broke up two passes, while Weyandt and Hrehovchak twice teamed up for quarterback sacks.
For Bethany, Phillips completed 19 of 34 passes for 283 yards and three touchdowns, while also rushing for a team-best 44 yards on ten tries. Adames made seven catches for 136 yards to lead the Bison receiving corps, while Sonny Fox tallied 15 tackles.
With the loss, the Bearcats close the 2024 season with a 1-9 overall and Presidents' Athletic Conference record.
