LATROBE, Pa. – Saint Vincent scored 35 second half points, capped off with a pair of fourth quarter touchdown runs from Billy Beck, to defeat Case Western Reserve 42-40 in a wild, back-and-forth Homecoming battle.
The win boosts the Bearcats' record to 3-1 overall and 2-1 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference, while Case Western Reserve falls to 2-3 overall and 1-3 in league play.
After the Bearcats scored 21 fourth quarter points to take a 42-33 lead with less than two minutes left, Case countered with a touchdown to pull to within two with 20 seconds left. Saint Vincent would then seal the victory when Jeffrey Downs II recovered the onside kick to set off a raucous celebration at Chuck Noll Field.
Beck ran for a season-high 88 yards on 11 carries, while turning in the second two-touchdown performance of his young career. Saint Vincent quarterback Brady Walker completed 17 of 28 passes for 219 yards and two touchdowns, with Molayo Irefin making eight grabs for 85 yards and Phil Harding four for 77.
Reigning PAC Rookie of the Week Joanes Polynice put together another solid effort to pace the Bearcat defense, tallying 12 tackles while scoring on a 35-yard interception return. It was one of three interceptions for the SVC defense, with Jaden Pratt and Cody Savage-Hicks also tallying picks. Pratt added 11 tackles.
It was a tale of two halves for the SVC offense, as after being out-gained 235-88 over the game's first 30 minutes, the Bearcats scored five touchdowns and amasses 298 yards of total offense in the second half.
The visitors took the wind out of the sails of a capacity Chuck Noll Field crowd early on, taking the opening kickoff and embarking on a 12-play, 76-yard drive that ended with a 2-yard touchdown run from Antonio Orsini to make it 7-0 with 9:29 left.
After a three-and-out by the Bearcat offense, Case threatened again on its subsequent drive, advancing inside the SVC 30, but Savage-Hicks' interception on the SVC 7-yardline temporarily halted any further damage.
SVC was unable to cash in on the turnover, as four plays later, Case blocked a Bearcat punt in the end zone that was pounced on by Nate Cikalo to up its lead to 14-0 with 1:10 left in the quarter.
After the team's traded punts to open up the second quarter, Case threatened again, using a 49-yard pass from Drew Saxton to Colt Morgan and an 11-yard run by Orsini to set up first-and-goal on the 6-yardline. The Bearcat defense then came through with another turnover, as Pratt picked off a pass in the end zone for his first career interception.
The two teams would again trade punts, before Saint Vincent grabbed the momentum to head into halftime. Irefin's 32-yard punt return gave SVC the ball on the Case 47, before he hauled in a pair of passes, covering 41 yards, to set up first-and-goal on the Case 7. Walker then flipped a pass to Antonio Zambrano, who raced in for the 7-yard touchdown to put SVC on the board. On the subsequent drive, Case took advantage of a pair of 15-yard Bearcat penalties to move inside the SVC 35 with less than a minute left, but the Bearcat defense forced four straight incompletions to end the half.
The Bearcats kept the momentum after the intermission. Julian Howard ran three times for 52 yards to open the half and move the ball inside the Case 25, before Walker hooked up with Harding on back-to-back passes, including an 11-yard touchdown to tie the game at 14 with 11:30 left in the quarter.
Just two plays after Harding's touchdown, the SVC defense came up big again, with Polynice stepping in front of a pass and returning it 35 yards for the pick six to give SVC its first lead of the afternoon, 21-14, with 9:58 left in the third quarter.
Case countered with an 11-play, 69-yard drive capped off with a 3-yard Orsini touchdown run to tie the game at 21 with 3:25 remaining in the quarter, but the Bearcats would end the third on a high note.
A 34-yard Kaelib McElroy reception followed by an 11-yard pass to Irefin moved the ball inside the Case 40, before Beck ended the quarter with runs of seven and 14 yards to set up first-and-goal on the Case 8-yardline. On the second play of the fourth quarter, Howard rumbled in from five yards out to give the Bearcats a 28-21 lead.
The Spartans again answered back, with a 73-yard touchdown pass from Saxton to Lucas DeCaro, but the extra point kick went wide right, and the Bearcats held on to the 28-27 lead.
The back-and-forth theme continued, and the Bearcats promptly added on to the one-point lead. Two plays after DeCaro's touchdown, Walker connected with Harding for a 43-yard pass to move the ball inside the Case 30. After an 11-yard scramble by Walker, he hooked up with Keith Kalp for a 10-yard gain to set up first-and-goal at the 4-yardline. Beck then took a handoff and burst through the middle for his first touchdown of the afternoon to push SVC's lead to 35-27 with 9:40 left in regulation.
The Spartans refused to go away, converting on a pair of fourth downs on its next possession before they closed out a 12-play drive with a one-yard touchdown run by Sean Michael James to make the score 35-33. Case would then go for the two-point conversion to tie, but the Bearcats' Nathan Sullivan picked off the pass in the end zone to preserve the SVC lead with 5:07 left.
After a pair of Beck runs opened up SVC's ensuing drive, Walker hooked up with Irefin on third down for a 16-yard gain with just over three minutes left in regulation. Following two more Beck runs that moved the ball inside Case territory, the Spartans took their final time out with 2:08 remaining. Looking to chew up more valuable time, the Bearcats went right back to Beck, who would burst through the middle for a 48-yard touchdown to give SVC its largest lead of the afternoon, 42-33, with 1:58 remaining.
As was the case throughout the day, the Spartans refused to go away, using nine passes to cover 70 yards and pull to within two, 42-40, on a Saxton touchdown pass to Orsini and the subsequent extra point with 20 seconds left on the clock. The Spartans tried one last-ditch effort with an onside kick, but Downs pounced on it at the SVC 45 yardline to seal the win.
Saxton completed 40 of 64 passes for 462 yards for the Spartans, with McCoy grabbing 15 receptions for 195 yards and DeCaro seven for 119 yards. Orsini ran for 22 yards and two scored, while making five catches for 49 yards and a touchdown. Kaden Tong and D.J. Wolf each had six tackles for Case, with two of Tong's coming behind the line of scrimmage.
The Bearcats will return to action on Saturday, Oct. 9, traveling to Washington, Pennsylvania, to take on PAC-leading Washington & Jefferson at 2 p.m.