Another week of President’s Athletic Conference football is in the books and we have a two-way tie at the top of the conference between Thomas More (6-0, 4-0) and Case Western Reserve (4-1, 4-0).
Both teams are coming off big wins last week as Thomas More scored 35 second half points to pull away from Geneva Saturday in a 44-14 home win. Case Western defeated Waynesburg (2-4, 1-3) 45-14, eclipsing the 40-point mark for the fourth consecutive week.
Locally, W&J (4-1, 2-1) rebounded after losing to Thomas More, by crushing Grove City (0-5, 0-3) 55-7, racking up season-high 652 yards of total offense. That marked the highest total since the Presidents posted 701 yards at Thiel last season. After the win, W&J jumped three spots to No. 16 in the D3football.com Top 25.
The Presidents will look to keep things going, as they have no margin for error the rest of the season, when they host Bethany (2-4, 1-3) Saturday night. It could be a tough test as the Bison offense racked up over 500 yards of offense last week in a loss to Carnegie Mellon (2-3, 2-2).
In other news around the conference:
– Carnegie Mellon running back Sam Benger’s 985 yards leads all of Division III in rushing yards. He needs 15 yards to become the fourth runner in Carnegie Mellon history to reach the 1,000-yard plateau.
– Westminster defeated Thiel 49-6 on Saturday. The 43-point win was largest margin of victory in 15 years.
– Case Western Reserve sophomore quarterback Rob Cuda was named the PAC Offensive Player of the Week, after accounting for six total touchdowns against Waynesburg. He completed 25-of-28 passes for 268 yards and three touchdowns and rushed nine times for 63 yards and three scores. Cuda currently leads the PAC in total offense (1749) and passing touchdowns (16).
– Carnegie Mellon sophomore linebacker Stanley Bikulege was named the conference’s Defensive Player of the Week. He finished the afternoon with 12 total tackles, 1.5 tackles for loss and picked of his first career pass in the win vs. Bethany.
– Westminster wide receiver Bryson Paulinellie was named the Special Teams Player of the Week after returning a punt 56 yards for a score against Thiel.
This week’s schedule:
Thomas More at Saint Vincent 1 p.m.
Carnegie Mellon at Grove City 1:30 p.m.
Westminster at Waynesburg 1:30 p.m.
Bethany at W&J 7 p.m.
Case Western Reserve at Geneva 7 p.m.
Off – Thiel
Photo Credit: Thomas More College
