Thomas More 14, Washington and Jefferson 7

WASHINGTON, Pa. — No. 20 Thomas More scored two touchdowns during a four-minute span in the third quarter to clinch its second-straight Presidents’ Athletic Conference Football Championship after outlasting 11th-ranked Washington & Jefferson 14-7 on Saturday at Cameron Stadium.

The Saints’ defense limited the Presidents (7-1, 3-1 PAC) to 155 total yards, including only 24 in the second half. Thomas More (8-0, 6-0 PAC) has completed its conference schedule and plays Geneva and Mt. St. Joseph to round out the regular season.

Washington & Jefferson grabbed a 7-0 lead at the 2:28 mark of the first quarter on its second possession of the game. Junior quarterback Gino Rometo (Pittsburgh, Pa./Plum) capped a 12-play, 80-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Jordan Roycroft (Butler, Pa./Butler).

The Presidents’ defense took over from that point, holding Thomas More to only 55 yards on 23 plays. W&J had a chance to take a 10-0 lead into halftime, but a 44-yard field goal attempt by junior Joe Kelly was blocked by sophomore Jay Volker (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) with 6:14 left in the first half.

Thomas More grabbed momentum on its second drive of the third quarter. The Saints drove 71 yards in nine plays and tied the game on senior quarterback Trevor Stellman’s (Burlington, Ky./Connor) 25-yard touchdown pass to senior wideout Chris Farley (New Albany, Ind./New Albany).

Freshman Zach Autenrieb (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) intercepted a Rometo pass two plays following the kickoff at the W&J 28-yard line. TMC capitalized seven plays later when senior running back Cordario Collier (New Albany, Ind./New Albany) dove in from a yard out, giving a 14-7 TMC lead with 3:54 left on the third-quarter clock.

W&J was only able to convert one first down in its final five drives of the game. Rometo was picked off by Volker with 8:11 remaining, but the Presidents’ defense stopped Collier on a fourth-down run.

The Saints forced another W&J punt after three plays; however, the defense stepped up again and forced a Stellman fumble, recovered by senior safety Mitch Erdely (Perryopolis, Pa./Geibel) with 2:14 left. All four Rometo pass attempts were incomplete and Thomas More ran out the clock to secure the victory.

Stellman completed 11-of-17 passes for 96 yards, while rushing for 48. Collier was bottled up for most of the contest, but still finished with a game-high 80 yards on 24 attempts (69 yards in the second half). TMC finished with 237 yards of total offense.

Volker led the defense with five tackles, 1.5 sacks, one interception and one pass breakup. He also blocked the W&J field goal attempt. TMC limited W&J to 2.9 yards per play.

Rometo finished with 106 yards passing on 13-of-23 accuracy. Junior running back Derek Taylor (Kittanning, Pa./Kittanning) had a team-high 31 yards rushing, while senior wide receiver Craig Besong (Baden, Pa./Ambridge) had a game-high seven receptions for 48 yards.

Erdely paced the defense with 10 tackles. He forced a fumble and also recovered one. Sophomore cornerback Josh Buckley (McKees Rocks, Pa./Sto-Rox) added eight stops.

Washington & Jefferson travels to West Virginia next Saturday for a 1:00 pm kickoff at Bethany. The Presidents need to defeat the Bison and Waynesburg (Nov. 14) to keep their NCAA at-large playoff hopes alive.

The Presidents earned a “Pool C” bid last year and advanced to the NCAA Division III quarterfinals.
Press release submitted by Washington and Jefferson on Oct 31, 2009 at 05:47 PM Eastern