CLEVELAND, Ohio -- The No. 21/No. 25 Case Western Reserve Spartans used three second half touchdowns to pull away from the Washington & Jefferson College football team in a 35-19 victory Saturday afternoon in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game at DiSanto Field in Cleveland.
The loss drops W&J to 4-2 overall and 3-2 PAC play. The win keeps Case Western perfect in conference play at 4-0 and perfect overall at 5-0.
Case raced out to an early lead, as the Spartans moved 73 yards on three plays to take a 7-0 lead on a four-yard touchdown run by Kyle Turcovsky. The touchdown was set up by a 65-yard run up the middle by running back Zach Hall.
The Presidents answered back on the next possession with a 12-play, 74-yard drive to tie the score. A two-yard run by senior running back Jordan West (Washington, Pa./Washington) out of the wildcat formation on third-and-goal punched the ball in for a Presidents touchdown. Freshman kicker Ian Phillips (Steubenville, Ohio/Steubenville) tacked on the point after to make the score 7-7.
After the teams traded defensive stops, Case drove 61 yards on five plays to regain the lead. The big play of the drive came when Drew Saxton hit Mike Wojkowski in stride on a slant route for a 46-yard touchdown pass. The point after made the score 14-7 Spartans.
The Presidents drive stalled out on the ensuing possession deep in Case territory, when a sack and forced fumble on fourth-and-three play gave the ball back to the Spartans on a turnover on downs.
CWRU missed several opportunities to add to its lead, as the W&J defense came up with stops on the final three possessions of the second quarter. Those possessions included a turnover on downs at the W&J 20-yard line, a fumble at the W&J five-yard line, which was forced by senior Conor Manning (McMurray, Pa./Peters Township) and recovered by senior Mike Williams (Pittsburgh, Pa./Langley) and a missed 41-yard field goal on the final play of the half.
After forcing W&J to punt on its opening possession of the third quarter, the Spartans doubled their lead with a touchdown. The 10-play, 65-yard drive, was capped with a 21-yard touchdown pass by Saxton to Colt Morgan. The point after by the Spartans made the score 21-7 with 6:57 to play in the third.
The Spartans put the game away with two touchdown passes by Saxton early in the fourth quarter. The scores allowed Case to swell its advanage to 35-7 with just 9:06 to play.
Adams tossed a pair of late touchdown passes to close the scoring. The first of which was a three-yard strike to Payton Skalos (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) with 7:28 to play. A little later, a 23-yard pass by Adams to Jordan Halford (Gainesville, Va./Battlefield) gave W&J its final score of the game with 4:58 left.
Adams completed 22-of-33 passes for 253 yards and two touchdowns. West rushed 17 times for 64 yards and a score. Halford led all receivers with four catches for 69 yards and a touchdown. Tyler Sabo (Aliquippa, Pa./Hopewell) racked up nine tackles to lead the defense, while Max Garda (Lower Burrell, Pa./Burrell) tallied eight tackles.
Saxton finished with 21-of-29 for 309 yards and four touchdown passes to lead the Case offense. Patrick Crossey registered 13 tackles defensively for the Spartans.
The Presidents travel to Geneva College for a conference game on Saturday, Oct. 19. The game against the GT's will be the final road contest of the regular season for the Red and Black. The game is scheduled for a 7:30 p.m. kickoff at Reeves Field in Beaver County.