The Case Western Reserve University football team moved into sole possession of first place in the Presidents' Athletic Conference with a 52-7 win over Thiel College at DiSanto Field in Cleveland on Saturday night.
CWRU's win, coupled with a 27-19 loss by seventh-ranked Grove City to Washington & Jefferson on Saturday, allowed the Spartans to take sole possession of the top spot in the PAC standings with four games remaining in the regular season. CWRU improved to 6-0 for the campaign and is the last remaining undefeated team in the league. Thiel fell to 1-5 following the loss.
It was another dominating performance for the Spartans' defense, which allowed the Tomcats to collect just 72 yards, the fewest in a single game in program history, including -12 yards in the second half. CWRU totaled an impressive 16.0 tackles for loss in the game, limiting Thiel to -26 rushing yards in the game and 98 passing yards. It was the second straight week that CWRU has held its opponent under 100 total yards and the Spartans have held their opposition to 14 or fewer points in all six games this season.
Senior defensive end Kaden Tong totaled seven tackles (three solo) including one sack and 1.5 for loss. Senior linebacker Brody Roth had a career day with six tackles (three solo), one sack, two tackles for loss, and the first interception of his career. Junior linebacker Henry Busch added five tackles, including two for a loss and one sack, and notched the first interception of his career.
Senior quarterback Alex Fromberg completed 13-of-17 passes for 243 yards with four touchdown passes and 18 yards on the ground. Senior wide receiver Noah Coyne caught five passes for 87 yards and three touchdowns in the game, while junior wide receiver Alex Angello added four catches for 54 yards and a score.
The Spartans reached the end zone on five of their six drives in the opening half to take a commanding 35-0 lead by halftime. CWRU opened the game with a trick play on the opening kickoff with first-year Jack Kavcic sending a lateral pass to sophomore Beau Wolf, who returned it 46 yards to give the Spartans the ball on the Thiel 34-yard line. Eight plays later, Fromberg connected with Angellofor a 13-yard touchdown pass to give CWRU a 7-0 lead with 12:11 to play. Fromberg later completed a 29-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Ethan Dahlem to extend the Spartans' lead to 14-0 with 9:12 left in the first quarter and set up a one-yard touchdown run by first-year running back Andy Kavcic with a 58-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Dylan Cave that put CWRU ahead 21-0 by the end of the opening frame.
Fromberg threw two more touchdown passes in the second quarter, finding Coyne twice, once for a 30-yard score to put CWRU in front 28-0 with 9:42 left in the half and the second from 43 yards out with 1:10 on the clock to give the Spartans a 35-0 advantage heading into halftime.
The Spartans outgained the Tomcats 292-84 during the dominant opening half of the game.
After Thiel turned the ball over on downs on its first drive of the second half, Coyne struck for his third touchdown of the game with 11:45 in the third on a nine-yard pass from junior quarterback Aaron Filips. The Tomcats scored their only touchdown of the game after a CWRU fumble gave them a short field, setting the score at 42-7 with 7:25 left in the third. CWRU added a 19-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Gabriel Petrozzi with 11:35 left in the fourth and an 18-yard touchdown run by sophomore quarterback Sam DeTillio with 5:50 remaining in the game.
DeTillio led all Spartan players with 53 rushing yards on Saturday.
CWRU will now begin a four-game stretch against the other top teams in the PAC standings to wrap up its 2024 campaign. The Spartans will look to keep their undefeated season alive next weekend when the team travels to New Wilmington, Pennsylvania to face Westminster College at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 26.
Spartan Notes
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The Spartans entered the game ranked first among Division III teams with 106.4 passing yards allowed per game and second with 8.2 points allowed per game and improved on both statistics.
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CWRU is off to the 10th 6-0 start in program history. The Spartans also started 6-0 during the 1983, 1984, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2016, 2017, and 2019 seasons.
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The win was the Spartans' 11th-consecutive victory against Thiel, including a 9-0 record since rejoining the PAC as a football affiliate member in 2014. CWRU now stands at 14-9 all-time against the Tomcats.
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Coyne now has a team-high nine receiving touchdowns this season and 27 career receiving touchdowns, tied for the four-most in program history with former Spartan Zach Homyk (2007-10). He is four touchdowns away from matching former CWRU players David Kallevig (2001-04) and Shaun Nicely (2007-10) for the second-most in program history.
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With his sack on Saturday, Tong now has 29.5 for his career, moving within one of Brian Calderon (2005-08) for the third-most in team history and five away from Cameron Brown's (2016-19) program record of 34.5.