Oct 1, 2015 4 min read

In the last two games against Washington & Jefferson College, Thomas More’s football team produced a combined 49 points, and tailback Domonique Hayden rushed for 388 yards and scored five touchdowns.

It’s the type of production that should produce wins. But the Saints ended up losing by 24 and 23 points, respectively.

In 2013, the Saints gave up a 92-yard kickoff return to Dion Wiegand, turned the ball over twice, failed to force a turnover and were penalized 10 times for 89 yards in a 45-21 loss.

Last year, the Thomas More secondary gave up touchdown passes of 35, 49 and 77 yards, the offense turned the football over five times and the Saints were penalized eight times for 71 yards in a 51-28 loss.

So it’s not hard to guess the topic of conversation at practice this week as the No. 12 Saints prepared to host the No. 13 Presidents in a Saturday game. This game could decide which team wins the Presidents’ Athletic Conference championships and receives an automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs.

Kickoff is 1 p.m. in Crestview Hills, Ky.

“Penalties hurt us, turnovers hurt us, mistakes hurt us,” said Thomas More first-year head coach Regis Scafe, who was not on the coaching staff for the Saints’ last two meetings with the Presidents.

“We know what the problems were. We have to be more focused, finish our plays. That’s what we talked about all week.”

These are the only undefeated teams in the PAC. W&J (1-0, 3-0) is coming off an open date while Thomas More (2-0, 4-0) rolled to a 45-14 win over Westminster, a team the Presidents struggled to beat Sept. 12.

“This is the most talented regular season team we have played since I’ve been at W&J,” said Mike Sirianni, who was offensive coordinator in 1999 and named head coach in 2003. “But we’re still the defending champions.”

Hayden is gone but in CT Tarrant and Hjavier Pitts, the Saints have a strong 1-2 punch for the running game. Tarrant, a 5-8, 205-pound sophomore, gains the yardage through the middle of the defense and Pitts, a 5-8, 170-pound freshman, pressure the edges.

“They like to run the ball down your throat,” said W&J linebacker Ryan Torrance. “They establish the running game and run their play-action passes off that.”

That’s where Jensen Gebhardt comes in. The four-year senior starter has completed 67 percent of his passes for 959 yards and 10 touchdowns. He’s thrown only two interceptions of 76 attempts.

“This is our Super Bowl,” said W&J linebacker Zach Walker, a south Fayette graduate. “As of now, it’s the most meaningful game of our season.”

W&J’s offense, which returned all but two starters from last year’s 10-2 playoff team, has produced 1,310 yards over three games. Pete Coughlin quarterbacks a potent passing attack.

“Offensively, they are very scary,” said Scafe. “They are athletic. Their quarterback is a playmaker and keeps plays alive.”

Coughlin has completed 66 percent of his passes for 748 yards and six touchdowns. And that is with top receiver Jesse Zubik still trying to bounce back from a hip injury.

“They have a physical defense,” Coughlin said, “and they can make plays with their secondary and linebackers. We’ve got to get the ball to the outside, to our wide receivers, and we have to let them make plays.”

If successful, that opens lanes for tailback Ryan Ruffing, who is on pace for another 1,500-yard rushing season. He had 1,605 last season.

“There are things we need to do better,” said Sirianni. “We didn’t play well against Westminster. We have to be patient, control the football for 12- or 15-play drives.”

That’s hard to do against a Thomas More defense that leads the PAC.

“This is what you work for, a big game, a huge game,” Scafe said. “It should be a lot of fun.”