Nov 6, 2022 4 min read

The California University Vulcans were near the red zone and trailing by five points in the closing minutes of the fourth quarter before suffering a 25-13 loss against Gannon at Adamson Stadium in the final week of Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference West action on Saturday afternoon.

With the loss, Cal fell to 5-5 this season. The Vulcans also finished fourth in the PSAC West standings with a 4-3 mark in league play. Meanwhile, Gannon improves to 8-2 overall behind a 5-1 record in divisional play to finish in a three-way tie (IUP, Slippery Rock) for first place in the standings.

The Vulcans limited the Golden Knights to only 40 rushing yards after Gannon entered play ranked fourth in the PSAC in rushing offense at nearly 165 yards per game. Junior linebacker Noah Dillow led the team with 11 tackles (seven solo) and added 2.5 TFL and one forced fumble. Senior defensive lineman Gerald Brown and junior linebacker Matt Tobey both finished with six stops and Brown tallied 1.5 TFL and one forced fumble.

Senior quarterback Noah Mitchell posted 215 passing yards on 27-of-41 attempts with one interception. He completed passes to seven different players in the contest while being held without a passing touchdown for only the fourth time in 42 career starts. Mitchell also moved into ninth place all-time in PSAC history with 10,518 passing yards on Saturday.

Senior wide receiver Cam Tarrant led the team with 76 yards on a season-high 10 receptions.

W&J tops Grove City

Jacob Pugh tossed four touchdowns and finished with 298 yards through the air as the Washington & Jefferson Presidents methodically pulled away for a 31-14 victory over visiting Grove City College in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game Saturday afternoon.

The victory improves W&J to 7-2 overall and 5-2 in PAC play. The loss is the second-straight for Grove City, who drops to 6-3 overall and 4-3 in league contests. The win is the 10th straight for the Presidents in the head-to-head series with the Wolverines.

Things didn’t necessarily start well for the Presidents, as they came away empty handed on their first two offensive possessions after advancing into the red zone.

However, later in the quarter W&J benefited from good field position after a punt return by Ian Hansen, which set them up near midfield. W&J just needed three plays to reach the end zone, as Pugh gashed the Grove City defense with a 15-yard pass to Hansen, a 14-yard strike to John Peduzzi followed by a 23-yard touchdown connection with Peduzzi. The touchdown was followed by a point after by Deven Wyandt as W&J took a 7-0 lead with 2:16 to play in the opening quarter.

Waynesburg falls

The Waynesburg University football team traveled to Saint Vincent on Saturday for a road Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) matchup. A slew of big plays for the Bearcats in the early portion of the game set the tone for a rough day on the field for the visitors, who fell 53-16.

Saint Vincent (4-5, 4-3) was rolling from the opening kickoff with a 100-yard return for a touchdown. Those six points started a 19-0 run for the Bearcats, which was also the score at the end of the first quarter.

Waynesburg (4-5, 3-4) broke up the shutout with a 20-yard field goal from junior Ricco Sastoque midway through the second quarter that made the score 19-3. Back-to-back touchdowns from the home team made the score 32-3.

The Jackets found the endzone before halftime thanks to a 65-yard touchdown pass from freshman quarterback Thomas Burke III to sophomore wide receiver Dakota Romantino. A Sastoque PAT made the score 32-10.