Box Score

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- The Presidents racked up nearly 600 yards of total offense in a 56-21 rout of Westminster in non-conference action at Harold Burry Stadium.

The Washington & Jefferson football team improves to 2-0 for the first time since 2009 and opens the season with consecutive games of 50-plus points for the first time since 2000 when the Presidents scored over 50 points in each of the first three games. The win also marks No. 699 in program history, putting W&J one win shy of becoming just the third NCAA Division III team to reach 700 wins and only the 25th program in all NCAA divisions to achieve the milestone.

Ryan Ruffing opened the scoring 4:21 into the game with a 26-yard screen pass from Pete Coughlin as W&J held a 7-0 lead through one quarter. Ruffing then scored two rushing touchdowns within 3:43 in the second quarter, going in from two yards out and one yard out to take a 21-0 lead at halftime.

Coughlin found the end zone from two yards out to start the scoring 4:02 into the second half as the Presidents built the lead to 28-0 early in the second half.

On the ensuing kickoff, Westminster's Jametrius Bentley went 88 yards to the end zone to make it 28-7.  Westminster cut the lead in half then with a 53-yard TD run by Dominique McKinley, mid-way through the third quarter, 28-14.

The next two scores came on Ruffing rushing touchdowns, as he went in from one yard with 4:08 left in the third quarter and five yards at the 10:32-mark of the fourth quarter.

Through two games, W&J has scored 14 touchdowns with Ruffing accounting for 10 of them.

Westminster answered Ruffing's last score with a 74-yard pass to Bentley, 42-21, just 45 seconds later.

The Presidents closed out the scoring with a David Kincaid 26-yard run at the 6:33-mark and then a 13-yard reception from Asa Costelnock from Kevin Mechas to make the final 56-21.

Ruffing led all players with 172 yards rushing on 36 carries, giving him 322 yards on 73 carries to open the season.

Coughlin finished 24-of-25 passing for 281 yards and a touchdown with no interceptions. His main target was Daniel Lis who caught eight passes for 66 yards. Max Creighan caught seven passes for 104 yards, making him the first President receiver not named Alex Baroffio to go over 100 yards since Hunter Creel on Oct. 13, 2012 against Westminster.

Defensively, Jared Pratt amassed seven tackles to lead the way. Ryan Torrance added five stops, a team-best 1.5 tackles for loss and a fumble recovery. Billy Kelley registered four stops, a TFL and an interception in the end zone that halted a Westminster drive. Jon Turner provided the first sack of the season for W&J as one of his three solo stops.

W&J returns to home next week, Saturday, Sept. 20 with a 1:30 p.m. kick-off against Carnegie Mellon to open Presidents' Athletic Conference play. The Tartans, along with Case Western Reserve are the two newest affiliate members of the PAC, participating in football only.