WASHINGTON, Pa. -- Washington & Jefferson scored the final 27 points of the game to win its 23rd straight at Cameron Stadium with a 48-26 defeat of Saint Vincent.
The victory was the first meeting between the two teams since 2013 and improved W&J to 7-1 all-time against the Bearcats. The Presidents move to 6-2 overall and 4-2 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference. The Bearcats fall to 4-4 overall after winning their first four games of the season, including 2-4 in the PAC.
The first quarter featured five touchdowns, including three by the home team. SVC opened the scoring when Derek Stewart hit DJ Oceant-Kelly for a 56-yard pass at 1:34 into the game. The Presidents answered back with a 12-play, 67-yard drive that was capped by
Austin Kemp's (Pittsburgh, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) first of three touchdown runs on the day at 9:06.
Stewart then connected to Ryan Crawford from 21 yards, but
Ryan Snedeker (Chagrin Falls, Ohio/Kenston) blocked the point-after try to make the game 13-7 with 5:33 to play in the period. At 4:32 and then again 3:59 later, W&J got into the end zone to stretch the lead to 21-13. The first score came on a 16-yard strike from
Pete Coughlin (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) to
Jake Cullen (Orchard Park, N.Y./Orchard Park), while the second was Kemp's second scamper of the day, this one from two-yards out, 21-13.
The opening eight minutes of the second quarter saw the Bearcats find pay dirt twice, a 53-yard pass to Damon Black at 11:34 and a one-yard throw to Oceant-Kelly with 7:11 remaining, 26-21. Coughlin gave W&J the lead back just before intermission on a seven-yard dash, but
Ted Ford's (Carnegie, Pa./Carlynton) extra-point attempt was blocked, snapping his school-record streak of 54 consecutive makes, 27-26.
Jesse Zubik (Sewickley, Pa./Avonworth) got in on the act with a pair of scoring grabs 3:56 apart at the end of the third quarter and start of the fourth. Hauling in grabs from 17 and 18 yards, respectively. It gave him 16 touchdown catches on the year, tying Craig Besong (2008) for the second-most in program history. He also now has 35 in his career, also second for W&J and tied for third in PAC history. Additionally, in the contest Zubik finished with five grabs for 59 yards, which propels him over 3,000 yards in his career, making him the fourth President and seventh PAC wide receiver to accomplish that milestone.
The final score of the game came at the 7:03-mark of the fourth quarter, a Kemp one-yard run. The 5:10 that W&J took off the clock marked the second-longest touchdown drive of the year for the Presidents.
Coughlin was held under 200 yards passing for a consecutive game, marking the first time he was kept under that mark in back-to-back games in his three years as the full-time starter, as he went 15-of-20 for 189 yards and three scores. He also went over 100 rushing yards for the second time this season and third of his career, putting up a career-best 126 on 18 carries. Kemp finished with 113 yards on 34 runs.
Cullen matched Zubik's team high with five catches in accumulating 48 yards, while
Cody Hearst (Clarion, Pa./Clarion) caught three passes for 70 yards, including a 42-yarder which was the longest play of the day for the Presidents.
Ty Mitchell (Scenery Hill, Pa./Bentworth) played a large role in the field position game, punting five times for 216 yards, an average of 43.2 yards, with a long of 51 yards.
After surrendering 362 yards of total offense in the first half, including 285 through the air, the W&J defense yielded just 169 yards in pitching the second-half shutout.
Zach Walker (McDonald, Pa./South Fayette) led the team with nine tackles, while five Presidents made six stops. Included in his six tackles,
Luke Ratkus (Blairsville, Pa./Blairsville) registered two sacks and recovered a fumble that was the only turnover of the game. Snedeker,
Torre Carr (North Strabane, Pa./Canon-McMillan) and
Justin Bauer (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brentwood) all posted sacks on the day, with Carr also adding another tackle for loss.
The Presidents will wrap up the home portion of the 2016 season on Saturday, Nov. 5 when they welcome Geneva to Cameron Stadium for a 1 p.m. Senior Day kickoff.
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