GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel Tomcats kept pace with the Presidents' Athletic Conference second-place Waynesburg Yellow Jackets for 60 minutes Saturday night. In the end however, the Yellow Jackets escaped Alumni Stadium with a 35-32 victory.
 
Ten of Ryan Radke (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster Central)'s 18 completions Saturday night were to freshman wide receiver Marcus Johnson (Pittsburgh, Pa./University Prep), including two long touchdown hookups of 66- and 46-yards.
 
Johnson's second touchdown catch of the game, a 46-yarder with 3:59 remaining in regulation, gave the Tomcats a 32-27 lead. Thiel attempted a 2-point conversion following Johnson's touchdown, but Radke was stopped short of the goal line on his run.
 
The Yellow Jackets responded with what turned out to be the game-winning touchdown drive, a 7-play effort that covered 70 yards and consumed 2:43 of the game clock. Jake Forsythe scored the game-winner for Waynesburg on a 10-yard run. Carter Hill tacked on a 2-point conversion on a pass to Zac Capan, giving the Yellow Jackets a 3-point lead with 1:15 remaining to play.
 
Thiel's offense was unable to mount a drive on its final possession, and Waynesburg held on for the conference win.
 
The Tomcats took an early lead Saturday when Roosevelt Brown (University Heights, Ohio/Cleveland Heights) finished the opening drive of the contest with a 2-yard touchdown run. Brown's touchdown capped off a well-orchestrated 10-play, 71-yard drive that included a 20-yard scamper by Radke and five runs by Taylor Fink (Kittanning, Pa./Kittanning).
 
Waynesburg tied up the score on the last play of the first quarter when Forsythe broke free on a 56-yard run.
 
The Yellow Jackets took their first lead with 2:25 remaining in the second quarter when Hill threw a 24-yard touchdown pass to Bernie Thompson. The Tomcats came right back, forcing a 14-14 tie with 33 seconds remaining before halftime, when Radke concluded a 7-play, 71-yard drive with a 7-yard touchdown run.
 
The Tomcats found themselves down 21-14 at halftime after the Yellow Jackets notched the go-ahead score on a 12-yard pass from Hill to Capan with four seconds remaining in the second quarter.
 
After a scoreless third quarter, Brown scored his second touchdown of the game, this one on a 4-yard run with 14:07 left in the game. Waynesburg maintained a 1-point lead, however, after Thiel's extra point hit the left post.
 
The Tomcats took the lead on their next possession when Johnson caught a 66-yard touchdown pass down the far sideline. The Tomcats' 2-point conversion failed, leaving them with a 26-21 lead.
 
Forsythe scored his second touchdown of the game on Waynesburg's next possession on a 17-yard run. Hill's 2-point pass failed, and the Yellow Jackets led the Tomcats 27-26 with 6:47 remaining in the contest.
 
Johnson's 46-yard touchdown catch put the Tomcats back on top, 32-27, but Forsythe scored the game-winner for the Yellow Jackets on a 10-yard run with 1:15 remaining to play.
 
Forsythe ran for 200 yards on 24 carries. He scored three touchdowns on runs of 56-, 17- and 10-yards.
 
Hill completed 18-of-27 passes for 266 yards. He threw two touchdown passes and one interception.
 
Johnson's 210-yard receiving effort was record-breaking. He moved into fifth place on the program's single-game receiving yards list with his performance Saturday night, passing Brandon Chambers' 208-yard effort against Johns Hopkins in the first round of the 2005 NCAA Division III playoffs.
 
Radke completed 18-of-29 passes Saturday for 317 yards. He threw two touchdown passes to Johnson and one interception. Radke also led the Tomcats on the ground with 81 yards on 13 totes, one of which was a 7-yard touchdown run.
 
Senior linebacker Jack Sindlinger (Linesville, Pa./Linesville) led Thiel's defense with 14 total tackles. He also forced a fumble, recovered a fumble and broke up one pass. Cornerback Chris Jones (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) had an interception, broke up a pass and made five tackles while Martae Hainesworth (Warren, Ohio/Warren JFK) broke up three passes and recorded four tackles.
 
Aaron Palmer led Waynesburg with nine tackles, two of which were behind the line of scrimmage. Josh Tolliver had two sacks, made six tackles and forced a fumble.
 
The Tomcats will return to action Saturday, Nov. 1 when they travel to Pittsburgh to take on the Carnegie Mellon Tartans. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.