GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel Tomcats contended with the No. 13/16-ranked Washington & Jefferson Presidents Saturday at Alumni Stadium but in the end suffered a 49-18 loss.
 
With the win the Presidents earned the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) championship and the conference's automatic bid into the NCAA Division III Playoffs.
 
The Presidents (9-0, 7-0 PAC) scored early Saturday, taking a 7-0 lead with 12:13 left in the first quarter on a 73-yard pass from Pete Coughlin to Jesse Zubik. The Tomcats got on the scoreboard later in the first quarter when Ryan Radke (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster Central) threw a 20-yard touchdown strike to Alex Horvatits (Lancaster, N.Y./Saint Mary's ). The Tomcats continued to trail the Presidents by a point however, after the extra point attempt failed.
 
W&J scored on the ensuing drive, taking a 14-6 lead when Zubik caught his second touchdown pass of the game from Coughlin, this one from 18 yards out to cap off an 8-play, 70-yard drive in just over two minutes.
 
The Presidents added another touchdown early in the second quarter on Ryan Ruffing's 63-yard run to take a 21-6 lead into the locker room at halftime.
 
The Tomcats clawed back into the game midway through the third quarter when Horvatits caught his second touchdown pass of the contest from Radke, this one a 20-yarder. Horvatits' touchdown grab capped off a 6-play, 75-yard drive that took less than two minutes to complete and was highlighted by a 42-yard catch by freshman Marcus Johnson (Pittsburgh, Pa./University Prep).
 
The Presidents rattled off four consecutive touchdowns after Horvatits' 20-yard TD catch, however, taking a commanding 49-12 lead with just over six minutes remaining in the contest.
 
The Tomcats closed out scoring with 2:42 left in the fourth quarter when Radke threw a four-yard touchdown pass to Mike McLaughlin (South Park, Pa./South Park).
 
Radke completed 22-of-41 passes Saturday for 230 yards. He threw three touchdown passes and no interceptions. Coughlin connected on 17-of-27 passes for 334 yards. He threw four touchdown passes and one interception.
 
Radke also led Thiel on the ground with 88 yards on 14 totes. Thiel's Taylor Fink (Kittanning, Pa./Kittanning) added 57 yards on 17 carries. Ruffing ran for 196 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries.
 
Johnson caught nine passes for 125 yards while Horvatits had four receptions, two of which were touchdown grabs, for 54 yards. Zubik racked up 190 receiving yards and three touchdowns on five catches for the Presidents while Daniel Lis caught seven passes for 94 yards.
 
Wes Schmidt (Kittanning, Pa./Kittanning) led Thiel on defense with nine tackles while Chris Jones (Waterford, Conn./Waterford) recorded his second interception of the season. Ryan Torrance recorded 11 tackles for the Presidents while Alec Schram recorded 10 tackles and three pass breakups.
 
The Tomcats will close out the 2014 season Saturday, Nov. 15 when they travel to Grove City to take on the Wolverines in the 31^st battle for the Mercer County Cup. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. at Robert E. Thorn Field.