CLEVELAND, Ohio – The Thiel Tomcats suffered a 48-21 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) loss Saturday to the Case Western Reserve Spartans at DiSanto Field.
Chris Rosales (Port St. Lucie, Fla. /St. Lucie West Centennial) gave the Tomcats their first points of the game with 1:43 left in the first quarter when he converted a 31-yard field goal.
After Case Western Reserve quarterback Rob Cuda tossed two touchdown passes to Brendan Lynch in the second quarter, Thiel quarterback Ryan Radke (Lancaster, N.Y./Lancaster Central) connected with DeShawon Bracy (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski Area), who scampered past two safeties for a 48-yard touchdown with 1:42 left in the first half.
The Tomcats drove the field on the opening possession of the second half to cut the Spartan lead. The 12-play, 75-yard drive was capped off when Radke threw a 15-yard touchdown pass to Jaquan Hicks (Ware Shoals, S.C./Ware Shoals) on fourth down.
A play after Joe Serratore (Pittsburgh, Pa./South Park) intercepted the Spartan quarterback and returned the ball to the Spartan 38-yard line, Radke ran 38 yards down the sideline for a touchdown. However, the Spartans ran the clock out to seal the victory.
Radke went 18-for-33 with 169 passing yards and two touchdowns. On the ground, Radke ran 24 times for 142 yards and a touchdown.
Sam Fitzpatrick (Delray Beach, Fla./Village Academy) caught five of Radke's passes while Bracy and Alex Horvatits (Lancaster, N.Y./Saint Mary's ) reeled in four catches apiece.
The linebacker tandem of Doak Walker Jr. (Canton, Ohio/Canton-McKinley), Tyron Bynum (McKeesport, Pa./McKeesport) and Jake Elk (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) paced the Tomcat defense. Walker Jr. had a team-high nine tackles while Bynum and Elk tallied eight and seven stops, respectively. Bynum added a half-sack and a tackle for loss. Randy Groves (New Middletown, Ohio/Springfield) also contributed seven tackles.
The Tomcats (2-4, 1-3 PAC) will be back in action Saturday, Oct. 22 when they head to Pittsburgh, Pa., to face the Carnegie Mellon Tartans in conference action. The opening kickoff at Gesling Stadium is scheduled for 1 p.m.
