GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel College football team suffered a 41-7 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) loss to the Carnegie Mellon Tartans Saturday at Alumni Stadium.
The Tartans scored on the opening drive of the game when Rory Hubbard darted into the end zone from three yards out to cap off a nine-play effort.
The Tomcats drove the ball on their opening drive of the game, but Thomas Polutchko picked off a pass on a second-and-10 play at the Tartan 31-yard line and returned it 70 yards for a touchdown to open up a 14-0 lead.
Thiel's offense went back to work on the ensuing drive and cut the lead in half when
Damon Smith (South Park, Pa./South Park) threw a 36-yard touchdown pass to
Devin Turner (South Park, Pa./South Park) to cap off a 10-play drive that covered 73 yards and consumed 5:26 of the first quarter clock.
Carnegie Mellon went on to score 34 unanswered points over the remainder of the game while refusing to give up another point to Thiel.
Hubbard led the Tartans on the ground with 133 yards and a pair of scores on 20 carries. Alex Cline completed 13-of-16 passes for 157 yards. He threw one touchdown pass and one interception.
Carnegie Mellon's Karl Kumm recorded game-bests in receiving yards (71) and receptions (6). He caught a five-yard touchdown pass from Cline early in the second quarter. Kris Hughes also contributed five receptions for 52 yards.
Brandon Nguyen went 2-for-2 on field goal tries for CMU. He made a 34-yarder as time expired in the first half and a 33-yarder in the fourth quarter.
Nick Barca (Pittsburgh, Pa./Baldwin) paced the Tomcats with 101 rushing yards on 27 carries.
Damon Smith (South Park, Pa./South Park) completed 5-of-14 passes for 77 yards and one score. He also ran for 57 yards on 13 carries.
Keyandre Hood (Barberton, Ohio/Barberton) caught two passes for 27 yards.
Cody Wagner (Pittsburgh, Pa./Brashear) led Thiel on defense with 10 tackles, two of which were behind the line of scrimmage.
Raymond Jackson (Pittsburgh, Pa./Imani Christian Academy) made nine tackles while
Dusty Maines (Clearfield, Pa./Clearfield) and
Matt Crawford (Greenville, Pa./Greenville) each contributed seven tackles.
Malik Beckford (Margate, Fla./J.P. Taravella) made a pair of tackles and intercepted a pass, which he returned 20 yards.
Quinn Zsido recorded a game-best 13 tackles for the Tartans while Quinn Gaughan made 10 stops, all of which were solo efforts. Polutchko, Anthony Kennon and Sean Knight each intercepted a pass.
The Tomcats are idle next weekend. They will host the Bethany Bison Saturday, Nov. 3. The PAC game is scheduled to begin at Alumni Stadium at 1 p.m.
