BETHANY, W.Va. – The Thiel Tomcats suffered a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) loss on the road to the Bethany Bison Saturday, 37-7.
 
The Bison opened up a 21-0 lead midway through the second quarter on a pair of touchdown runs by Carlin Bason from three and eight yards out, as well as a 52-yard interception return by Quron Eggleston.
 
The Tomcats cut the lead down to 14 points with 4:36 remaining before halftime on an eight-yard touchdown pass from Marlon Brown (White Plains, Md./St. Charles) to Caleb Shuler (New Brighton, Pa./New Brighton), capping off a seven-play drive that consumed 3:53 and covered 61 yards. Chris Rosales (Port St. Lucie, Fla./St. Lucie West Centennial) converted the extra point.
 
Thiel's defense pushed Bethany's offense back 26 yards on the ensuing drive. The Bison went on to punt from their own three-yard line, setting Thiel's offense up at the Bethany 36-yard line with 2:44 left before halftime.
 
The Tomcats drove down to the Bethany 13-yard line, but a sack on third-and-10 coupled with a false start penalty forced a 41-yard field goal attempt that sailed wide to the left.
 
Bethany increased its lead to 28-7 late in the third quarter when Dom Salinetro threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to Hunter Klein. In the fourth quarter, Phil Taylor scored on a 13-yard interception return and the Bison added two points on a safety.
 
Matt Crawford (Greenville, Pa./Greenville) led the Tomcats with 37 yards on the ground on six carries. Gregory Avent ran for 104 yards on 16 carries for the Bison. Bason ran for 64 yards and a pair of scores on 17 attempts.
 
Marko Bakovic (Stockholm, N.J./Wallkill Valley) completed 10 passes for 100 yards. Shuler caught five passes, including a touchdown reception, for 59 yards.
 
Trou Johnson (Penn Hills, Pa./Penn Hills) and Crawford led Thiel with nine tackles apiece. Daniel Gibson and Chas Blango combined for 17 tackles, 10 of which were behind the line of scrimmage, and nine sacks. Dadrick Vickers intercepted three passes.
 
The Tomcats will conclude the 2019 season Saturday when they host the Grove City Wolverines at Alumni Stadium in the 36^th battle for the Mercer County Cup. Kickoff for the PAC game is scheduled for noon.