GREENVILLE, Pa. – The Thiel Tomcats were defeated Saturday by the 17^th-ranked Carnegie Mellon Tartans at Alumni Stadium, 35-6.
 
Carnegie Mellon's first touchdown came near the end of the first quarter on a blocked punt that was recovered and returned four yards by Kevin Cooke.
 
The Tartans extended their lead to 14-0 near the midpoint of the second quarter when Wildcat quarterback Joey McGinnis IV scored from one yard out to cap off a six-play, 33-yard drive.
 
Emmanuel Obu returned the opening kickoff in the second half 64 yards down to the Thiel 16-yard line. Cole Franklin scored on a one-yard run four plays later to give the Tartans a 21-0 lead. Later in the third, Will Squibb scored on a nine-yard run to make it 28-0.
 
Owen Trumbull (Bear Lake, Pa./Eisenhower) scored on a one-yard run early in the fourth quarter to cut the lead down to 28-6. Trumbull's score finished off a six-play, 63-yard drive. The key play on the drive was a 33-yard pass from Trumbull to Kenyatta Taylor (Gwynn Oak, Md./Woodlawn), which put Thiel in a first-and-goal situation at the Carnegie Mellon 2-yard line.
 
CMU's Brian Stacy scored the final touchdown of the game with 1:54 remaining on a 39-yard pass from Jack Fierro.
 
Trumbull completed 23-of-39 passes for 176 yards. Alexander Anderson (Warren, Pa./Warren) led Thiel with five receptions for 18 yards. Andre Rodgers (Euclid, Ohio/Benedictine) caught four passes for 46 yards.
 
Franklin led the Tartans on the ground with 82 yards on 24 carries.
 
Jared Curcio (Avonmore, Pa./Kiski Area) led the Tomcats with seven tackles. Chad Morningstar (Saxton, Pa./Tussey Mountain) recorded five tackles and one sack. Caleb Shuler (New Brighton, Pa./New Brighton), who made four tackles, intercepted a pass and broke up two passes.
 
The Tomcats will face the Bethany Bison on the road on Saturday. Kickoff for the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) game is set for 4:30 p.m.