The gritty Bearcats gave seventh-ranked Washington & Jefferson all it could handle, before the Presidents were able to escape Latrobe with a 21-7 victory. 

The Bearcat defense turned in an impressive performance, limiting the vaunted W&J offense to 324 yards, 107 under their season average.  It was the W&J defense, however, that turned in the biggest play of the game, recovering a fumble in the end zone late in the fourth quarter to ward off the Saint Vincent upset bid.

W&J got on the board first, capping off an 11-play, 55-yard drive with an 11-yard pass from Gino Rometo to Zach DeCicco with 8:35 remaining in the first quarter.

The Presidents' looked poised to add onto their lead on their next trip, setting up a first-and-goal from seven yards out.  SVC's defense then made its first big stand of the day, with Rob James breaking up a pass in the end zone on third down before Jeff Graham batted down another Rometo throw at the line of scrimmage on the next play to force the turnover on downs.

SVC then went to the ground on its next possession, with quarterback Jake Smith running for 22 yards on three carries, and halfback Zach Mihalko gaining 26 yards on five tries, setting up a Bearcat first down on the W&J 20.  The drive then ended prematurely, with the Presidents' Michael Trunzo intercepting a Smith pass on the seven yardline.

W&J gained just five yards on its next three plays, giving the Bearcats the ball at midfield after a punt.  The Bearcat drive then appeared to stall, sending the punt team out on fourth-and-six at the W&J 44.  Mike Speal then took the direct snap on the fake punt, and raced eight yards up the middle for the Bearcat first down.

Smith then hit Sheldon Loughner with a 26 yard pass down the sideline, setting up a Bearcat first-and-goal on the nine, but W&J's defense held, with Trunzo breaking up another pass intended for Loughner in the end zone on fourth down, sending the game into halftime with W&J up 7-0.

The Presidents looked to add to their lead in the opening stages of the second half, with Rometo completing passes of 11, 28, 16, and 14 yards to set up a W&J first-and-goal on the SVC eight.

The Bearcat defense then came up big yet again, forcing a pair of Rometo incompletions, forcing W&J to bring on the field goal unit.  The Presidents missed the 24-yard attempt, and the score remained 7-0 with eight minutes gone in the third quarter.

After Jairus Marlow opened the ensuing drive with a five yard run, Smith and Loughner hooked up again, this time for 34 yards, to give SVC the first down on the W&J 42.  The Presidents defense then responded, with Jacob Bloomhuff sacking Smith and forcing a fumble, which was recovered by Gavin Donathan to give W&J the ball on its own 40.

The Presidents took advantage of the Bearcat miscue, embarking on a drive capped off with a five-yard Terrance McAllister touchdown run to make the score 14-0 W&J with just over two minutes left in the third.

James then took the ensuing kickoff back 48 yards to the W&J 17, and a pair of Mihalko runs set up another first-and-goal for SVC on the one.  After a delay of game penalty backed up the ball to the six, the Bearcats used another special play, with fullback Mike Kale taking a pitch and hitting Smith with a pass.  The quarterback was brought down just shy of the goalline, setting up fourth-and-goal, and the Presidents snuffed an SVC run attempt to take over on downs to end the third quarter.

After trading scoreless possessions to open up the final stanza, the Bearcats got on the board in a big way.  On second and 10 on his own 16, Smith hit Dan Blaszkowski on a slant, and the receiver raced 84 yards down the sideline untouched for the SVC touchdown.  Aaron Jones' extra point was good, and the Bearcats were down just 14-7 with 5:30 left in regulation.

W&J was unable to gain a first down on their next possession, but Joe Kelly pinned the Bearcats down inside their own one with a 45-yard punt.  Two plays later, Brandon Bovina recovered an SVC fumble in the end zone, closing out the day's scoring and giving the Presidents the 21-7 victory.

The Bearcat defensive unit was led on the day by junior Alex Rowan, who made 11 stops, while Armando Fortunato added nine and David Ribero eight, including 1.5 for loss.  James broke up three passes in the secondary, while making three tackles on the afternoon.

In his first start of the season, Smith completed 12 of 27 passes for 185 yards.  Blaszkowski and Loughner shared the team lead with three catches apiece, for 86 and 61 yards, respectively.  Mihalko led the SVC ground game with 55 yards on 17 carries.

Rometo completed 14 of 25 passes for 156 yards, with Craig Besong hauling in a game-high five receptions for 49 yards.  McAllister ran for 90 yards on 13 tries.  Defensively, Neil Sorice led the Presidents (6-0) with 11 tackles, with Craig Sedunov adding seven.

The Bearcats (0-7) will now embark on a two-game road swing, beginning with a 7pm contest next Saturday evening at Geneva College.

Photo (By Jeremy Smith):  SVC quarterback Jake Smith fights for yardage against W&J