The Westminser Titans came to Chuck Noll Field and defeated Saint Vincent, leaving with a 27-14 victory over the Bearcats on Homecoming Day.

Westminster received the opening kickoff and systematically worked their way downfield on the opening drive, putting together a 13-play, 72-yard drive, culminating in a one-yard touchdown run by Nick McCloskey, who ran for 121 yards on the day.  

Saint Vincent answered right back on the ensuing drive.  When the drive originally stalled at midfield, SVC's Anthony Johnson took a short snap on a fake punt and picked up five yards to keep the drive going.  Later, Kevin Corona hit Zach Mihalko with a screen pass, and Mihalko did the rest, taking the ball 19 yards into the end zone.  After Aaron Jones' extra point, the game was tied, 7-7.

Westminster's next possession resulted in more points, but the SVC defense stopped the visitors on the 25, forcing Trevor Young to hit a 42-yard field goal that made it 10-7, Titans.

Midway through the second quarter, the Titans added to their lead when Kevin Franz hit McCloskey with a 13-yard scoring pass, and the half ended with the Bearcats trailing, 17-7.

In the third quarter, Young hit a 21-yard field goal to make it 20-7, and after a Bearcat punt, Franz connected with Jon Gubish on a 36-yard touchdown pass to put the Titans up by 20 points, 27-7.

The Bearcat offense went back to work late in the third, with quarterback Jake Smith at the helm.  A 33-yard pass to Mihalko moved the ball across midfield, then Smith scrambled for a 17-yard gain on fourth down to keep the drive alive.  The drive again appeared to be stalled at the Titan 2, but on fourth down, Smith handed to Jairus Marlow, who approached the line, stopped and threw a jump pass to tight end Jake Gabelt in the end zone for a Bearcat score that cut the margin to 27-14.

On their next drive, Saint Vincent again appeared poised to score.  Smith and Marlow connected for 23 yards to take the ball to the Westminster 17, then, following a penalty, a 22-yard run by Mihalko made it first and goal at the five.  After a pass interference call put the ball at the 2-yard line, the Westminster defense stepped up, stopping the Bearcats and forcing the ball to be turned over on downs, and the Titans regained the momentum and posted the 27-14 win.

McCloskey led all rushers in the game with 121 yards, while Mihalko gained 37 on the ground for SVC.  Westminster's Franz was a solid 15-for-19 for 167 yards passing.  For SVC, Corona was 9-20 for 86 yards, while Smith was 6-17 for 87 yards.

Marvin Daney (SVC) and Chad Rosatelli (WES) each had four catches for 34 yards.  Mihalko caught a pair of passes for 52 yards.  Marlow, Sheldon Loughner, Phil Masciantonio and Dan Blaszkowski each had two catches for the Bearcats.

Defensively, Anthony Johnson had 12 tackles for SVC, while David Ribero tallied 11 and Sean Hufgard had 10.  Cory Meeker led the Titan defense with 8 stops, while Neil Falco had a pair of quarterback sacks.

Overall, Westminster put up 317 yards of total offense compared to 225 for Saint Vincent.

With the win, Westminster improves to 1-2 on the year, while SVC drops to 0-3.   Saint Vincent will be on the road next week at Waynesburg.  Kickoff will be 1:30PM.

Photo (By Jeremy Smith):  The Bearcats' Zach Mihalko fights for tough yardage against Westminster