Game Leaders
Team Stats
Passing Yards
Rushing Yards
Turnovers
Time of Poss.
BETHANY, W.Va. – Nick Barca ran for a career-best 189 yards Saturday and scored two fourth-quarter touchdowns to lead the Thiel Tomcats to a 28-13 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) win over the Bethany Bison.
Trailing 13-7 at the half the Tomcats used a Bison fumble to take a slim 14-13 lead when Charles Debose plowed into the end zone from one yard out with 1:18 remaining in the third quarter.
The fourth quarter belonged to Thiel's offensive line and a powerful ground game led by Barca, who scored touchdowns on runs of 28- and 2-yards to seal the Tomcats' first win of the season.
Barca's 189 yards came on 33 totes. He averaged 5.7 yards per carry and his long run on the day was a 30-yarder. Thiel dominated the ground game on both sides of the ball. The offense racked up 232 yards on 54 carries and scored three touchdowns while the defense limited the Bison to 65 yards on 31 attempts.
After forcing the Bison to go three-and-out on the first possession of the game Thiel's offense embarked on a 10-play drive that covered 85 yards, consumed nearly five minutes of the game clock and ended with an 8-yard touchdown pass from Ronald Brown to Justin Zinsmeister.
Bethany came back with a long drive of its own later in the first quarter, which ended on a 3-yard touchdown run by Carlin Bason that tied the game, 7-7.
The Bison pieced together another long drive that ended with a go-ahead touchdown run by quarterback Chase Kinemond early in the second quarter. However, the 2-point conversion try was denied, and the Tomcats went on to take the lead on Debose's 1-yard run late in the third quarter.
Brown completed 14-of-27 passes for 152 yards for the Tomcats. He threw one touchdown pass and one interception while also running for 34 yards. Kinemond completed 19-of-33 passes for 225 yards.
Ryan Rowland was Brown's top target with five catches for 51 yards. Zinsmeister contributed three receptions for 50 yards. Shaq Ellis caught six passes from Kinemond for 58 yards.
Joe Serratore led the Tomcats with six tackles, 1.5 of which was for a loss of yards. He also forced a fumble. Will Gatling led Bethany on defense with 13 tackles and an interception.
The Tomcats (1-2, 1-0 PAC) will host the Geneva Golden Tornadoes Saturday at Alumni Stadium. The PAC game is scheduled to begin at 1 p.m.