Kues Passes No. 8 Thomas More to a 37-7 Homecoming Win Over Grove City

(CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky.) - Junior quarterback Rob Kues (Fort Thomas, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) threw four touchdown passes to lead the eighth-ranked Thomas More College football team to a 37-7 win over Grove City College today (Saturday, October 8, 2011) on Homecoming at The Bank of Kentucky Field in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.

With the win, the Saints improve to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) and with the loss, the Wolverines fall to 0-5 overall and 0-3 in the PAC.

Thomas More never trailed in the game as the game was tied at 7-7 after one quarter and the Saints led 23-7 at halftime and 30-7 after three quarters.

The Saints took a 7-0 on their first offensive play as Kues connected on a 46-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Corie Cartmell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Oak Hills) and senior place kicker Aaron Walter (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) added the point-after-attempt at the 11:59 mark of the first quarter.

Grove City tied the game at 7-7 with 2:24 to play in the first quarter when Anthony Ritchie caught a 13-yard touchdown pass from Brian Pell and Ethan Witmer added the PAT.

Thomas More extended the lead to 10-7 with 12:59 to play in the second quarter when Walter connected on a 37-yard field goal.

Kues threw a 12-yard touchdown pass to freshman wide receiver Jordan Shelton (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) and Walter added the PAT to extend the lead to 17-7 with 7:47 to play in the first half.

Thomas More took a 23-7 lead into halftime when sophomore running back Domonique Hayden (Lexington, Ky./Lexington Christian Academy) caught a 39-yard touchdown pass from Kues and Walter's PAT failed with 1:08 to play in the second quarter.

The Saints extended the lead to 30-7 with 4:39 to play in the third quarter when Hayden scored on a 26-yard run and Walter added the PAT.

Junior wide receiver Tony Bell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Northwest) caught a 20-yard touchdown pass from Kues and Walter added the PAT to cap the scoring at 37-7 with 5:50 to play in the fourth quarter.

Kues was 19-of-26 passing for 264 yards and four touchdowns to lead the offense.  Hayden led the Saints on the ground as he had 16 rushes for 86 yards and a touchdown and added two catches for 44 yards and one touchdown, while senior running back Kendall Owens (Cincinnati, Ohio/LaSalle) had six carries for 29 yards and had three catches for 35 yards.  Cartmell led the Saints in receiving yards as he had six catches for 91 yards and a touchdown and sophomore running back Adam Rauch (Yorkville, Ind./East Central) had three catches for 42 yards and added three rushes for 13 yards.

Defensively, freshman linebacker Nate Dorsey (Henderson, Ky./Hederson County), freshman defensive back Shaquille Jinks (Cincinnati, Ohio/Moeller), sophomore defensive tackle Jake Smith (Newport, Ky./Newport Central Catholic) and junior linebacker Nick Gramke (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) all led the Saints in tackles with six.  Dorsey also had a sack and two tackles for a loss, Jinks added a sack, a force fumble and a fumble recovery and Smith added a sack and two and a half tackles for a loss.

Thomas More returns to the road next Saturday (October 15) as it travels to Latrobe, Pennsylvania to play PAC rival Saint Vincent College at 1 p.m. at Chuck Noll Field.