(CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky.) – The 12th-ranked Thomas More College football team ran past 13th-ranked Washington & Jefferson College, 38-20, today (Saturday, October 3, 2015) in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) and Top-15 game at BB&T Field in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.
With the win, the Saints improve to 5-0 overall and 3-0 in the PAC. With the loss, the Presidents fall to 3-1 overall and 1-1 in the PAC.
W&J led 10-7 at one quarter, but the Saints led 21-13 at halftime and 24-20 after three quarters.
The Presidents took a 3-0 lead with 8:30 to play in the first quarter when Ted Ford made a 25-yard field goal.
Thomas More then took a 7-3 lead when senior quarterback Jensen Gebhardt (Kings Mills, Ky./Kings) connected on a 25-yard touchdown pass to senior wide receiver Goose Cohorn (Independence, Ky./Dixie Heights) and senior place kicker Tommy Budke (Colerain, (Ohio/Colerain) added the point-after-attempt.
W&J regained the lead with 2:04 to play in the first quarter when Jesse Zubik caught a 28-yard touchdown pass from Pete Coughlin and Ford added the PAT to make the score 10-7.
Gebhardt and Cohorn connected on a 17-yard touchdown score and Budke added the PAT as the Saints took a 14-10 lead with 6:06 to play in the second quarter.
W&J cut the lead to 14-13 with 40-seconds to play in the half when Ford made a 23-yard field goal.
Thomas More extended the lead to 21-13 at halftime when Gebhardt connected on a 36-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Daylin Garland II (Newport, Ky./Newport) and Budke added the PAT with .8-second to play in the half.
In the third quarter, the Saints increased the lead 24-13 when Budke made a 23-yard field goal with 10:08 to play in the quarter.
The Presidents cut the lead to 24-20 when Ryan Ruffing scored on a 1-yard run and Ford added the PAT with 5:58 to play in the third quarter.
Sophomore running back C.T. Tarrant (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton) scored on a 14-yard run and Budke added the PAT as the Saints extended the lead to 31-20 with 14:54 to play in the fourth quarter.
Thomas More closed out the scoring with 1:36 to play in the game when Tarrant scored on a 9-yard run and Budke added the PAT for the final score of 38-20.
Thomas More had 439 yards of total offense as it had 220 rushing and 219 passing.
Tarrant led the offense as he had 193 yards and two touchdowns on 37 carries, while also pulling in three catches for 14 yards. Gebhardt was 13-of-26 passing for 190 yards and three touchdowns. Sophomore quarterback Brenan Kuntz (Independence, Ky./Simon Kenton) was 3-for-6 passing for 29 yards and had four carries for 32 yards. Cohorn finished the game with five catches for 90 yards and two touchdowns and Garland had four catches for 64 yards and one touchdown.
Sophomore linebacker Tre' Tunstill (Indianapolis, Ind./Ben Davis) led the team in tackles with nine (seven solo, two assisted), including one for a loss. Senior defensive back Ian Gunn (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) had eight tackles (all solo), including two for a loss, junior linebacker Austin Copeland (Cincinnati, Ohio/Kings) had eight tackles (seven solo, one assisted) and sophomore defensive back Johnny Lammers (Cincinnati, Ohio/Elder) had eight tackles (seven solo, one assisted) and one interception.
Thomas More remains at home next week (October 10) as it hosts Geneva. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m. at BB&T Field.