Behind a four-touchdown performance from senior quarterback Drew Saxton and another smothering performance by its defense, the Case Western Reserve University football team rolled to a 45-7 win over Bethany College on Saturday afternoon at DiSanto Field.
The Spartans have now won five of their last six games to improve to 5-2 overall, including a 4-1 mark in Presidents' Athletic Conference play. CWRU remained half a game back of 18th-ranked Carnegie Mellon in the league standings, with the Tartans set to host Geneva later today under the lights and moved into sole possession of second place following Grove City's loss to Westminster earlier in the day.
Bethany fell to 1-6 overall and 0-5 in the PAC following the loss.
Saxton completed 16-of-20 passes for 212 yards and four touchdowns with nine different Spartans catching at least one pass in the game. The Spartans' rushing attack matched its season high with 237 yards on the ground, including a game-high 85 yards for senior running back Antonio Orsini, who also caught three passes for 24 yards and a score. Junior Riley Knurek, sophomore Gage Duesler, and sophomore Noah Coyne each caught touchdown passes as well, as CWRU matched its season-high with 45 points for the third-straight week and totaled 498 yards.
The CWRU defense limited Bethany to just 200 yards of offense and notched its first two interceptions of the season with junior Sean Torres and senior DJ Wolf each picking off a pass, and Wolf taking one distance for a score. Junior Kaden Tong led all Spartan players with eight tackles (four solo), 1.5 sacks, 2.5 tackles for loss, a forced fumble, and a quarterback hurry.
Also turning in a strong performance was sophomore Joseph Rhodes V, who helped the Spartans win the field position battle with five touchbacks on kickoffs and a 38.5-yard average on punts, while also converting a 22-yard field goal and all six of his extra-point attempts.
CWRU dominated the first half of the game, holding Bethany to just 47 yards of offense and one first down while possessing the ball for nearly 22 minutes. After the two teams both punted to start the game, CWRU's offense got on track on its second drive of the contest, going 85 yards downfield on 13 plays and taking a 7-0 lead on a two-yard pass from Saxton to Orsini with 5:44 left in the first quarter. Rhodes' field goal with 12:26 to play in the half extended CWRU's lead to 10-0 and an 18-yard pass from Saxton to Coyne put CWRU in front 17-0 by halftime.
The Spartans went on to put the game out of reach quickly in the third quarter. After a three-and-out by the Bethany offense to start the quarter, CWRU needed just four plays to extend its lead to 24-0 on a 14-yard pass from Saxton to Knurek. On the Bison's next play from scrimmage, Wolf intercepted a pass and returned it 34 yards for a score, putting CWRU in front 31-0 with 12:14 left in the third.
It was the Spartans' first pick-six since Kevin Chrissis returned an interception for a touchdown against Carnegie Mellon on November 10, 2018.
CWRU added touchdowns with 36 seconds left in the third quarter on a 49-yard catch and run from Saxton to Duesler to put the team ahead 38-0, and on an eight-yard run by first-year Caden Parlett with 7:02 to play in the game, the first of his career.
Case Western Reserve will begin a stretch of back-to-back road games next weekend when the team travels to face Allegheny College on Saturday, October 29 at 1:00 p.m. in Meadville, Pennsylvania. This will be the first meeting between the Spartans and the Gators (who joined the PAC before the start of the season) since the 2011 campaign.