The Westminster football team scored 27 unanswered points on Saturday afternoon to grab the 34-13 win over Crown College. The Westminster Blue Jays bring home the conference win, putting them 1-0 in conference play and 1-1 on the season. The win also gives Head Coach John Welty his 75th career win at Westminster.
The Blue Jays won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, and Crown scored on the opening drive. Crown went for the PAT, but junior Christian Houston blocked the kick to keep the score at 6-0.
The Blue Jays drive started on their own 37. A 40-yard pass from senior quarterback Joe Plassmeyer put them at Crown's 31-yard line. A 5-yard touchdown pass from Plassmeyer to sophomore Mike Washington tied the game at 6-6 with 11 seconds left on the clock. Junior Kevin Ludwig's kick attempt was good, giving the Blue Jays the 7-6 lead.
Crown scored on the opening drive of the second quarter, taking the 13-7 lead, but a passing game on the next drive led to the Blue Jays on Crown's 13-yard line with 1st and 10. A 10-yard pass from Plassmeyer to junior CJ Vaughan gave the Blue Jays their second touchdown of the day. Ludwig's PAT was good, giving the Blue Jays the lead back.
Crown's next drive was cut short with a forced fumble by Westminster's sophomore Kyree Hart on the Westminster 10-yard line, and junior Bret Robertson recovered the fumble at the 9-yard line. Freshman Latif Adams dominated the drive with a total of 47 rushing yards, but the clock ran out before the Blue Jays could see the end zone.
With 10:28 left in the third quarter, Crown started their second drive of the half. Westminster's Hart sacked Crown's quarterback for a loss of six yards, forcing him to fumble. Hart recovered the ball and returned the ball 38 yards for a Blue Jay touchdown. Ludwig's PAT was good, giving the Blue Jays a 21-13 lead.
With 9:29 left in the game, the Blue Jays were forced to take a field goal from the 10-yard line. The snap was bad, so senior holder Christian Moulton ran the ball in for a 10-yard touchdown. A good PAT by Ludwig put the Blue Jays up 28-13.
Crown was 4-1 on the Westminster 46-yard line and attempted to rush, but freshman Sean Freeman and senior Brett Carrigan stopped them in their tracks. Westminster took over, and with a 15-yard pass to senior Kyle Watts, a 14-yard pass to Vaughan, and three rushes, the Blue Jays were on the Crown 14-yard line. Plassmeyer completed his second touchdown pass to Washington, bringing the Blue Jays lead to 34-13 with two minutes left of play.
The Blue Jays held Crown to a gain of just four yards in their final drive. A sack by senior Steven Scott and sophomore Odunayo Oyesanya gave the Blue Jays possession on the Crown 29-yard line with 43 second left in the game. With two team rushes to run out the time, the Blue Jays grabbed the 34-13 win.
Plassmeyer threw 248 yards with 21 completions and 3 touchdowns. Vaughan led the Blue Jays' offense with 120 all purpose yards, including 92 receiving yards and 28 kick return yards. Adams finished with 112 rushing yards on 12 carries.
Ludwig went a perfect 4-for-4 on PAT's. He had 324 kickoff yards, including two touchbacks. He averaged 39.2 punting yards, including two in the 20-yard line.
Robertson and Freeman led the Blue Jays' defense with 12 and 11 tackles, respectively.
The Blue Jays travel to Jacksonville, Illinois next Saturday, September 20, to face MacMurray College in their second conference match-up of the season. Kickoff is at 1:00 p.m.