PITTSBURGH, Pa. -- The No. 12 Washington & Jefferson College football team fell by a 20-13 score to Carnegie Mellon University in a Presidents' Athletic Conference game at Gesling Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The Tartans used a 29-yard go-ahead touchdown pass with just 5:11 to go to break a fourth quarter tie. The CMU victory snapped a five-game winning streak for W&J in the head-to-head series since the Tartans rejoined the PAC.
Defense dominated the first half as neither offense could find the end zone. In fact, Carnegie Mellon did not record a first down in the entire first quarter.
However, Carnegie Mellon scored first, taking a 3-0 lead on a 41-yard field goal by Brandon Nguyen with 9:25 left in the opening quarter. The Tartans were set up with good field position after Quinn Gaughan intercepted a Jacob Adams (Louisville, Ohio/Louisville) pass at the W&J 31-yard line. The Presidents defense limited the damage with a three and out but the Tartans kick gave them the advantage.
Nguyen extended the Tartans lead to 6-0 with one second remaining in the first half. The 46-yard boot was a career long for Nguyen.
The two teams combined to go 0-for-16 on third down conversions in the first half. W&J also was 0-for-3 on fourth down plays in the first half, two of which resulted in turnover on downs in the red zone.
The Tartans opened the second half with a nine-play, 67-yard scoring drive to strengthen their lead to 13-0 after a successful point after by Nguyen.
Trailing by two scores, the W&J offense quickly answered with a nine-play, 52-yard touchdown drive. The Presidents capped the drive when Adams connected with junior receiver Cameron O'Brien (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) for a 10-yard touchdown pass. A failed point after attempt left W&J trailing 13-6 at the 7:14 mark of the third quarter.
After a defensive stop by the W&J defense, a CMU punt pinned the Presidents at their own six-yard line. Trailing by a score, Adams hit O'Brien in stride for a 94-yard catch and run for a touchdown. The 94-yard pass broke the W&J school record for longest passing play, which was a 91-yard pass by Chris Edwards to Mike Virgin in 2003. The Phillips point after tied the score at 13-13 at the end of the third quarter.
The lone score of the fourth quarter was the go-ahead touchdown catch by Willie Richter from CMU quarterback JD Dayhuff with 5:11 to play. The Presidents had two opportunities to drive to tie the game. The first chance ended when Adams had his fourth down pass batted away at the line to give CMU the ball at the W&J 43.
A three and out forced a CMU punt, which would give W&J one final chance with 1:48 to play. However, Adams was intercepted on the first play of the drive to seal the win for Carnegie Mellon.
Adams completed 18-of-39 passes for 262 yards with two touchdown passes and two interceptions. O'Brien hauled in a pair of touchdown receptions for a second consecutive week. O'Brien finished with 111 receiving yards on just three catches. Payton Skalos (Cranberry Township, Pa./Seneca Valley) tallied nine catches for 93 yards. On the ground, Jordan West (Washington, Pa./Washington) paced the rushing attack with 72 yards.
The defensive unit finished with another strong day, as the group limited CMU to 63 yards rushing on the afternoon. The defense posted eight sacks, two interceptions and held the Tartans to 4-of-18 on third down conversions.
Defensively, sophomore linebacker Mitch DeZort (Tarentum, Pa./Highlands) registered a team-high 11 tackles, 3.5 sacks and 4.0 tackles for loss. Alex Keith (Hartville, Ohio/Lake) just missed out on double figures, as the sophomore tallied nine stops. Joey Koroly (Washington, Pa./Trinity) registered two interceptions in the loss.
CMU countered with an exceptional defensive performance by Gaughan, who posted a whopping 17 tackles. Gaughan also added an interception, a fumble recovery and 2.5 tackles for loss.
The loss drops W&J to 2-1 overall and evens its PAC record at 1-1. The win improves Carnegie Mellon to 3-0 overall and 2-0 in the league.
The Presidents travel to Grove City College for its third straight conference road game on Saturday, Sept. 28. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.
Late touchdown helps Carnegie Mellon down No. 12 W&J
/seasons/2019/boxscores/20190921_nzaw.xml
2019
Washington and Jefferson
13
Carnegie Mellon
20
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Washington and Jefferson (2-1) | 0 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 13 |
| Carnegie Mellon (3-0) | 3 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 20 |
Sep 21, 2019