Football: Titans Lose Nail-Bitter in Homecoming Game Against Grove City

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. - The Westminster College football team lost the lead and the game with 18 seconds left in regulation to the visiting Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) foe Grove City, 23-21, in Westminster's Homecoming game. The Titans dropped to 2-2 overall and 1-1 in the PAC, while the Wolverines improved to 3-2 overall and 2-1 in the conference.


It was almost a mirror image to how the Titans lost to the nationally ranked Thomas More two weeks ago, when Westminster was leading 23-20 with a minute remaining in the game. The Saints would go on and score the game-winning touchdown with 18 seconds left on the clock. Today, Westminster was up 21-17 with 3:26 to go in the game. The Wolverines then conducted a 12-play-66-yards drive that was capped off with 5-yard touchdown pass from Grove City quarterback Brian Pell to receiver Anthony Ritchie, leaving 18 seconds on the clock. The Titans got the ball to Grove City's 12-yard line after a 32-yard pass-and-catch from junior Dak Britt ((Battle Creek, MI / Battle Creek) to senior Collin Wallace (Mechanicsburg, PA / Cumberland Valley), however the game ended as time expired.


Grove City took a 7-0 lead with 8:46 to play in the first quarter when quarterback Brian Pell scored on a 5-yard run. On Westminster's ensuing possession, junior Tyler Banks (Meadville, PA / Meadville) scored his fourth rushing touchdown of the year with a 3-yard plunge to tie the game 7-7 with 4:12 left in the quarter.


The Wolverines regained the lead with 9:06 left in the first half when Pell completed a 10-yard pass to Anthony Ritchie to put Grove City up 14-7. Running back Shane Kaclik had a 61-yard run that gave the Wolverines a first-and-ten at Westminster's 12-yard line. Grove City added insurance with a 35-yard field goal as time expired to end the first half to take a 17-7 halftime lead.


Westminster, at the 2:41 mark in the third quarter, got the ball at its 48-yard line, when Titan freshman Darrin Donikowski (Erie, PA / Mercyhurst Prep.) intercepted his first pass of his collegiate career. Grove City's Pell lost the ball initially as he was hit by junior Sean Christofferson (New Wilmington, Pa. / Wilmington), but managed to stay on his feet. The Titans narrowed Grove City's lead to 17-14 when Britt scored on a 1-yard run.


The Titans took a 21-17 lead, their first of the game, with 10:23 to go in the fourth quarter, when Britt found senior Geno Pasquinelli (Salem, OH/Salem) for a 21-yard score.


For the game, Pasquinelli had a team-high five catches for 49 yards a score and now ranks sixth all-time in Westminster history with 127 career receptions.


Banks added 91 rushing yards off 17 carries and a touchdown. Britt was 12-for-19 for 137 yards and threw a touchdown and had one interception.


Junior Dylan Heitmeier (Venetia, PA / Peters Township) led the Titan defense with a career-high 11 tackles. Junior Nate Moot (Johnstown, PA / Bishop McCort) added seven tackles, while senior Derrick Orloski (Butler, PA / Slippery Rock) and junior Taylor Heinrich (Brookville, PA / Brookeville) earned 6.5 tackles each.


Westminster will enter its second bye week of the season and will travel to Washington & Jefferson on October 13 at 1:30 p.m.