The Case Western Reserve University football team continued its torrid pace to start the 2024 campaign with another big output from its offense and a smothering performance from its defense, besting Allegheny College 58-14 in Meadville, Pennsylvania, on Saturday afternoon.
With the win, the Spartans improved to 4-0 on the season overall and in Presidents' Athletic Conference play, while Allegheny dropped to 1-4 overall and in the PAC.
Junior wide receiver Dylan Cave had a career-high 128 receiving yards and two touchdowns on just five receptions, and senior wideout Noah Coyne had a season-best 130 receiving yards on just four catches. Senior quarterback Alex Fromberg completed 12 of his 29 passes for 286 yards and two scores, adding 25 yards on the ground, and junior quarterback Aaron Filips completed all five of his passes for 67 yards and one touchdown in the air and on the ground . Four Spartans scored a rushing touchdown during the contest, including Filips, sophomore Sam DeTillio (the first of his career), sophomore Mitchell Waite, and senior Gage Duesler.
The Spartan defense allowed just six points all game which came early in the fourth quarter after the starters had been pulled. Graduate student AJ Dudowski, senior Ryan Cabrera, and junior Joseph Swarm each recorded sacks for CWRU, with Dudowski totaling a team-high nine tackles with two for loss and adding a forced fumble. Sophomore Phil LaVerde added eight tackles (including two for loss) and graduate student Gabe Troch contributed seven. In the secondary, seniors Ryan Santoro and Dominic Sais broke up a pair of passes. Case Western Reserve outgained Allegheny 527-153 with the Spartan defense conceding just 40 yards on the ground on 35 attempts.
CWRU sophomore Beau Wolf set the tone for the game immediately, returning the opening kickoff 92 yards for a touchdown. It was the second-longest kick return in program history, behind only Steve Rospert's 93-yard kick return during the 1993 campaign, and gave the Spartans a 7-0 advantage just 13 seconds into the contest.
Case Western Reserve added two more touchdowns in the first quarter on a 25-yard pass from senior Fromberg to Cave with 5:47 left in the period and a two-yard run by Waite with 24 seconds remaining in the frame, taking a 21-0 advantage after the first 15 minutes of play. Allegheny opened the second quarter by scoring on an 81-yard fumble return for a touchdown, but the Spartans would go on to outscore the Gators 23-0 over the remainder of the half to take a 44-7 lead into the break. Duesler ran into the endzone from two yards out with 11:45 left to put the Spartans in front 28-7, a 30-yard pass from Fromberg to Cave made it 34-7 with 6:25 to play in the period, and a 50-yard touchdown pass from Filips to senior wide receiver Ethan Dahlem put CWRU in front 41-7 with 4:16 on the clock. Sophomore kicker Gabriel Petrozzi capped off the Spartans' scoring with a 22-yard field goal with 23 seconds to play in the first half.
CWRU dominated all sides of the ball in the opening half, out gaining Allegheny 393-53 over the first 30 minutes of the contest.
After the Spartan defense forced a pair of three-and-outs to start the second half, Filips increased the team's lead to 44 with an eight-yard rushing touchdown midway through the third period. The Gators converted a third-and-goal from the five-yard line early in the fourth quarter for their only offensive score in the game, but on the next drive, DeTillio led the visitors down the field on an 11-play 60-yard series, capped by his three-yard touchdown rush with under six minutes remaining in the game. It marked the final score of the contest.
The Spartans will return to DiSanto Field in Cleveland next weekend for the team's first home game since September 14 as CWRU will play host to Saint Vincent College at 7:00 p.m. on Saturday, October 12.
Spartan Notes
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CWRU improved to 11-20 all-time against Allegheny, but has now won five consecutive games against the Gators and each of the three matchups since Allegheny rejoined the PAC prior to the 2022 campaign.
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The Spartans' 4-0 start is the first time the team has won each of its first four games since the 2019 campaign. It is the 12th time in program history that CWRU has opened a campaign 4-0.
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Wolf's kickoff return for a touchdown was the first by a Spartan since Travis Johnston's 87-yard kick return for a score at Waynesburg in 2019.
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The Spartans have now scored at least 40 points in each of their first four games and 50 points in each of their last three. It is the first time CWRU has scored 40 points four games in a row to start a campaign in program history, and the first time overall since the team had a stretch of five-consecutive 40-point outputs during the 2017 season. It also marked the first time the team has scored 50 points in three consecutive contests since a three-game stretch in 2009, when the Spartans scored 53 points at Wooster, 55 at Ohio Wesleyan, and 63 at Hiram in consecutive weeks.