Box Score The Case Western Reserve University football team came off its bye week on a mission on Saturday, putting together its most complete game of the season to date to roll past Bethany College 53-0 at DiSanto Field in Cleveland, Ohio.
The shutout was the first for the Spartans' defense since the team's 28-0 win at Illinois Wesleyan in the first round of the 2017 NCAA Division III playoffs, and the first home shutout for CWRU since a 30-0 win over Carnegie Mellon on September 6, 2014.
Case Western Reserve improved to 3-3 on the season with the win, including a 2-3 record in Presidents' Athletic Conference play. Bethany dropped to 1-6 with a 1-5 conference record.
CWRU's defense held the Bison to just 192 yards of offense in the game, including just nine yards on the ground, both season-best marks. Meanwhile, the CWRU offense totaled 525 yards, including a season-best 240 rushing yards. The Spartans also registered a season-high time of possession of 39:17 and converted 10-of-13 third downs in the game.
Junior running back Antonio Orsini finished the game with 160 yards of total offense, carrying the ball 14 times for 88 yards and three touchdowns, and catching four passes for 72 yards. Senior quarterback Drew Saxton completed 19-of-22 passes for 244 yards and two touchdowns, including six passes for 72 yards to first-year wide receiver Ethan Dahlem, both team-highs.
Sophomore linebacker Gabe Troch registered a team-high seven tackles, first-year linebacker Zach Brown added four tackles, including two for a loss, junior defensive back D.J. Wolf notched his first interception of the season, and sophomore defensive lineman Kaden Tong registered his team-leading fifth sack of the campaign
The Spartans wasted little time getting on the board, needing just five plays and 2:20 to cross the goal line. CWRU ran the ball on each of the five plays, with Orsini carrying the ball four times for 55 yards, including a 23-yard touchdown run with 12:46 left in the first quarter. On the ensuing kickoff, sophomore linebacker Ryan Cabrera forced a fumble, which was recovered by sophomore linebacker Sean Torres at the Bethany seven-yard line. Three plays later, Saxton found junior wide receiver Lucas DeCaro with a nine-yard touchdown pass to extend the Spartans' lead to 13-0.
Early in the second quarter, sophomore Jacob Lurie added to the Spartans lead with a 34-yard field goal, the first of his career. With 10:06 remaining in the half, Orsini capped off a five-play 58-yard drive with a 12-yard touchdown run, putting CWRU ahead 23-0. With 8:55 to play in the second quarter, Brown and junior defensive lineman Jacob Scheponik combined to tackle the Bethany running back in his own end zone for a safety. On CWRU's next drive, sophomore running back Sean-Michael James capped off an eight play 55-yard drive with a one-yard touchdown run to give CWRU a 32-0 advantage. With time running down in the quarter, Saxton found DeCaro in the end zone for the second time in the game and sixth time this season, connecting on a 24-yard strike with 1:10 remaining to give the Spartans a 39-0 lead heading into the break.
Orsini's third touchdown of the game and 10th of the season came on a five-yard run with 8:50 remaining in the third quarter, putting the Spartans ahead 46-0. Sophomore quarterback Alex Fromberg would throw the first touchdown of his career in the fourth quarter, finding first-year receiver Jake Grondz on a 26-yard strike for his first career receiving touchdown, capping off the scoring for the day.
With his 244 passing yards on Saturday, Saxton moved ahead of former Spartan Rob Cuda for the second-most passing yards in program history with 7,893. In addition, senior wide receiver Colt Morgan caught two passes in the game, moving ahead of former Spartan David Kallevig for the second most catches in a career in team history, and seven behind former Spartan Zach Homyk's program record of 211.
The Spartans will look to keep their momentum going when they play host to Geneva College next weekend for Homecoming Weekend at Case Western Reserve. Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. at DiSanto Field.
