Behind another dominant performance from its defense and four passing touchdowns from senior quarterback Drew Saxton, the Case Western Reserve University football team defeated Allegheny College 54-7 at Frank B. Fuhrer Field in Meadville, Pennsylvania on Saturday afternoon.

With the win, the Spartans improved to 6-2 overall and 5-1 in Presidents' Athletic Conference play, remaining just one game back in the loss column of conference-leading Carnegie Mellon. The Gators fell to 2-7 on the season and 1-6 in PAC contests. It was the first meeting between the schools since 2011 and their first meeting in the PAC since 1983.

Junior linebacker Marco Toth contributed on both defense and special teams for CWRU, blocking two punts, intercepting a pass, recording four tackles, including 2.5 for loss, and earning the Spartans two points with a safety in the first quarter.

Overall, the Spartans held the Gators to just one yard rushing, the fewest by a CWRU defense since the team allowed negative-41 in a 37-6 win over Thiel during the 2019 season. Graduate student defensive back Colin Schuster, junior defensive lineman Kaden Tong, and junior linebacker Ryan Cabrera each had a team-high five tackles. Tong also contributed 2.5 tackles for loss and a sack.

Offensively, Saxton completed 19 of his 25 passes for 246 yards and the four touchdowns. It marked the second consecutive game Saxton threw for four scores, pushing his season total to 13 and career total to a program-record 96. Sophomore wide receivers Ethan Dahlem and Noah Coyne each caught two touchdown passes, with Dahlem totaling a team-high 76 receiving yards and Coyne adding 71.

On the ground, first-year running back Christopher Lim ran for a career-high 64 yards on nine carries, including his first career touchdown on a 41-yard scamper.

At the end of the Gators' first drive of the game, Toth blocked his first punt to set the Spartans up at midfield. After Saxton converted a third down with a 15-yard run, he found Coyne from 17 yards out to put CWRU on the board.

On the Spartans' next drive, sophomore punter/kicker Joseph Rhodes V pinned Allegheny at the one-yard line with a coffin corner punt. Toth tackled Tre Worship in the end zone for the safety, giving Case Western Reserve a 9-0 lead.

Saxton converted a fourth down with a two-yard rush on the ensuing possession, setting up a 28-yard touchdown pass to Coyne with four minutes remaining in the first quarter. CWRU took advantage of a bad snap on an Allegheny punt and started the next drive at the Gator 18. In three plays, the Spartans scored again, with sophomore running back Gage Duesler finding the end zone on a 10-yard run to give Case Western Reserve a 23-0 lead early in the second quarter.

Two drives later, Toth snagged his first interception of the season, returning it to the Allegheny 20-yard line. After Saxton found junior wide receiver Riley Knurek for 15 yards, senior running back Antonio Orsini put the Spartans ahead 30-0 with a five-yard touchdown run. It was his team-leading seventh rushing touchdown and the 20th of his career.

A 75-yard Allegheny passing touchdown on the first play of the ensuing drive prevented the shutout, but the Spartans responded with a 10-play, 78-yard drive capped by a 31-yard touchdown pass from Saxton to Dahlem.

Toth blocked the next Gator punt to set CWRU up inside Allegheny territory, and Rhodes delivered a 29-yard field goal with under a minute to play in the half to give the visitors a 40-7 halftime lead.

Saxton found Dahlem from 17 yards away on the opening drive of the second half to put the Spartans up 47-7, and Lim finished the scoring with his fourth quarter touchdown.

The 54 points are the most for CWRU this season and the most since the Spartans scored 66 in a win over Waynesburg in 2021. Case Western Reserve has scored at least 45 points in each of the last three games and allowed 14 or fewer points in five of the last six games.

The Spartans will next head to New Wilmington, Pennsylvania on Saturday, November 5 to face Westminster College (4-3, 4-2 PAC) for their penultimate game of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.