The Case Western Reserve University football team suffered its first setback of the 2024 season, falling to Westminster College 17-14 on Saturday night in New Wilmington, Pennsylvania.

The loss drops the Spartans to 6-1 both overall and in Presidents' Athletic Conference play, while the Titans improved to 6-1 overall and in-conference. Following Saturday's results, CWRU, Westminster, 15th-ranked Grove City, 18th-ranked Carnegie Mellon, and 21st-ranked Washington and Jefferson each have just one loss this year, setting up a thrilling finish for the race for the PAC Championship with three weeks remaining in the regular season. CWRU will face the latter of the three teams over the next three weeks.

Senior quarterback Alex Fromberg completed 29-of-51 pass attempts for 252 yards, including seven passes for 78 yards and a touchdown to senior wide receiver Ethan Dahlem. Senior wide receiver Noah Coyne added eight receptions for 48 yards in the game.

Senior defensive end Kaden Tong registered eight tackles, including two for loss, while senior cornerback Dominic Sais finished the contest with a team-high nine tackles, including one for loss, and a blocked punt, and junior cornerback Osi Chukwuocha recorded his team-leading second interception of the season.

The game appeared to be headed to halftime in a scoreless tie before CWRU broke through with 3:18 left in the second quarter on a punt that was blocked by Sais and recovered and returned for a 32-yard touchdown by junior defensive lineman Joseph Swarm to give the Spartans a 7-0 advantage. However, the Titans were able to respond on their next drive, going 74 yards on 11 plays in just two minutes and 31 seconds and reaching the end zone on a three-yard rush by quarterback Sean O'Shea to knot the score with 41 seconds remaining in the half and send the game into the half tied at 7-7.

Westminster grabbed its first lead of the game with 4:06 left in the third quarter as Ryan Gomes capped off a 92-yard drive with a 20-yard touchdown run to put the Titans ahead 14-7. CWRU responded immediately on its next drive with its first offensive touchdown of the game. The Spartans went 71 yards on seven plays over two minutes and 10 seconds, including a 37-yard pass from Fromberg to senior running back Sean-Michael James on third and seven that setup an 11-yard game-tying touchdown pass from Fromberg to Dahlem to even the score at 14-14 with 1:51 left in the third.

CWRU had a chance to take the lead early in the fourth, driving all the way to the Westminster 23-yard line, but the drive stalled and a long field goal attempt missed. The Titans then completed a 65-yard pass on the first play of their ensuing drive, eventually going ahead 17-14 on a 21-yard field goal with 7:02 left in the game.

The Spartans turned the ball over on downs on their next drive, giving the Titans the ball back with 5:35 left on the clock. However, CWRU stalled Westminster's next drive and forced a punt, giving the Spartans a final chance with 3:22 to play and the ball on their own 10-yard line. Fromberg began the drive with a 19-yard pass to senior running back Gage Duesler and went on to push the Spartans all the way to the Westminster 17-yard line, converting a third and three with a pass to junior wide receiver Dylan Cave and a fourth and one with a seven-yard quarterback keeper. A nine-yard pass from Fromberg to Cave got the Spartans to the Westminster 32 with just under 50 seconds on the clock and a five-yard catch from Coyne followed by a defensive holding put the Spartans in the red zone with 29.7 seconds to play. However, Fromberg's second down pass attempt was picked off and returned deep into CWRU territory, clinching the win for Westminster.

CWRU will be back home next weekend for another big matchup against Washington & Jefferson College at DiSanto Field in Cleveland. Kickoff is scheduled for 1:00 p.m.

Spartan Notes

• The blocked punt for Sais was his second of the season after also blocking a punt against Geneva on September 28, which was also recovered by Swarm. The touchdown was the first of Swarm's collegiate career.

• The Spartans fell to 5-3 all-time against Westminster following the loss.

• Dahlem's touchdown catch was his career-high eighth of the season. He now has 15 career touchdown receptions.

• Saturday's game was a matchup of the top two pass defenses in the country in terms of passing yards allowed per game. CWRU finished the game with 252 passing yards, while Westminster threw for 153 yards in the contest.