The Case Western Reserve University football team nearly pulled off a win against 13th-ranked Carnegie Mellon University in the 38th-Annual Academic Bowl, overcoming a 16-point second-half deficit to take a lead in the closing minutes, but the Spartans' upset bid fell just short in a 37-30 loss to Tartans at DiSanto Field on Saturday afternoon.

The loss in the season finale dropped the Spartans' final record to 6-4 for the campaign. The Tartans, who improved to 9-1 with the win, clinched a share of the 2024 Presidents' Athletic Conference Championship following the victory.

Junior quarterback Aaron Filips made his first career start and accounted for three touchdowns in the game, completing 22-of-39 passes for a career-high 315 yards with two touchdown passes and rushing for a team-high 67 yards with a touchdown. Junior wide receiver Alec Angello caught six passes for 63 yards and a score, while senior wide receiver Noah Coyne added five catches for 51 yards and junior wide receiver Dylan Cave snagged three passes for a team-high 79 yards.

Defensively, senior cornerback Dominic Sais had 10 tackles, including one for loss, and a pass breakup, while graduate student linebacker Sean Torres added nine tackles, and graduate student linebacker Gabe Troch finished with nine tackles, including one sack, and a quarterback hurry.

The two teams exchanged touchdowns in the first quarter with the Tartans reaching the endzone on their opening drive of the game, and the Spartans answering with an eight-play, 78-yard drive, capped off by a two-yard touchdown run by first-year running back Andy Kavcic to tie the score at 7-7 with 5:54 left in the period. Carnegie Mellon followed with 10 unanswered points in the second quarter to go ahead 17-7 before a field goal as time expired on the half by sophomore kicker Gabriel Petrozzi set the score at 17-10 going into the break.

Carnegie Mellon added to its lead with a touchdown on its first drive of the third quarter and a safety that gave the Tartans a 26-10 lead. However, CWRU began to eat away at the Tartans' lead from that point forward. The CWRU defense forced a three-and-out after the safety and the offense followed with an eight-play, 80-yard touchdown drive with Filips reaching the endzone with a nine-yard run to cut the Carnegie Mellon lead to 26-16 with 4:38 left in the third. The Spartan defense followed with another three-and-out, and on the ensuing drive, Filips found senior running back Sean-Michael James with a 10-yard touchdown pass on third and seven, getting the Spartans back within three points, 26-23, with 14:05 to play in the game.

The Tartans were able to get to the CWRU 16-yard line on their next drive but stalled there, resulting in a field goal to increase their lead to six, 29-23. Filips then led a 13-play, 77-yard drive over the next seven minutes to give CWRU its first lead of the game, accounting for 77 yards on the series. CWRU was able to convert a fourth-and-one with a run by senior Gage Duesler and eventually scored on a seven-yard pass from Filips to Angello. Petrozzi's extra point put CWRU ahead 30-29, giving the Spartans their first lead of the game with 4:07 to play.

However, the Tartans' offense was able to find their footing on their next drive, going 63 yards on 12 plays in two minutes and 39 seconds and scoring a touchdown to retake the lead with 1:21 to play. Carnegie Mellon was able to convert the two-point attempt, putting the Spartans in a seven-point hole with just over a minute remaining.

Filips led the Spartans on one final drive down the field, starting the series with a 22-yard completion to Angello to put the ball at the team's 47-yard line, and a game-long quarterback run by Filips put CWRU on the Carnegie Mellon 36-yard line with 1:06 on the clock. Filips nearly completed a pass in the end zone to Cave on third-and-five, but the ball was knocked out of his hands by the Tartans' cornerback, and a fourth-down pass attempt was incomplete, giving the ball back to the Tartans who were able to kneel on it and run out the clock for the win.

In addition to the Academic Bowl, Saturday also marked both Homecoming for the CWRU campus and Senior Day for the Spartans' graduating class. Before the start of the game, the Spartans recognized their 25 graduating players who appeared in their final home game for CWRU.

Saturday's loss concludes the 2024 campaign for the Spartans who recorded their ninth-consecutive winning season.

Spartan Notes

• CWRU dropped to 19-34 all-time against Carnegie Mellon, including six straight losses in the series. Saturday's game was the final scheduled meeting between the two teams with the Tartans set to switch football affiliate conferences following this season.

• Kavcic's rushing touchdown was his team-leading fifth of the season. Filips recorded his third rushing touchdown of the campaign, tied for the second-most among CWRU players in 2024.

• The Spartans outgained the Tartans 408-370 on Saturday.