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Case Western Reserve University Athletics
Case Western Reserve University Athletics

Scoreboard

The 2026 CWRU Football Senior Clas
Tim Phillis
7
Thiel THI 0-8 , 0-6
51
Winner CWRU CWR 7-1 , 4-1
Thiel THI
0-8 , 0-6
7
Final
51
CWRU CWR
7-1 , 4-1
Winner
Score By Quarters
Team 1st 2nd 3rd 4th F
THI Thiel 0 0 0 7 7
CWR CWRU 9 28 7 7 51

Game Recap: Football |

Spartans Celebrate Senior Day with 51-7 Win over Thiel

The Case Western Reserve University celebrated its 22-player senior class with the team's fifth-straight win, as the Spartans (7-1, 4-1 PAC) defeated Thiel College (0-8, 0-6 PAC) 51-7 at DiSanto Field in Cleveland on Saturday afternoon.

Stats and Standouts

  • The Spartans recorded a season-high 497 yards of offense, marking the team's second-straight game of 400 or more yards and their third overall this season. CWRU had 247 rushing yards in the game and had a season-high five rushing touchdowns by five different players.

  • CWRU's defense allowed just three first downs and shut out the Tomcats over the first three quarters of the game. The Spartans allowed just seven total first downs on Saturday and held Thiel to 207 yards of offense, including just 37 rushing.

  • Junior Andy Kavcic had a pair of touchdowns in the game, returning a punt 75 yards for a score in the first quarter and adding a 42-yard touchdown run in the second. He finished the game with 69 rushing yards on eight carries.

  • Senior Pierce Olsen completed 14-of-18 passes for 128 yards, while senior Sam DeTillio completed all seven of his pass attempts for 83 yards and added 44 rushing yards and a touchdown.

  • Junior Tim Gonakis and sophomore Jack Griffiths each had interceptions in the contest.

  • Sophomore Yaw Gyamfi led the team with five tackles (all solo), including one tackle for loss, and had a pass breakup.

  • Junior Jake Kavcic ended the game with three tackles, including 1.5 for loss, and a pass breakup.

  • The Spartans held possession for over 38 minutes on Saturday.

First Quarter

  • After the CWRU defense forced a three-and-out on Thiel's first possession of the game, Jake Kavcic fielded the ensuing punt and sent a lateral pass across the field to his brother Andy, who returned it 75 yards for a touchdown to give the Spartans a 7-0 lead with 12:36 to play in the period.

  • After the Spartans forced another three-and-out, Thiel snapped the ball over its punter's head and out the back of the end zone for a safety, putting CWRU in front 9-0.

  • Thiel reached the CWRU red zone later in the first, but a pass into the end zone on first and 10 from the CWRU 12-yard line was batted into the air by junior Daniel Oblich and deflected by first-year Lucas Vacanti into the hands of Gonakis, who ended up with the first interception of his career.

Second Quarter

  • Andy Kavcic extended CWRU's lead on the second play of the second quarter with a 42-yard touchdown run.

  • The Tomcats muffed the resulting kickoff, and junior Jeffrey Meschede ran the ball into the end zone from two yards out five plays later to give the Spartans a 23-0 advantage with 11:19 left in the half.

  • First-year Dom Manicioto capped off a six-play, 61-yard drive later in the frame with a six-yard touchdown run to give CWRU a 30-0 lead with 5:07 on the clock.

  • Griffith's interception late in the half led to a Jake Kavcic three-yard touchdown run with 20 seconds left in the half, putting CWRU ahead 37-0 by halftime.

  • CWRU outgained Thiel 194-13 during the second quarter and held the ball for close to 11 minutes during the frame.

Third Quarter

  • DeTillio paced the offense in the third, completing all seven of his pass attempts for 83 yards and running for a 21-yard touchdown with 5:54 left to extend the lead to 44-0.

  • The Spartans' defense held the Tomcats to eight yards in the period, forcing a pair of three-and-outs, and CWRU had possession for 11 minutes and 39 seconds in the frame.

Fourth Quarter

  • First-year Alex Bryson threw a seven-yard touchdown pass to senior Harrison Steeves-Little, the first of his career, with 14:03 left in the game, giving CWRU a 51-0 edge.

  • Thiel scored its only touchdown of the game on a 58-yard pass from Na'Jier Howard to Isaiah Gladney with 6:28 left in the contest.

  • CWRU had the ball for over 10 minutes for the third straight quarter in the fourth. 

Spartan Notes

  • Before Saturday's game, the Spartans recognized their graduating class with a special 'Senior Day' ceremony. Together, the group of 22 players helped the Spartans go 24-13-1 over the last four seasons, including a 21-12 record in Presidents' Athletic Conference games.

  • The victory on Saturday was the team's 13th consecutive win against Thiel, and CWRU stands at 16-9 all-time against the Tomcats. CWRU has not lost to Thiel since the 1981 campaign.

  • The Spartans' five-game winning streak is the team's longest since it won its first six games of the 2024 campaign. The team's seven victories are the most in a season for CWRU since 2023.

  • CWRU has played on Halloween four times in the last 30 years, going 4-0 in those games. This was the Spartans' first game on Halloween since the 2015 campaign, when CWRU bested WashU 34-16 at DiSanto Field with a program-record six interceptions in the contest. CWRU also bested UChicago 38-24 on Halloween in 2009, and set a program record for points in a game with a 70-12 win over Oberlin at DiSanto Field in 1998.

  • Senior Gabriel Petrozzi converted all six of his extra point attempts and now is just two points shy of becoming the third kicker and seventh player overall in program history with 200 or more points.

  • With two games left in the regular season, Andy Kavcic needs 247 yards to record the sixth 1,000-yard rushing season in program history.

  • Jake Kavcic defected another pass in Saturday's game and now has 12 this season, the fifth-most in program history. He is three shy of matching the program record set by Mark Elder in 1997.

  • The Spartans have gone 122 consecutive games without being shut out. The streak has stretched over 13 years, dating back to the 2013 campaign when CWRU suffered a 29-0 loss at WashU on November 9. It is the longest streak of consecutive games with points scored in program history. During that time, CWRU has been held under 10 points just three times while scoring 30 or more points on 80 occasions.

Up Next

The Spartans have a stretch of back-to-back road games to end their regular season, starting with a key matchup next week at Grove City College in Grove City, Pennsylvania. The game is slated for a 1:00 p.m. kickoff on Saturday, November 7.

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