Bison fall at Westminster, 41-14

Andrew Woodley, Sports Information Director

NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. (Sept. 23) – The Bethany College football team was defeated 41-14 at Westminster Saturday afternoon in a Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) contest at Harold Burry Stadium.

The loss drops the Bison to 0-4 overall, 0-2 in the PAC. Meanwhile, the Titans improve to 1-0 in conference play following their bye week, 2-1 overall this season.

Sophomore running back Raekwon Wright (Baltimore, Md./Patterson) had a career-high 119 yards rushing and one touchdown on 20 carries to lead the offense.

Senior quarterback Chase Kinemond (Shadyside, Ohio/Shadyside) finished the day 15-of-21 for 103 yards passing and threw his first interception of the season.

The Bison defense was led by senior defensive end Khallid Pierce (Youngstown, Ohio/Ursuline), who posted seven tackles, including 3.0 for loss, and two sacks. He is now one sack behind former Bison Matt Nardone (1996-99) for third all-time with 22.5 career sacks.

Westminster opened the game with the ball and drove to midfield, but junior cornerback George Reid (Columbus, Ohio/Linden-McKinley) halted the drive with an interception down at the Bethany 10-yard line.

Bethany managed to get one first down, but punted the ball back to the Titan offense, where they started inside Bison territory. Westminster took advantage and opened the scoring in the game with a 35-yard touchdown run by Dominique McKinley to make the score 7-0 with 7:36 remaining in the first quarter.

The Green & White responded when they got the ball back. A kick return back to the Bethany 41-yard line by senior Shaq Ellis (Greenville, S.C./Southside) gave the offense a great start and a 49-yard touchdown rush by Wright helped even the score with 5:26 left in the first quarter.

The Titans turned the pressure up, scoring on three of its final four drives before the half. Westminster used big plays to push its lead to 27-7 heading into the locker rooms, scoring on touchdown plays of 61 and 46 yards. A third touchdown from four yards out was also setup with a 77-yard rush.

Bethany came out of the break with one of its best drives of the season to draw within two possessions at 27-14 with 9:43 remaining in the third quarter. Kinemond orchestrated a nine-play, 76-yard drive and capped it off with a 12-yard touchdown run. The big play on the drive was a 3rd-and-15 conversion when Kinemond connected with sophomore wide receiver Hunter Klein (Leonardtown, Md./Leonardtown) for a 31-yard gain that put the Bison on the Westminster 35-yard line.

Both teams traded possessions down the stretch of the third quarter, before the Bison took over possession on their own 31-yard line. On the first play of the drive, Kinemond was intercepted by Westminster's Todd Jeter, who returned the ball into the end zone to extend the Titan lead to 33-14 with just over two minutes on the clock in the third quarter.

Westminster added another touchdown to push the score to 41-14 to close out the scoring on the day.  

Bethany will look to get back on track next Saturday, September 30 it hosts Carnegie Mellon for Homecoming. The 2017 Bethany College Athletic Hall of Fame class will also be honored prior to kickoff at 2 p.m.