(CRESTVIEW HILLS, Ky.) – The Thomas More University football team fell, 49-7, to Bethel University tonight (Friday, February 26, 2021) in a Mid-South Conference Bluegrass Division game at BB&T Field in Crestview Hills, Kentucky.
- The Wildcats led 14-0 after one quarter as they had touchdowns of two and four yards.
- Bethel extended the lead to 28-0 at halftime as it had touchdowns of five and four yards.
- Bethel had a three-yard touchdown in the third quarter to lead 35-0 after three periods.
- Thomas More cut the lead to 35-7 with 11:30 to play in the fourth quarter when first-year quarterback Blaine Espinosa (Cookeville, Tenn./Cookeville) connected on a 44-yard touchdown pass to sophomore wide receiver Roques Dowdy (Athens, Ga./Oconee County) and junior kicker Alexander Haley (Lebanon, Ohio/Lebanon) added the pointer-after-attempt.
- Bethel scored two more touchdowns for the final score of 47-7.
- Thomas More falls to 2-1 on the season.
- Bethel improves to 1-0.
- Espinosa was three-for-five for 109 yards and a touchdown.
- Sophomore Jay Volpenhein (Cincinnati, Ohio/Anderson) was seven-for-24 for 117 yards.
- Dowdy had three catches for 63 yards and one touchdown.
- Senior wide receiver Charles Gaines (Elsmere, Ky./Lloyd Memorial) had one catch for 56 yards.
- Junior tight end Mason Kramer (Alexandria, Ky./Campbell County) had two catches for 21 yards.
- Senior running back Monalo Caldwell (Cincinnati, Ohio/Colerain) had six rushes for 28 yards.
- Sophomore linebacker Del Thomas (Fairfield, Ohio/Fairfield) had 16 catches (seven solo/nine assisted), including a tackle for a loss.
- First-year linebacker Issac Abdon (Erlanger, Ky./Lloyd Memorial) finished with two tackles (three solo/seven assisted), including a half tackle for a loss.
- First-year defensive back Kolton Reeves (Paducah, Ky./McCracken County) had eight tackles (six solo/two assisted), including a tackle for a loss.
- Senior defensive back Brian Manning, Jr. (Burlington, Ky./Conner) finished with eight tackles (five solo/three assisted).
- Junior defensive lineman Dominic Valentino (Hamilton, Ohio/Hamilton Badin) had eight tackles (three solo/five assisted), including two and a half tackles for a loss.
- The Saints are idle next week and return to action on March 12 when they travel to Pikeville, Kentucky to play the University of Pikeville at 5 p.m.