Saints fall to Wheeling, 27-10 in season opener

Box Score WHEELING, WV - The Thomas More University football team opened the season against the Wheeling University Cardinals on Saturday afternoon. The Saints scored first but could not hold off a strong second half from the Cardinals, as they fall 27-10 on the road. Thomas More falls to 0-1 on the season while Wheeling starts 1-0.

• It was a defensive battle as both teams had turnovers on downs and punts.
• Thomas More blocked a field goal attempt by Wheeling as the opening quarter of the season ended with the teams tied at 0-0.

• The Saints scored the first points on the game as Kayleb Wagner scored on a 1-yard rush up the middle at the 7:42 mark, capping off a 9 play and 64 yard drive that took almost 4 minutes.
• Thomas More forced a Wheeling punt with just over a minute remaining in the first half. The Saints marched 70 yards down the field, highlighted by a 55 yard pass from Ben Chesser to Numehnne Gwilly but were unable to score before the half expired.

• Wheeling tied the game at the 6:15 mark of the third quarter with a 13 yard touchdown pass.
• The Cardinals then hit a 26 yard field goal to take the lead late in the quarter.

• Wheeling scored early in the final quarter on a 26 yard pass before hitting their second field goal of the game.
• The Cardinals had their last touchdown after a quick 21 second, 4 play drive giving the Saints the ball with under two minutes remaining in the game.
• Davis Burleigh hit a 30 yard field goal with less than ten seconds remaining for the final points of the game.

• Ben Chesser had 196 passing yards, including a long of 55 at the end of the first half and recorded a total of 38 rushing yards.
• Numehnne Gwilly had 80 total receiving yards, including the 55 yarder from Chesser with 9 total receptions.
• Javion Bostic had 9 receptions for 55 yards with a long of 29.
• Toto Luani and Judson Lawrie each had 4 solo tackles. Luani had 8 total along with Josh Dugan.

The Saints will have a bye week before they travel north to take on the University of Dayton Flyers in their week 2 match up for their final non-conference game of the season. The September 12th game is scheduled for a noon kickoff.