The Case Western Reserve University football team jumped out to a quick start against Bethany College and never looked back en route to a 64-6 win over the Bison at DiSanto Field in Cleveland on Saturday night.
The Spartans improved to 2-0, both overall and in the Presidents' Athletic Conference, with the win, while Bethany dropped to 0-2 overall and in league play with the loss.
CWRU set a record with 51 points scored in the first half of the game, besting the previous mark of 49 set against Oberlin in 1998 and Thiel in 2017. The Spartans also matched two additional program scoring records during the game, matching the program-best marks with 28 points in the second quarter (accomplished six times before, most recently against Waynesburg in 2021) and the largest margin of victory in a game (previously achieved in 1998 in a 70-12 win over Oberlin). The Spartans totaled 525 yards of offense in the game while allowing just 100, and held Bethany to -12 rushing yards and three first downs.
Senior quarterback Alex Fromberg completed 14-of-18 passes for 243 yards with four touchdowns, despite not playing a down in the second half with a large lead. Through the first two games of the season, Fromberg has completed 80.8% of his passes for 512 yards and six touchdowns.
Senior wide receiver Noah Coyne caught three passes for 101 yards and a pair of touchdowns and senior wide receiver Ethan Dahlem added a team-high six receptions for 74 yards and a touchdown, while also adding a score on the ground. First-year running back Andy Kavcic came off the bench to lead the team with 71 rushing yards in the game.
Defensively, CWRU graduate student defensive end Kaden Tong finished the game with four tackles and 2.5 sacks. Junior defensive back Mason Mehl led the team with five tackles, senior Brandon Frank returned a fumble for a touchdown, and first-year Noah Barnes notched a late interception for the Spartans.
After forcing Bethany to a quick three-and-out on their first drive of the game, the Spartans drove downfield quickly on their opening drive, going 54 yards on five plays and scoring on a three-yard rush by Dahlem. Dahlem accounted for 33 total yards on the drive, catching an additional two passes for 30 yards. CWRU forced another three-and-out on the Bison's next drive, and then Fromberg connected with a wide-open sophomore running back Mitchell Waite for a 27-yard touchdown pass on the team's second drive of the game to put CWRU ahead 14-0 with 9:34 left in the first half.
CWRU continued to add to the lead with a 49-yard touchdown pass from first-year Jake Kavcic to Coyne to go ahead 21-0 by the 8:18 mark in the opening quarter. Later in the quarter, on a punt attempt Bethany fumbled a snap through the back of the endzone for a safety, giving CWRU a 23-0 lead by the end of the quarter. On the first play of the second quarter, Fromberg threw a 51-yard touchdown pass to junior wide receiver Dylan Cave to put CWRU up 30-0.
Meanwhile, Bethany did not record a first down until its first drive of the second half when the Bison scored on an 86-yard touchdown pass from Brett Phillips to Ray Adames. It would prove to be one of just two first downs in the half for the Bison, while the Spartans added on three more touchdowns in the second half, scoring on an eight-yard pass from Fromberg to Dahlem, a 45-yard pass from Fromberg to Coyne, and a five-yard run by junior Stefan Lopez to take a 51-6 lead into halftime.
CWRU added to its lead in the second half with a 10-yard fumble return for a touchdown with 9:20 left in the third quarter and a pair of field goals by first-year kicker Ryan Wald.
The 64 points were the most scored in a game by the Spartans since a 66-33 win during the second week of the 2021 campaign.
The Spartans will be off next weekend for their bye before returning to action on Saturday, September 28 against Geneva College in Beaver Falls, Pennsylvania.
Spartan Notes
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Saturday's win gave the Spartans their first home-opening victory since the 2019 campaign, ending a stretch of three-straight losses in home openers. CWRU improved to 15-5 in home openers under Head Coach Greg Debeljak.
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CWRU improved to 15-9 all-time against Bethany and has won nine straight games against the Bison.
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Before matching the program record for points in a quarter in the second frame, CWRU fell just seconds short of breaking the program record in the first quarter. After taking a 23-0 lead at the end of the first quarter, the Spartans scored a touchdown just 16 seconds into the second quarter.
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With his 2.5 sacks on Saturday, Tong now has 27 for his career, moving him within 1.5 of Rich Zdrojewski for the fourth-most in program history and 7.5 away from Cameron Brown's program record.