CLINTON, S.C. – For the second straight time when competing on their home turf, the Presbyterian College football squad was able to gain a halftime advantage in a crucial PFL matchup, this time jumping out to a 17-7 lead on Saturday against the only league school without a conference loss to their resume. However, the visitors from St. Thomas imposed their will over the second half at Bailey Memorial Stadium, ending the game on a 39-0 sprint for a final score of 46-17.

Controlling the final 30 minutes to post their sixth consecutive W, the Tommies continued their stay at the top of the PFL standings by improving to 4-0 against conference opponents. Despite a career-high receiving day from true freshman Dominic Kibby and 17 points on three of the team's first four drives, the Blue Hose were unable to put two complete halves together, allowing UST to turn a one-score game at the break into a lopsided decision on the scoreboard when everything settled.
 
FINAL SCORE: St. Thomas, 46 – Presbyterian, 17
RECORDS: Presbyterian (1-7, 0-5 PFL) – St. Thomas (6-1, 4-0 PFL)
LOCATION: Bailey Memorial Stadium (Clinton, S.C.)
 
OPENING KICK:
- Next to Kibby's best-in-season performance of 129 yards (collecting five catches on six targets), including a 53-yard haul to the end zone midway through the 2^nd quarter, a number of PC performers fed off the high energy of the weekend's Homecoming audience. Kibby added four kickoff returns to his repertoire for 71 extra yards, making for 200 all-purpose. Fellow freshman Jordan Irizarry brought down all three of his targets for another individual-high 51 yards, while redshirt junior Jalen Jones added 39 more.

- Combining for 69 of the team's 79 rushing yards over the opening half, the running back combo of Delvecchio Powell II and JB Seay ended the afternoon with 56 and 29 yards through the ground, respectively. Nate Hayden and Tyler Wesley split time at QB evenly in the PFL duel, syncing up for 252 passing yards (143 for the former).

- Keegan Halloran, AJ Seay, and Sebastian Conwell recorded 21 stops between them at seven each, helping deny the Tommies a single point over the first frame. Their presence aided the Blue Hose to a three-point edge after 30 minutes before the shift occurred at the game's midway point.

- Successfully moving the chains on 50% of their third-down situations (beside a five-for-six effort in that department throughout the first half), Presbyterian was boosted to their second-highest yardage total over a 30-minute window with 236 after two chapters. Unfortunately, St. Thomas' stiffened defense landed PC with only 66 yards the rest of the way to preserve the win.
 
HOW IT HAPPENED:
- Freshman wideout and special teams standout Shawn Lodge suppressed a sign of things to come for the Blue Hose with a season-long 27-yard kickoff to begins the day's proceedings. From there, PC steadily moved 61 yards on 11 snaps, with 47 of them from either Powell or Seay, that led to a 21-yard chip shot by kicker Parker Maddrey. The 3-0 lead upheld the junior's perfect mark in field goal attempts by moving to 4-4 personally.

- Only just getting started on a 1^st quarter that almost entirely went their way, PC forced a turnover on downs when backed up at their own 24-yard line, crowding the middle of the field for an incomplete pass to avoid a St. Thomas answer.

- From there, the Blue Hose crafted their largest lead in a PFL contest of 2022 with a six-play, 76-yard touchdown drive that featured a handful of clutch moments. Faced with a 3^rd and 4 from their own 41, Wesley fired a pass to tight end Dylan Boone right at the line to gain to keep the drive chugging. Two plays later, the freshman-to-freshman connection of Wesley to Kibby delivered on the aforementioned 53-yard lob to supply PC with a 10-0 advantage over the hottest team in the league.

- Holding onto that deficit until the opening moments of the 2^nd when UST plunged in a four-yard score on the quarter's second play, Presbyterian's defense held tight after faltering into an interception with just over 10 minutes left in the period. AJ Seay objected himself into a small space for a well-timed breakup on 3^rd down, not allowing the Tommies to capitalize on the mistake.

- After a UST punt from deep in their own territory settled PC at the St. Thomas 44-yard line, head coach Steve Englehart's group once again stretched the deficit out to 10 with a six-play set that ended on a two-yard TD by Powell. Wesley's arm was the main catalyst to that score, sending in a 28-yard gain to Jones and another 20-yarder into the arms of Kibby that brought the ball inside the five-yard line.

- Using 3:57 of the final 4:50 to cut into the Blue Hose's lead on a short score from the 2-yard line, the visitors were able to trim the hole to three approaching intermission. From that point, the Tommies outgained the blue and white by 132 yards to run away with the victory.
 
COACH ENGLEHART'S THOUGHTS:
"Unfortunately, we haven't been able to put two halves together in the majority of these conference matches, although you've been able to see us compete extremely hard against some of the best the PFL has to offer, which is encouraging for our guys. We really get the sense that there will come a time when all these battle-testing experiences stack up on top of each other for our younger players, and that will hopefully lead to them being able to draw from their lessons and turn it into better results. Regardless of today, myself and the staff continue to be very proud of the team and the way they fight."
 
UP NEXT:
- The last bout of October awaits the Blue Hose one week from now in another road environment, this one up in Poughkeepsie, New York to meet Marist at 12:00 noon. In a similar background to today's matchup with St. Thomas, the two programs have only met once in each other's history. Said occasion came last fall in Clinton, a 57-32 shootout that favored the Red Foxes in the '21 home finale.

- Since a 45-31 win over Stetson in the Sunshine State, Marist has taken back-to-back defeats against Dayton and Butler, falling by a 31-10 clip to the Bulldogs on Saturday in Indianapolis. The Red Foxes now sit at 2-5, with both of those triumphs coming over PFL competition.