WASHINGTON, Pa. -- The defense pitched a second-half shutout, and the offense ended the game with 21 unanswered points, but it wasn't enough for the Allegheny College football team in a 35-28 loss to Washington and Jefferson College on the road Saturday afternoon.

Continuing with the theme of the 2023 season, the Gators (2-4, 2-4 PAC) once again played well enough down the stretch to make it a one-possession game, but W&J's (5-1, 5-1 PAC) 28-point first-half lead proved to be too much to overcome.

The Presidents controlled the first half of Saturday's Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) matchup. Washington and Jefferson received four touchdowns from quarterback Jacob Pugh and returned a blocked punt, resulting in a 35-7 lead with 6:13 to play in the second quarter. But the Allegheny defense didn't allow a point for the remainder of the afternoon, highlighted by a fourth-down sack by Isaiah Romain (Newark, N.J./Great Oaks Charter School) that ended a drive that originally began inside the red zone at the Gators' 14-yard line.

Offensively, Kyrie Miller (Bolivar, Pa./Ligonier Valley) and Declan O'Brien (Irwin, Pa./Norwin) did the bulk of the heavy lifting for the Gators.

Miller, who got the start at tailback, exploded for the best game of his collegiate career. The senior from Bolivar, Pennsylvania, set single-game career highs with 20 carries for 151 yards and three touchdowns. He was responsible for Allegheny's only touchdown in the first quarter, which came via a 75-yard run. Miller scored both touchdowns in the fourth quarter, and his third of the game capped off a 98-yard drive that trimmed W&J's lead to 35-28.

Of the 286 passing yards from quarterback Jack Johnson (Hingham, Mass./Hingham/Milford Academy), 233 of them went to O'Brien. The senior wide receiver continued his extraordinary season by setting a new program record with 18 receptions. His 233 receiving yards also marked a new career-high, as O'Brien has surpassed the 200-yard plateau in two of the last three games. On Allegheny's final scoring drive, which began on the Gators' 2-yard line, he made a clutch 50-yard catch that put life into AC's near comeback.

In addition to the work done by the offense and defense to get the Gators back in the game, one of the biggest turning points came from special teams. After Miller's third touchdown brought Allegheny within one possession, Will Griffin (Hingham, Mass./Hingham) forced a fumble on the ensuing kick return. The Presidents ultimately won the fight for the loose ball, but had the Gators recovered the fumble, they would have had an excellent opportunity to tie the score at 35-all with a drive starting on the 10-yard line. Instead, Washington and Jefferson wasted the next 4:40 off the clock, leaving the Gators no time to assemble a game-tying drive.

Inside the Box Score

• W&J scored all 35 points in the first two quarters and was shut out in the second half.
• Allegheny forced Washington and Jefferson to punt on three of its four second-half possessions, while the fourth ended on downs.
• The Gators ended the game with 21 unanswered points.
• Allegheny finished with a game-high 436 yards of total offense with an average of 6.5 yards per play.
• Johnson finished 26-of-37 (70.3%) for a game-high 286 yards and one touchdown.
• Miller led all ball carriers in the game with 151 yards and three rushing touchdowns.
• O'Brien finished with game-highs in receptions (18) and receiving yards (233).
• Troy Volpatti paced the Presidents with 122 yards on the ground.
• Pugh completed 51.5% of his passes for 185 yards and four touchdowns, two each to Jacob Macosko and Kobe Derosa.
• Azary Matsuda (Roseville, Calif./Granite Bay) finished with a team-best 10 tackles for the Allegheny defense.
• Romain had five tackles, including two sacks, and one forced fumble.
• Cornerback David Williams (Boca Raton, Fla./Boca Raton) had five tackles and a game-high-tying three pass breakups.

News and Notes

• Allegheny continued showing significant improvement in 2023; last fall, the Gators surrendered 66 points to the Presidents but battled to a mere seven-point loss on Saturday.
• Allegheny's 28 points scored on Saturday are the second-most given up by the W&J defense in six games this season.
• Allegheny's 436 total yards are the second-most produced by the offense this season.
• O'Brien set a new program record with 18 catches, and his 233 yards rank third all-time.
• O'Brien has climbed into third place with 157 career receptions and now ranks second in program history with 2,208 career receiving yards.
• O'Brien also tied Ronnie Anderson ' 97 for third place with 18 career touchdown catches.
• Miller eclipsed 100 yards on the ground for the first time as a Gator, and his 151 yards are the most by an Allegheny running back in a game this year.
• Matsuda has double-digit tackles in three consecutive games.
• Romain logged multiple sacks in a game for the first time.

Up Next
The Gators return to Frank B. Fuhrer Field at the Robertson Athletic Complex to host Grove City College on Saturday, October 14, at 4:05 p.m.