Thomas More team to beat this season in PAC
LATROBE – Returning much of the talent that produced an 8-0 record in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference last year, the Thomas More Saints were picked as the team to beat at the annual PAC football media day at Saint Vincent College in Latrobe Wednesday.
Washington & Jefferson, coming off a third-place finish at 6-2, was picked to finish second and Case Western Reserve, which returns quarterback Rob Kuda and his 3,340 total yards, was third.
Westminster, which had a breakout season with a 7-1 conference record that was good enough for second place, was fourth despite returning all starters in the backfield.
Thomas More, which had an 11-1 overall record and a first-round loss in the NCAA Division III playoffs, collected 24 first-place votes while totaling 351 points to headline the poll.
Thomas More had 24 of the 33 first-place votes. W&J (8-2) had three, Case Western (7-3) had four and Westminster (9-2) and Carnegie Mellon (8-3) one apiece.
“It is a privilege and honor to be the preseason favorite in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. It is a credit to our past and present players and coaches’ hard work to get the Thomas More football program to this point. We still have to go out and compete hard every Saturday, as every game in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference is a battle,” said Thomas More head coach Regis Scafe.
The voting was done by the media members, coaches and sports information directors.
This was the sixth time since the Saints joined the conference in 2005 that they have been ranked No. 1 in this poll. The last time the Saints won the PAC title outright was 2011.
“To me, the team that won it has got to be the favorite,” said W&J head coach Mike Sirianni. “It doesn’t matter if they only have two players back. At our level of football, if you won it the previous year, then you should be voted to win it. I have no problems with that. We didn’t win it, so it shows it doesn’t matter who is voted first. We were (voted first) last year and didn’t win, and the previous two years it was Thomas More and we beat them. So I hope we’re not voted first.”
Waynesburg, which staggered to a 3-7 record – 2-6 in the conference – while breaking in a freshman quarterback, ended up in eighth place with 145 points.
Grove City, which has a new head coach in South Fayette’s Andrew DiDonato – was picked to finish last. The Wolverines were winless in eight conference games and 10 overall in the last year of longtime head coach Chris Smith. DiDonato becomes the first person in PAC history be a featured player at media day and later return as head coach.
The season kicks off Saturday, Sept. 3 for all teams.