FULTON, Mo. - Westminster football uses an offensive explosion fueled by quarterback Trent White to earn a 35-14 victory over UMAC opponent Greenville.
The Blue Jays improve to 2-2 overall and 2-1 in conference play. Greenville falls to 0-4 on the season.
"This was a good win after coming off of a heartbreaking loss last week," said Westminster Head Coach John Welty. "To come back and play like we did today was great."
After an unsuccessful drive that lasted under a minute to start the game for the Panthers, Westminster took the ball and scored in just two plays. After an incomplete pass, White rushed 59 yards for his first touchdown of the game to put the Blue Jays up 6-0.
In the same quarter, White added on to his rushing yards by running 75 yards for a touchdown and his second of the game. Latif Adams added two points to the score to make the deficit 14-0 in favor of the Blue Jays.
"Trent sparked our offense and broke the ice for us," said Welty. "We have so many guys that can step up for us, so when one is taken ot then another one steps up. It's hard to stop all of our guys, and that's a great problem for us to have."
In its first possession of the second quarter, Westminster capitalized on a long drive of over four minutes to score the third touchdown of the game. After rushing for 21 yards to earn a first down on fourth and one, Adams ran the ball an extra 14 yards the next play for his first touchdown of the game to put Westminster up 21-0.
With under a minute left in the half, Matt Quarles returned a punt for 53 yards to give Westmintser another scoring chance. On just one play, White connected with Keegan Chrisco on a 16-yard pass complation for a fourth touchdown. The Ian Pletenik kick was good to make the score 28-0.
The Panthers didn't complete the half without a fight, and quickly got themselves on the board with under 30 seconds left to play. George Harris completed a 27-yard pass to Monty Sharpe who found himself in the endzone. Westminster went into the half with a commanding 28-7 lead.
The Panthers built upon their momentum from the first half to add another touchdown and cut the lead to 28-14 on another pass completion from Harris.
Westminster found a way to get back into the game and shift momemtum back their way. After a fumble by Greenville's Harris, Zach Benner scooped the ball up to run it back for a 61-yard rush and a touchdown, putting the Blue Jays up 35-14, which would be the final score of the game.
White went 5-14 for 31 passing yards and totaled 172 rushing yards for three total touchdowns. Adams added 147 rushing yards and a touchdown of his own.
Zach Roseman led the team with nine tota tackles while Bret Robertson tallied the lone sack of the game.
Westminster goes back on the road next Saturday to face Crown at 12 p.m.
"The most important game is what we plat next week," said Welty. "You have to earn the honor to play for a championship. It's tough on the guys to go back on the road, but that just shows the character and resilience of our team."