By: Jason Walsh II

Sept. 15th, 2022:

Thiel College Football is headed into its third week of the regular season. This Saturday they will face off against PAC opponent Saint Vincent. Saturday’s Game will kick off at 1 p.m. in Latrobe. Saint Vincent will be Thiel’s second PAC opponent this season. This week Thiel will be looking to snag their first overall win as well as their first PAC win of the season. Saint Vincent is currently 0-2 overall, and 0-0 PAC, while Thiel is 0-2 overall, and 0-1 PAC.

Thiel Football started off this season on a positive note in a scrimmage against Hilbert College. While at the scrimmage in New York, the Tomcats took a much-needed victory. During the scrimmage, they could face off against an out-of-conference opponent and iron out the wrinkles in their new coaching system. The game’s final score was 27-0 Thiel.

For week one of the regular season, Thiel traveled to New Jersey to play Montclair State University (out of conference). Although the Tomcats did not return home with a win the team fought hard and showed impressive improvement. The Game’s final score was 27-6 for Montclair State University.

Last Saturday the team returned back to Greenville for their home opener against PAC opponent Allegheny College. In the week two game, the team showed fight behind an aggressive defense but unfortunately lost the game. The game’s final score was 34-6 in favor of Allegheny College.

Following this week’s away game against Saint Vincent, Thiel will return home for 2022 Homecoming. This year’s homecoming game will take place Saturday, September 24th at 3 p.m. at Thiel Alumni Stadium in Greenville, PA. This year the Tomcats will face PAC opponent and returning PAC champions Carnegie Mellon University. Homecoming festivities begin Thursday, September 22nd.

For the 2022 season, Thiel College’s student media groups TCTV and WXTC-FM are diving into college football. If you’re not able to get out to the games, they have you covered. TCTV and WXTC will be streaming all Thiel College’s home football games for the 2022 season. TCTV is the College’s television media group and WXTC is the the campus radio station.

Heading into this week’s game I sat down with one of Thiel’s quarterbacks, Junior Alexander Kovalyak #9, to gain some insight on this year’s team.

For this coming season, Alex is most excited about Thiel’s new coaching staff, who gives them a chance to compete on the field and grow as a team.

Alex’s expectations for the team this year are to most importantly improve every day. He believes this is crucial to help the team compete at a high level.

I asked Alex what his biggest takeaway from the three games so far. His response was that “we’re still a very young team under a new coaching staff, I’m very excited about where we’re at right now and where we’re going to be. We’re just a few plays away from turning this program around.”

Lastly, I asked Alex what the coaches’ biggest impact has made so far. Alex said “The biggest impact I believe they’ve made so far has been the way they treat us with respect, as adults, and the way they’ve been preparing us both on and off the field, as students and athletes. They’ve brought in a completely new energy.”