By: Jacob Walsh

October 17, 2022

On Saturday, October 16th the Thiel football team traveled to Westminster, and Thiel’s media department followed. The campus radio station known as WXTC 88.1 FM got the opportunity to broadcast the division three PAC football match-up for the first time away from Thiel’s campus.

The Sports director for WXTC, John Robbins, sat down to explain how the away broadcast came to be in the same season the home broadcasts returned to campus media. Robbins said that the department had the opportunity to broadcast away games since the start of the season, but they held off to make sure everything ran smoothly on campus first. “We always had the opportunity to do road games since the beginning of this season, but we wanted to try and work out the kinks at the home games. Once we realized it could be done at a high level, we went for it. We contacted Westminster and Grove City, and got spaces reserved for us in the press box.”

John told us “Unlike home games, the road games will be strictly on WXTC allowing myself and Johnathan Koss to commentate these games like a true radio broadcast.” Thus, it gave way for Robbins and his broadcasting partner to be high-spirited with the opportunity to do these away games like professionals.

The two games WXTC will broadcast on the road hold a high standard for listeners. The matchups are between two of Thiel’s oldest PAC foes, Westminster, and Grove City. Robbins touched on the subject stating “These broadcasts are of the last 2 road games of the season against some of Thiel’s oldest opponents, Westminster, and Grove City. The Grove City game will be for the Mercer County Cup to conclude the regular season.”

Just like John said, the remaining away broadcast is at Grove City and is a battle for the coveted Mercer County Cup. The two division three Mercer colleges play each other on November 12th. Grove City holds a 7-3 record over Thiel in the past 10 games and the Wolverines have a four-game win streak.

As for the Westminster game, the Titans came up victorious this past Saturday. Though the score may tell a different story, Thiel’s dominant defense held Westminster to only 13 points in the entire first half. Once the second half began it became quick work as the floodgates opened. The Titans showed their conference dominance by putting up 21 points in the third quarter alone. Thiel’s starting quarterback Owen Trumbull went out with an injury and backup Alex Kovalyak played the remainder of the game. Kovalyak seemed to spark the Tomcats’ offense as he threw for Thiel’s only touchdown of the day on a 62-yard pass. The extra point was missed. Westminster finished off Thiel with one more touchdown in the 4th, with a final score of 41-6.

The Tomcats football team plays under the lights at home next Saturday (10/22) against conference rival Waynesburg (7:00 p.m.). Including the Waynesburg game, Thiel has four more games left on the season.

Be sure to tune in for the home games on WXTC or through BoxCast.com for the TCTV video stream. Robbins and Koss will be back on the road for the final away game on WXTC 88.1 FM on November 12th.