Westminster’s Scott Benzel has been coaching college football for two decades. As such, he can appreciate a guy who brings a little swagger to a defense.
For the Titans, that guy is Highlands grad Brayden Thimons. Thimons, a 6-foot-4, 235-pound senior, spearheads a defense that held high-powered Washington & Jefferson to 174 yards of total offense in Saturday’s key 23-18 Titans win.
The victory created a four-way tie atop the Presidents’ Athletic Conference as the Titans, Grove City, W&J and Carnegie Mellon are 5-1. Thimons was credited with a half-sack in the game, giving him six — tied for the PAC lead — and helped apply relentless pressure on W&J quarterbacks Justin Heacock and Colton Jones.
“He’s just a dominant edge guy,” Benzel said. “He brings that intensity, that mentality. We run a very multiple defense, and everything we tell him to do, he can do it, and he does it well.”
Thimons began his college football odyssey at Robert Morris — he played in 10 games at linebacker, recording 18 tackles — before he transferred to Westminster. One of his teammates at RMU, Frank Antuono, also transferred to Westminster, and the two of them have become a formidable pair on the defensive line.
Antuono, Benzel said, complements Thimons’ speed and athleticism with his raw power.
“The weird thing about Frank was, out of high school, he played quarterback and linebacker, just like me,” Thimons said. “Both of us wore No. 7 (in high school). We both went to RMU. It’s huge that we have this chemistry. (I) know where he’s going to be. I’ll rush from the edge with speed, knowing Frank is working his way inside, and vice versa.”
And Thimons, Benzel said, often draws multiple blockers, providing opportunities for other players to get to the quarterback. Ten other Titans have taken down the quarterback at least once.
Thimons, Antuono and the rest of the front seven have needed to be at their best while Benzel breaks in three talented-but-green freshman defensive backs. Both ends of the defense have done their part, as pressure from the front seven has allowed the DBs to amass 12 interceptions, tied for the conference lead with Saint Vincent.
“Everyone in our front seven, we take a lot of pride,” Thimons said. “This is not a knock on our DBs, because they’re playing amazing, but we (front seven) all got together and said we would try to take the pressure off them by holding (opponents) down in the box.”
Added Benzel: “The defense is peaking at the right time. They’re getting better and better. They’re old school. You can get on them and challenge them, and they like those challenges.”
The Titans have a big challenge ahead. They likely will need to win out to have a shot at the PAC’s NCAA playoff berth. Westminster will travel to Bethany this weekend before finishing with home games against Saint Vincent and Geneva.
Thimons said the team is focused and wants to fulfill the motto they set in the spring: “Good to great.”
“We’re, obviously going to take it one day at a time,” he said. “We’re not overlooking any opponents. We’ve had years of missing the playoffs by a game here and a game there. So these next couple of weeks are huge for us.”