WASHINGTON, D.C. – The Catholic Cardinals scored 21 unanswered points in the second half, earning a come from behind victory over WPI on Saturday afternoon.

Senior quarterback Nico Casares threw for 278 yards and two touchdowns in the follow-up to his NEWMAC Offensive Player of the Week worthy performance a week ago. Junior running back Jared Colletti added 132 total yards and a touchdown to the Cardinals cause as well.

The Cardinals scored on the opening drive of the second half, traveling 75 yards with Casares finding senior Preston Jeffrey for a nine-yard score.

On second-and-10 from their own 35, the Engineers turned it over as John Chau had the ball knocked out by sophomore Mason Stillwell, leading to a recovery by senior Kyle Egan.

Catholic had to travel just 40 yards for its second score of the half, moving into the red zone after just one play. Casares hit sophomore Malachi Hansen for 14 yards and another 13 were tacked on via a roughing the passer call. Five plays later Colletti plunged into the end zone for a one-yard score, making it a 21-17 game.

Catholic forced a turnover on downs early in the fourth quarter, taking over on the Catholic 16-yard line with 12:34 to play. On second-and-19 from the 46, Casares found Jeffrey who made multiple defenders miss on his way to a 25-yard reception. After a reception by Hansen and back-to-back rushes from junior Kevin Licciardi, Casares found sophomore tight end Sam Cornacchione for an eight-yard score and the lead.

WPI (2-4) marched 75 yards down the field on the opening drive of the contest, eating up 8:08 of the first quarter clock. Dante Coccagnia found Tommy Emrick for an eight-yard touchdown to open the scoring.

The Engineers second drive of the game was also a lengthy one, eating up 10:19 off the clock as they traveled 90 yards on 16 plays. Coccagnia found Isaac Frederique who made a tremendous catch for an eight-yard touchdown.

Catholic got on the board on the next drive, traveling 72 yards to set up a 20-yard field goal from senior Fabrizio Reilly. Casares found sophomore Anthony Giordano for 34 yards, setting up first-and-goal, but the Engineers kept Catholic out of the end zone.

Hunter Carey ran one in for WPI with less than 20 seconds remaining in the half to give the Engineers a 21-3 halftime lead.

For the contest, the Cardinals outgained WPI 413-245 despite possessing the ball for nearly eight less minutes. On the defensive side of the ball, senior Joe Nazzaro registered 13 tackles while sophomore Carson Henry added in nine. WPI gained just 88 yards in the second half of the contest.

Catholic will travel to Coast Guard next weekend for a 1 p.m. kick-off.