Same problems doom Waynesburg against Bethany
Waynesburg quarterback Jake Dougherty escapes the tackle attempt of Bethany’s Nadim Raddar during a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game Saturday at Wiley Stadium.
Waynesburg running back Willie Leavell picks up yards as Bethany’s Dylan Stewart pursues Saturday at Waynesburg.
WAYNESBURG – Just because the venue changed didn’t mean the problem would go away.
In the first home football game of the season for Waynesburg University, the secondary still had trouble covering the receivers, the defensive front had problems getting to the quarterback, the running game was just adequate and the freshman quarterback still made some mistakes.
It all added up to another loss for Waynesburg, which collapsed under the weight of Bethany’s strong passing game and acrobatic defense, 27-14, at Jack Wiley Stadium Saturday afternoon.
The Yellow Jackets fell to 1-3 overall and 0-2 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference. The Yellow Jackets have not had a start such as this since 2006, when they lost their first three games before defeating Grove City.
Waynesburg head coach Rick Shepas saw a third straight chance to win his 66th game and become the school’s all-time victory leader put off for another week.
And Bethany found itself in the top half of the conference standings with a 1-1 record and are 2-2 overall.
“You can’t say coulda, woulda, shoulda,” said Shepas. “We had our chances.”
Bethany rolled up 491 yards on Waynesburg’s defense, making it the third straight game the Yellow Jackets surrendered more than 400 yards.
Quarterback Lincon Reyes accounted for 342 of them through the air. Reyes had 280 passing yards at halftime and tossed two touchdowns as Bethany built a 24-14 lead. Reyes found Tyler Ambush for a 74-yard touchdown that tied the game, 7-7, and for a 34-yard completion that set up a 7-yard touchdown pass to Eric Blinn with :04 left in the half.
Ambush had six receptions for 177 yards and Blinn snagged 12 for 107.
“We’ve been pretty good in the run game, play-action a lot, double cuts,” said Reyes. “(Waynesburg has) a good secondary. They were just jumping a lot and our receivers made plays. … Their safety was on an island and had to choose one of them. They always attract double teams and you can’t double both of them. So you pick your poison.”
The touchdown before halftime was huge, considering the second half scoring was just a 23-yard field goal by Bethany’s Chris Ray in the third quarter.
Freshman Jake Dougherty responded to that field goal by leading Waynesburg down the field to the Bethany six. On first down, Dougherty saw his tight end Dan Davis break free to the end zone and flipped a pass that seemed certain to produce a touchdown. But free safety Dion Williams came over and made a leaping interception.
“We ran a sale route with our tight end and I should have thrown it on a line drive to him. Instead, I threw it late and tried to pop it over the top to him,” said Dougherty. “These guys are real athletic and you can’t do that to them. He went up and high-pointed it. It was a good play on his part and a bad play on my part.”
It was the only turnover for Dougherty, who completed 29 of 41 passes for 216 yards and two touchdowns to Davis, a Waynesburg High School graduate.
“I think Jake did a good job recognizing they were paying attention to where Kevin Barnes was, and Willy (Leavell),” said Shepas. “He found Davis and made some other good choices. It was a great breakout game for (Davis).”
Davis had four receptions for 41 yards, but Barnes led Waynesburg with seven receptions for 80 yards.
Jalen Holmes ran for 121 yards and scored on a 33-yard run in the second quarter that gave Bethany a 17-7 lead.
Dougherty cut it to 17-14 when he found Davis with a 21-yard catch-and-run with 7:13 left in the half.
“We just have to go back to work, keep working,” said Dougherty. “We have to come to practice with our hard hats on and our lunch pals. Better days are coming.”
Ray made a 22-yard field goal in Bethany’s 17-point second quarter. … Linebacker Donovan Hayden had a game-high 16 tackles for Bethany. Linebacker Aaron Palmer had a team-high 15 tackles for Waynesburg.