Raiders looking to be in WPIAL playoff hunt
Waynesburg’s Dylan Scritchfield tries to block a pass intended for Colby Collins.
Senior running back Hunter Cenname and sophomore tight end Colin McCracken take a quick water break during football camp.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Waynesburg's Hunter Cenname practices receiving passes during football camp drills.
Katie Roupe/Observer-Reporter Senior offensive lineman Liam McElhoes practices tackling targets during football camp.
WAYNESBURG – Most coaches get only one opportunity to turn around a football program.
Russ Moore is on the verge of reviving Waynesburg for the second time.
Many dismissed Waynesburg last year as a team too small, too slow and too inexperienced, especially at the skill positions, to challenge for a WPIAL playoff berth out of the rugged Class AA Interstate Conference.
The Raiders surprised many by getting a landmark road victory over traditional powerhouse Jeannette and missing the playoffs by a mere two points.
“We lost to Southmoreland, 14-13. Had we won that game, we would have been in the playoffs. Yes, we should have made the playoffs,” lamented Moore, who enters the third year of his second stint as Waynesburg’s coach. His first term ended with a WPIAL championship in 1999.
Despite falling agonizingly close to making the postseason, the Raiders enter this year with plenty of momentum, the result of a 26-14 come-from-behind win over Jeannette in the next-to-last game of the season. It was the first win in school history for Waynesburg over the Jayhawks.
“That Jeannette game did a lot for the kids,” Moore said. “It was a big talking point among the kids. Was Jeannette as good as it had been? No. But that was definitely a great win for our community. It’s still talked about. It gives us momentum.”
This season, Waynesburg hopes that momentum and experience lead to a postseason berth. The Raiders have 17 lettermen returning, including eight starters.
“It’s going to be interesting because I really don’t know yet what we have,” Moore said. “If everything turns out the way I’m envisioning, then we’re a playoff team. I told everybody that. Are we a one-and-done playoff team? I don’t think so. Then again, if things don’t pan out the way I envision …”
Among the returning starters are John-Glen Davis and Hunter Cenname, a pair of 190-pound running backs who combined for more than 1,600 rushing yards last year. Davis and Cenname are the safeties for the Raiders’ defense and both made at least 80 tackles a year ago.
“Those are two of the better athletes I’ve had in a while,” Moore said.
“They can do a little of everything. They both could play quarterback or fullback. They play defense. There’s nothing they can’t do. They wear you down when they’re running the ball.”
Davis and Cenname will be running behind an offensive line led by seniors Sam Augustine (6-1, 220) and W.D. Belding (6-0, 260), both returning starters.
Though they had a solid running game, the Raiders were too one-dimensional last year, something that Moore knows must change. The Raiders completed fewer than 30 passes all year and quarterback Colby Collins attempted just 34. Putting some balance in the offense is a priority.
Collins does have a quality target in senior wide receiver Dom Sarra, who Moore said has good speed and hands. Sarra averaged 29 yards per catch a year ago.
“We have to be able to throw the ball. I’d prefer to run the ball and eat clock, but I have to be more willing to throw,” Moore said. “Our line has a couple of spots we have to solidify, so it has to develop. And our defense has to return to being the Wrecking Crew of old. When I was here before, we scored a lot of points, but what won us games was the defense. We would have eight guys swarming to the ball. We didn’t have guys taking care of their job in one spot on the field and then becoming a spectator.”
Moore believes that visuals are often the best teaching methods, so he has encouraged his players to watch video from that 1999 championship season and had them focus on the defense. Davis believes the current players have taken good notes.
“Defense is going to win us games,” Davis said. “Our defense is going to be steady.”
Cenname agrees.
“Defense will be our strength,” he said. “We’ve gotten a lot stronger and faster. The team chemistry is better, too.
“We saw how close we were to making the playoffs last year. That’s been motivation for the offseason. We’ve improved so much.”