Nov 10, 2012 3 min read

WAYNESBURG – One player had a bad wrist on his throwing hand, and the other has been nursing a sprained ankle for much of the season.

That didn’t seem to matter to quarterback Matt Bliss or wide receiver Alex Baroffio, as the two Washington & Jefferson College junior football players put on quite a show Saturday afternoon at Wiley Stadium.

Bliss completed 21 of 26 passes for 251 yards and found Baroffio for three of his four touchdowns tosses to lead W&J to a 31-14 victory over rival Waynesburg in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference finale.

The win puts the Presidents into the NCAA Division III playoffs – they will learn their opponent when the pairings are released today – and clinched a 23rd PAC title.

Bliss and Baroffio are key components to coach Mike Sirianni’s fast-paced, pass-first offense. When they perform like this, the Presidents are hard to stop.

“(Bliss) was just awesome,” said Baroffio, who had 11 catches for 139 yards to go along with his three touchdowns. “I just love playing with him and the rest of the team. It was sweet.”

Waynesburg was without its best defensive back – and arguably best player – in Bryan Gary, who had knee surgery this week. But most of Bliss’ completions to Baroffio came along the sidelines and in man-to-man coverage.

“I knew our receiver was better than their defender,” said Bliss, who had struggled through much of the season. “I was (trying) to put the ball where only he could get it.”

Bliss injured his right wrist at midseason and had trouble putting some zip on his throws. Bliss played with the wrist taped against the Yellow Jackets.

Baroffio sprained his ankle against Thomas More in Week 5 and sat out the following week against Westminster. Baroffio came in to play quarterback when Bliss went down with a blow to the head in a Week 3 win over Grove City.

“His ankle is fine,” Bliss said. “He’s tweaked it a couple times. He was just great today.”

Baroffio’s best touchdown catch might have been the shortest of the three he made. On a second-and-goal play from the Waynesburg three, Bliss lofted the ball on a fade route, and Baroffio made a leaping catch near the pylon.

“Before the season, coach Sirianni came up and wrote 5-5 on the chalk board,” said Baroffio. “He said that’s where they projected us. We wanted to prove everyone wrong.”

Bliss did not throw an interception, the first time since a Week 5 victory over Bethany that he had repeated the feat.

“He played his best game of the season,” said Sirianni. “He was hurt, and that affected his accuracy.”

Baroffio passed last season’s total of 70 catches with his performance against Waynesburg. He has 74 now and at least one more game to improve on that number.

“We prepared hard for this game,” said Bliss. “It was not just me. I didn’t get touched in the first half. Our O-line did a great job. We just put it all together today.”