Waynesburg can salvage season with 2nd straight win vs. W&J
A disappointing season can be salvaged Saturday.
For that to happen, Waynesburg University’s football team would have to pull off a second consecutive upset of rival Washington & Jefferson College when the two teams meet Saturday at Cameron Stadium for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff.
The Yellow Jackets stunned W&J last season, winning 31-28 in overtime to snap an 11-game losing streak to the Presidents. The loss also ruined W&J’s chances of a home game for the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs.
This year, neither team is headed to a postseason game. The Presidents are 7-2 overall and 5-2 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, good enough for fourth place in the standings behind Thomas More, Case Western Reserve and Westminster. Waynesburg is 3-6 overall and 2-6 in the conference, which puts the Yellow Jackets in eighth place in the 11-team conference.
“Going through something like this makes you appreciate the wins,” said Waynesburg head coach Rick Shepas. “I think it’s been a good year. We’ve had some victories here that didn’t show up in the won-loss column.”
One of them is the development of freshman quarterback Jake Dougherty, who has completed 59 percent of his passes for 1,620 yards and 16 touchdowns. He has thrown 11 interceptions, but ranks fourth in the PAC in passing yardage with 180 per game.
“I’m proud of the way he’s developed,” said Shepas. “He’s done a lot of good things for us.”
The problem Waynesburg has not corrected is a defense that ranks ninth in the PAC, allowing a whopping 424 yards per game. The Yellow Jackets allowed 40 or more points in three games, including a 42-13 loss to No. 11 Thomas More two weeks ago. The Saints, who are in first place in the PAC and have the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs, threw for 317 yards and five touchdowns against the Yellow Jackets’ secondary.
Waynesburg had a bye week leading up to the W&J game. Whether that will benefit the defense is hard to predict.
“They are physical and they can make (stops),” said W&J quarterback Pete Coughlin. “When you look at them on film, they are typical of past teams.”
The Yellow Jackets have allowed 1,000 more yards on defense than the offense produced but their turnover ratio is a respectable minus-2. That tends to mean opponents are sustaining long drives.
Two offensive players who concern W&J are running back Jerry Lawman and wide receiver Willie Leavell. Lawman, who like Dougherty is in his first year as a starter, needs 109 yards to reach 1,000 for the season. Coming off a junior season in which he battled through injuries, Lawman has been a critical component of the offense and his effective running allowed Dougherty to settle in at quarterback in a more timely fashion. Statistically, he is the sixth-best running back in the conference.
“He had the season we thought he could have,” said Shepas. “He had concussion issues last year but has been very effective for us.”
Leavell, who like Lawman is a senior, is a dangerous return man and has the attention of W&J head coach Mike Sirianni.
“He can score every time he touches the ball,” Sirianni said.
Leavell has played every skill position on offense except quarterback and has accounted for nearly 1,000 yards of offense and return yardage. He has been a game-changer on special teams, too.
“The best compliment a coach can pay a player is how much he trusts him,” Shepas said. “I can say that about Jerry and Willie. We can count on guys like them.”