W&J rolls over Grove City
W&J’s Pete Coughlin gets lifted up by teammate Zack Crossey after scoring a first-quarter touchdown Saturday against Grove City.
W&J senior Daniel Lis dives past Grove City’s Kyle Beyer into the endzone Saturday for a first-quarter touchdown.
Washington & Jefferson’s Justin Bauer sacks Grove City’s Matt Pennypacker Saturday during the second quarter.
Despite a 38-20 loss last weekend to first-place Thomas More on the road, the motto for Washington & Jefferson’s football team remained the same – play fast.
The Presidents returned to the confines of Cameron Stadium and did exactly that in impressive fashion, handling Grove City, 55-7, Saturday afternoon in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game.
“We just needed to improve,” said W&J head coach Mike Sirianni. “Just to be able to take a step forward instead of a step back was important.”
The fast-paced, no-huddle President’s offense put up 652 yards, mostly in part to the efficiency of junior quarterback Pete Coughlin. Coughlin completed 20 of his 22 passes for 257 yards with two touchdowns in little over than three and a half quarters against the Wolverines (0-3, 0-5).
“He is a rhythm quarterback,” said Sirianni. “If he is able to get into a rhythm, he plays extremely well. He plays better when he does not have to think a lot.”
Quick throws and bubble-screens got Coughlin into that rhythm while spreading the ball around.
However, one of Coughlin’s favorite targets was tight end Asa Costelnock, who caught three passes for 64 yards and two touchdowns.
“It felt great that all of my hard work is paying off,” said Costelnock, who earned starting duties for the game earlier in the week. “It was really special to come out and start for our homecoming game and be a big part of the offense.”
Running back Ryan Ruffing carried the ball 19 times for 108 yards and two touchdowns, from 3 and 16 yards.
Defensively, the Presidents (2-1, 4-1) kept Grove City punter Anthony Marnejon busy, forcing the Wolverines to punt nine times. The Wolverines had just 139 yards of total offense.
“Offensively, we wanted to continue to play fast, and defensively, we wanted to force three-and-outs. We did both of those things, so I am happy about that.”
Not everything his team did Saturday afternoon made Sirianni happy as W&J committed 16 penalties for 135 yards.
“The thing with most of our penalties is that they are a result of being over aggressive and that is my fault,” said Sirianni. “We have to eliminate the personal foul and false start calls, but we will definitely address that this week.”
Despite falling last week, the Presidents remain in the hunt for an at-large bid to the NCAA postseason. Theyt will, however, likely have to win the remainder of their games to do so.
“We just have to take it one game at a time,” said Coughlin. “We still have to have the right mindset and know there is still an opportunity to make the playoffs.”