Aug 6, 2016 4 min read

When Jake Dougherty and Kevin Barnes made the 20-minute trip to each other’s high school football fields for workouts four times a week, it formed a rather unusual alliance.

The current quarterback of Waynesburg University’s football team was working out with the previous quarterback candidate of Waynesburg University’s football team.

Dougherty, a 6-2, 210-pound sophomore from Redbank Valley High School, and Kevin Barnes, a 6-1, 200-pound senior from Kittanning High School, need each other to be successful if the Yellow Jackets are to improve on last season’s disappointing 3-7 season.

“We’d practice at the midget league field because it was the nicest out there,” said Barnes. “We would throw for about an hour and a half, run routes and do some sprints. It makes us very comfortable with each other. That’s why when he gets in trouble, he looks for me because he knows where I’m going to be after running so many routes. I probably ran 100 routes for him a week.”

Waynesburg head coach Rick Shepas committed to Dougherty last year, gambling he would steadily improve during the season and be the spark for the offense over the next three years. Dougherty completed 60 percent of his passes – OK for a first season in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference – for 1,872 yards. The problem was interceptions. Dougherty tossed 12 of them, one in each game except against Geneva in Week 3. Improve on that and the wins total will increase.

“I was really proud of the type of season that Jake had,” Shepas said. “We didn’t cut him loose early on and we played our offense a little close to the vest with him. I think he developed exactly the way we wanted him to and that propelled him into his first offseason. I think we are going to be able to surround him with much more talent this year.”

Barnes said his time as a quarterback in high school and early on at Waynesburg helped him in one important aspect.

“My presnap reads (as a quarterback) helps me read defenses,” he said. “I know if we line up in a certain set what the better route would be. Whenever the play starts, I can tell the coverages and where the defense will be.”

Barnes came out of Kittanning as an all-conference quarterback, but the path at Waynesburg was blocked by Carter Hill so the switch was made to wide receiver.

Barnes was Dougherty’s main target last season and had a strong season, catching 50 passes for 773 yards and eight touchdowns, all team highs. Arguably, his best game came in the regular-season finale against rival Washington & Jefferson: seven receptions for 128 yards and two touchdowns. That was after coming off shoulder problems in the spring.

“One of the quarterbacks threw me a route and it was too low,” he said. “I tried to catch it and I rolled onto my right shoulder. I had a grade 4 separation but I just wrapped it up and returned to practice the next week. I was 100 percent through the season.”

As usual, the running game will set up the passing game in this short-passing offense. And there are challenges there. Jerry Lawman and his team highs of 891 yards and eight touchdowns graduated. That leaves the position wide open as sophomores Austin Wilson and Zach Helsel and senior Jared Becker combined for 315 yards and two touchdowns.

“I don’t think it’s going to be easy this year, but there are going to be a number of battles at camp and maybe into the season that are going to give us a lot of latitude in terms of who we play and where we play them,” Shepas said.

On defense, the Yellow Jackets lost their leading tackler in Aaron Palmer. The linebacker had 85 tackles, 25 more than the next highest player. Fortunately, Zach Machuga returns at nose tackle after a strong season. The 5-9, 255-pound senior had 58 tackles in 10 games and was second on the team with 3 1/2 quarterback sacks. He also recovered two fumbles.

“I think that we need to play more as a team,” Barnes said. “We need to be more cohesive and rely on the other guys on the field. We have to realize they don’t have to make every play because we have other talented players on the field.”