Waynesburg can’t reel in Muskies in season opener
WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg University’s football team wanted to get off to a quick start in 2016 to help erase the memories of a 3-7 campaign last season.
Unfortunately, that didn’t happen for Rick Shepas’ team as the Yellow Jackets dropped a non-conference heartbreaker in their season opener, 17-16, to visiting Muskingum.
The Yellow Jackets were in position to win, but Garret Guthrie, a Trinity High School graduate, saw his 32-yard field goal attempt bounce off the left upright with just 1:18 remaining in the fourth quarter as Waynesburg lost for the first time in the past five meetings with the Muskies.
“It’s a big win for our program,” said Muskingum head coach Al Logan. “We have a bunch of young kids playing. We want to build around our defense and special teams, and I thought we did a pretty good job.”
Waynesburg got the ball back with 4:31 remaining in the fourth quarter at its own 20-yard line and marched into field-goal range. Quarterback Jake Dougherty completed 5 of 6 pass attempts on the final drive, which included a fourth down conversion and a 33-yard completion to Mitch Kendra, another Trinity graduate.
But it wasn’t to be for the Yellow Jackets.
“We made some adjustments,” Shepas said. “Once we got things spread out we started to play better. Early on we were pressing. We slowed things down and started to hit a couple of plays. It’s the little things though and we need to get some things corrected.”
Both teams struggled to move the ball early, but the Muskies took advantage of a Waynesburg mistake when they recovered a Ben Ciero fumble at the Yellow Jackets 16.
Three plays later, Muskingum quarterback Griffin Degener found Jordan Scanlon for a 10-yard touchdown pass to give the Muskies a 7-0 first-quarter lead.
The Muskies then put together a 14-play drive in the second quarter that resulted in a 33-yard field goal from Cody Dent.
Meanwhile, Waynesburg saw its first five possessions end in a lost fumble and four punts as the Yellow Jackets gained just 52 yards.
But a couple of personal foul penalties on Muskingum late in the second quarter forced a Muskies punt deep in their own territory, giving the Yellow Jackets their best starting field position of the first half.
Dougherty responded by completing 6 of 7 pass attempts, including a 2-yard touchdown pass to Alec Watts to pull the Yellow Jackets within 10-7 at the half.
“I think Jake started to get comfortable at the end of the half,” Shepas said. “We got into some backfield sets we liked and we started to click.”
Waynesburg opened the second half with a 98-yard scoring drive. Ciero broke loose with a 43-yard run to get the Yellow Jackets out of the shadow of their own end zone. That help set up a 52-yard touchdown pass from Dougherty to Kendra to put Waynesburg on top 14-10.
Dougherty completed 21 of 39 pass attempts for 209 yards and a pair of touchdowns. Kendra caught four passes for 112 yards and a touchdown, while Ciero led Waynesburg in rushing, gaining 73 yards on 12 carries.
“We have to have better communication with our backs and we have a pretty new offensive line,” Dougherty said. “But I missed a ton of throws. That can’t happen. I have to play better.”
Waynesburg’s lead was short lived as Muskingum answered with a 42-yard touchdown pass from Degener to Damon Jones to give the Muskies a 17-14 advantage.
The Yellow Jackets saw an opportunity squandered early in the fourth quarter when Dougherty was intercepted near the goal line by Muskingum defensive back Melvin Smith.
Smith also made a big defensive play when he broke up a long pass intended for Kendra that could have gone for a touchdown.
The interesting part of that is that Smith was ejected from the game in the first half after receiving a targeting penalty. The officials reviewed the video footage of the play at halftime and deemed a targeting penalty should not have been called and reinstated Smith.
“It was crazy,” Smith said. “I just had to stay focused in the locker room until I got to go back in. After that it was just trusting our system and trusting in one another. It’s a huge win. Since I have been here they have beaten us every time.”
The Waynesburg defense put forth a solid effort with pressure on Degener.
Defensive lineman Brad Grinnen sacked Degener for a safety to pull the Yellow Jackets within 17-16 with just over nine minutes left, but that is as close as Waynesburg would get.
Grinnen recorded four of Waynesburg’s seven sacks on the game, while Aniellio DeStefano had 1.5 sacks.
“Defensively we were fine,” said Shepas. “We blew a coverage on the first touchdown and other than that they hit one play. I was pleased with the effort and execution.”