For starters, West, Rowse help Presidents prevail
Washington & Jefferson sophomore running back Jordan West breaks away from the St. John Fisher defense for a 52-yard touchdown run early in the third quarter of Saturday’s game.
Jordan West drives for the end zone and scores for Washington & Jefferson, giving the Presidents the lead with 10 minutes left in the fourth quarter Saturday against St. John Fisher at Cameron Stadium.
Washington & Jefferson senior Jesse Zubik gets behind St. John Fisher safety Michael Chase and pulls in an Alex Rowse pass to give W&J the lead with four and a half minutes left in the first half.
The large contingent of family and friends that filled a portion of Cameron Stadium Saturday afternoon came to watch the coming out party for Jordan West.
But it was the person who wasn’t there that hung heavy on West. His grandmother, Becky Phillips, died recently but she would have been proud of West’s performance.
The sophomore running back for Washington & Jefferson College rambled for 154 yards on 27 carries and scored two touchdowns to help rally the Presidents to a 37-27 season-opening victory over St. John Fisher.
West’s 52-yard run off a counter play early in the third quarter stretched the Presidents’ lead to 23-14 and his seven-yard burst in the fourth quarter erased a four-point deficit and gave W&J the lead for good, 30-27.
”I had a lot of people here but the most important was my grandma, who passed away in July,” said West. “I know she was watching over me.”
West was the surprise choice to start at tailback over junior Austin Kemp, last year’s starter, and senior Justin Vickless. But West’s first run, which covered 11 yards, showed he deserved to be there.
”There were nerves,” said West, a Washington High School graduate. “I love this town and I’m just happy I scored for my hometown.”
West wasn’t the only player making his first start for W&J. Senior Alex Rowse stumbled through the first quarter, completing two of seven passes for nine yards and with an interception. While Rowse struggled, St. John Fisher built a 14-0 lead in the first 15:07.
But Rowse settled down after that, completing 22 of his next 33 passes for 250 yards and two touchdowns. Rowse said throwing his first touchdown pass, a 19-yarder to Brandon Barnes that cut the Cardinals’ lead to 14-10 midway through the first half, wiped away the poor start.
”I was a little anxious to start, but once I threw that touchdown, I calmed down a little bit. We started to get into a groove and that helped.”
W&J head coach Mike Sirianni said Rowse wasn’t nervous but just a little too amped up.
”Even some of his incompletions were lasers,” Sirianni said. “He’s poised back there.”
W&J entered the game ranked No. 23 the nation but at times did not play to that ranking. The defense surrendered 440 total yards and allowed St. John Fisher to convert 10 of 22 third downs and four of five fourth downs.
Special teams were awful as punter Ty Mitchell averaged just 27.8 yards a kick and shanked one that went just two yards. The Presidents muffed a punt that St. John Fisher recovered. W&J made the stop but the Cardinals controlled the ball for nine consecutive minutes over two quarters.
And W&J was penalized seven times for 68 yards, including three that kept scoring drives alive.
”We can fix them,” Sirianni said. “Winning is like a deodorant, it can mask problems. Good teams expose that and St. John Fisher is a good team.”
Josh Michels was making his debut at quarterback for St. John Fisher and managed to build a 14-0 lead when he hit James Chambers with a 24-yard scoring pass on the first play of the second quarter.
Michels was 10 of 14 for 132 yards at that point but finished 26 of 57 for 354. At one stretch through the second quarter, Michels was 4 of 16 for 50 yards.
”He didn’t play at all last year because he was ineligible,” said St. John Fisher head coach Paul Vosburgh. “He’s been out for two years. He did some good things and we have some things we need to get better at.”
Matt Heslin, a Fort Cherry graduate and also a member of W&J’s baseball team, scored the final TD of the game on a 1-yard run on a direct snap out of what looked like the single-wing formation.
Jesse Zubik caught four passes for 49 yards and a score and had another possible TD glance off his fingers in the second half. … Defensive backs Nick Murgo and O’Shea Anderson had interceptions for W&J. Murgo had a team-high 11 tackles and DB Luke Merhaut had nine. … W&J sacked Michels four times. … Mauricio Garibay had a 28-yard field goal to open the Presidents’ scoring.