W&J dominates Yellow Jackets, 55-0
One might believe that a 55-0 victory over one’s rival might provide the salve needed to apply to Washington & Jefferson’s wounds sustained over the past few weeks.
You would be wrong to assume that.
For the Presidents were left looking inside on this raw, wind-swept day despite the lopsided victory over Waynesburg in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference finale for both teams.
Washington & Jefferson (7-2, 8-2) hopes to participate in an ECAC Bowl game.
“The only thing that will take the sting away is for us to get back into the NCAA playoffs,” said Washington & Jefferson head coach Mike Sirianni, who earlier in the week promised changes to the program after sustaining losses to Westminster and Carnegie Mellon.
“This doesn’t solve our problems and you saw some of our issues in this game. The quarterback had to get out of the pocket a few times before the throw was ready. So you saw some of our problems and we just have to fix them.
“I’m happy for our seniors. I’m happy for Carnegie Mellon and (PAC champion head coach) Rich Lackner. He deserves it. The silver lining is we get to play another game and get better.”
W&J opened the scoring, capping an eight-play, 49-yard drive with a one-yard run by Joey Koroly, and closed it with a one-yard touchdown run by reserve tailback Jack Ryan.
In between, there were 300 yards passing from the quarterback duet of Justin Heacock and Colton Jones and long bombs of 68 yards to Nick Hrivnak, 48 yards to Justin Huss and 41 yards to Andrew Wolf. There were 200 yards of rushing on the nose and two more touchdowns, both by the mailbox they call EJ Thompson, who stands 5-8 and weighs 230 pounds.
When Justin Huss broke free for a 45-yard punt return for a touchdown, it marked his fourth return for a score this season. Huss led all players with 161 total yards. Still, he serves as third-string tailback and Sirianni must find more ways to get the football.
“Becoming more elusive is something I’ve been working on,” said Huss. “In high school, I did do kick returns and punt returns. I work on it in the offseason so it’s nice to see it pay off.”
Huss had kickoff returns of 85 yards and 70 yards against Westminster but W&J came away with just a field goal.
“I told coach I’m willing to help the team any way I can,” said Huss. “I’m willing to wait and learn from EJ and Joey. They are great backs.”
The defense, a problem in past seasons, was solid again. It allowed Waynesburg just 10 first downs, 175 total yards and produced three turnovers.
Inside linebackers Sean Doran and Justin Johns had nine tackles apiece and outside linebacker Alex Bellinotti and nose tackle Will Paczkoskie had eight apiece.
“We’ve got to get better,” said Waynesburg head coach Chris Smithley. “Our mentality has to get better. Give W&J credit, they’re a good football team but they aren’t 55 points better than us. We stalled out a lot. We have to fix those mistakes. We have to get tougher.”
NOTES: Waynesburg finished at 2-7 and 2-8. The Yellow Jackets’ Nick Hall tied Thompson for most rushing yards, 85. Wolf led 11 receivers with 5 catches for 65 yards. Jones was 14 of 17 for 148 yards and Heacock was 8 of 9 for 152 yards. Koroly had 57 yards on 10 carries.