May 30, 2008 By Bobby Fox 5 min read

The 2007 season was something of a bitter sweet one for Waynesburg University head football coach Rick Shepas. On the one hand, he had his best season ever as the Jackets ran up an 8-3 record and came painfully close to knocking Washington and Jefferson off as Presidents’ Athletic Conference Champions. They also qualified for the postseason for the first in Shepas’ tenure when they competed in the ECAC Southeast Bowl. On the other, Shepas bade farewell to some outstanding seniors. At the top of that list was All-American defensive end Mike Czerwien, who led all of Division III in sacks and tackles for loss. Brendon Steele, a tackling machine at linebacker is also gone, along with six other combined starters on the offensive and defensive sides of the ball.

“You’ll never replace guys like Mike Czerwien and Brendon Steele,” Shepas said. “Those are guys that come along every five years or so if you’re lucky.”

While Waynesburg is expected to have the majority of last season’s starters back when they return to the field in September, Shepas is hoping that his latest batch of recruits, which will likely be over 80 once again, can help fill some holes.

As he has done in his previous three recruiting classes, the leader of the Yellow Jacket program kept his and his coaching staff’s focus on the WPIAL, with the possible exception of when it comes to the quarterback position.

When interviewed about the reapings of recruiting earlier this week, Shepas mentioned three signal callers that have said they will strap on the pads at summer practice.

Tops on Shepas’ list is Columbiana Ohio’s Ryan Williams. The 5-11, 200-pounder was also a standout defensive back from Columbiana, as he was named to several all-star teams for his defensive work in the state’s Division VI.

Also joining the quarterbacking ranks at Waynesburg will be two more out of state prospects in Luke George (Ohio) and Robert Powell, who hails from Ft. Lauderdale, Florida and played at West Boca High School.

Elsewhere around the offensive backfield, Shepas could hardly contain his enthusiasm about a running back class that is led by gritty Jefferson-Morgan product Justin Falcon.

“We’re very excited about him. We think he can be a difference maker,” Shepas said. “We’ve heard nothing but good things from [J-M head coach] Jan [Haiden] about how good a player he is.”

It’s more than just praise from a former head coach that had Falcon high on Waynesburg’s list. The diminutive back (5-8, 160) played bigger than his measurables as he rushed for over 1,000 yards in both his junior and senior seasons as he helped lead the Rockets to back-to-back Tri-County South titles.

Falcon is also the all-time leading rusher at J-M and was named to the AP All-State team for Class A.

The J-M grad will play in the upcoming Pro Grass Football Classic All-Star Game at Waynesburg Central High School on June 21. Joining him will be another future Jacket running back, Charleroi’s Josh Farner.

Rounding out the commitments in the backfield to this point are Gateway fullback Steve Horvath, who could see time early, and Norwin running back Chad Tatkus.

Shepas was also excited about several wide receiving prospects that he feels bring a good combination of size and speed to the team.

Another Charleroi Cougar, Ethan Hank, plans to wear the burnt orange and white next year after the 6-3, 195-pounder put up a 10-7 time in the 100-meter dash this senior track season. Cornell’s Sean Hunt, another receiver recruit was the WPIAL champion in the 800 meters. He stands 6-2.

Shepas was particularly thrilled with the early returns on his recruiting efforts when it came to the offensive line. Among those expected to arrive for camp is Baldwin graduate Nebojsa Nedic. Nedic is also expected to wrestle for new WU wrestling coach Ron Headlee in the winter.

On defense, linebacker and defensive line feature several county talents. Leading the group is J-M’s Scott Bogdan, who was one of the Rockets’ top defensive players last year. He was also a nice complement at full back to the speedy Falcon.

Another big pickup looks to be Thomas Jefferson’s Nate Bota, who was a major contributor during the Jaguars’ 2007 PIAA state championship run in AAA.

“We had a great year recruiting at linebacker,” Shepas said. “I could mention a bunch more kids.”

Waynesburg Central’s Jacob Vehar and Beth-Center’s Josh Sabatini are among the new talent expected to compete on the defensive line next season.

Kicker is a position that typically doesn’t get a lot of attention when it comes to recruiting, but Shepas made it one of his top priorities after some inconsistencies arose in Waynesburg’s special teams last year. That shouldn’t happen again in 2008 as several talented kickers from around the area will jump right in and compete for the starting job.

Incoming freshmen Ryan Arvis (Ringgold), Roger Brandemarte (Monessen) and Chris Marini (Baldwin) will all battle for the starting kicking job.

“It’s the first time that we’re bringing in three kickers,” Shepas said. “We feel very good about all three of those guys. All of them are athletes as well, especially Arvis and Brandemarte. It’s nice when you’re recruiting athletes at the kicking position and I expect very big things there.”

With more graduating seniors expected to commit once the all-star games start kicking off in June and a handful of transfers that Shepas is keeping under wraps for now, it’s apparent that after just three years at the post, the former high school coach has gotten a pretty good grip on the recruiting game.

“Quality in the class that we’re recruiting is a very high priority for us,” Shepas said. “We feel that we’ve brought in guys that will come in, be successful and are going to add to the success.”