Oct 29, 2006 By Jeff Debaldo For The 2 min read

WASHINGTON – Washington & Jefferson continued its dominance over Waynesburg on Saturday afternoon in a match-up with sole possession of first place in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference on the line at Cameron Stadium. The Presidents relied on a steady dose of running back Ryan Mendel as they defeated the Yellow Jackets, 30-3. Mendel rushed for 154 yards on 35 carries and scored one touchdown. Last week against Grove City Mendel rushed for a career-high five touchdowns in the Presidents’ win.

“Mendel got his yards for sure,” said Yellow Jacket coach Rick Shepas. “The bottom line is they brought the hat today. They played a physical game. They did what they had to do. Hats off to them.”

“This is Mendel’s first year as the primary ball carrier,” said W&J coach Mike Sirianni. “He’s done a great job with it.”

The Presidents (7-1, 4-0) were able to jump out to a 14-0 lead but the Yellow Jackets managed to get on the board right before halftime as Ben Popson’s field goal of 35 yards split the uprights.

Waynesburg (4-4, 4-1) struggled to get any offense going. The Yellow Jackets were limited to just 171 total yards. The Waynesburg running back tandem of Ryan Abels and Eric Daniels was shut down as the Presidents limited both backs to under 60 yards. The Presidents meanwhile gained more yards on the ground (174) than Waynesburg did all afternoon.

“We knew we wanted to stop Waynesburg from running the ball,” Sirianni said. “We had to stop the run.”

“It’s very disappointing,” said Yellow Jacket captain Mike Czerwien about losing to W&J. “We wanted to come out and get the win and at least be competitive. We just didn’t get it done today.”

W&J essentially put the game away with a Kyle Sidebotham 42-yard field goal early in the fourth quarter to put the Presidents up by two scores, at 17-3. On Waynesburg’s second drive after Sidebotham’s field goal, W&J’s Dan Brodland intercepted a Tres Cobb pass and returned it 21 yards, all but ensuring a third straight Presidents’ victory over Waynesburg.

“We’ll find out what type of character we have after this,” said Czerwien. “We want to finish out strong. We have good character. I know we’ll come out and learn from this and lay it out our next two games.”