Bison upend Waynesburg on late touchdown
Waynesburg running back Jerry Lawman runs for a good gain against Bethany in Saturday's game at John F. Wiley Stadium in Waynesburg.
A late hit out of bounds by Waynesburg 's Bryan Gary (33) on Bethany running back Brandon Hill (26) cost the Yellow Jackets a 15-yard penalty in Saturday's game at John F. Wiley Stadium in Waynesburg.
Dave Rafferty
Waynesburg wide receiver Tim Cooper (3) hauls in a pass against Bethany defensive back Michael Howcott to give the Yellow Jackets a first down late in the second quarter of Saturday’s game in Waynesburg.
Bethany defensive back Wyssmy Despange knocks a pass away from Waynesburg tight end Mike Ferraro (21) during Saturday's game at John F. Wiley Stadium.
WAYNESBURG — Bethany (W.Va.) scored a touchdown with just 20 seconds left in the game to shock Waynesburg, 27-20, in a back-and-forth Presidents’ Athletic Conference contest Saturday afternoon at John F. Wiley Stadium.
With the game tied at 20-20, the Yellow Jackets (5-2, 3-2) drove the ball 72 yards and set themselves up for a 25-yard field goal attempt with 2:22 left, but the Bison (3-3, 3-1) blocked the kick.
Bethany had the ball at its own 2-yard line after the blocked kick, and seven plays later, quarterback Matt Grimard threw a 10-yard curl route to wideout Eric Blinn, which turned out to be the game-deciding 68-yard touchdown pass.
“We were out of position on that last touchdown,” Yellow Jackets coach Rick Shepas said. “Blinn had enough speed to make a couple of guys miss. It was a simple catch and run, and you got to give them a lot of credit. It didn’t surprise us, they just executed the play.”
After a squib kick from the Bison, the Yellow Jackets got the ball to the 39-yard line, but quarterback Carter Hill was sacked by Jarrett Rahymes as the clock reached triple zeros.
Grimard passed for 369 yards on 33-of-46 passing with four touchdowns and two interceptions.
“This is our third straight win and this team is just building every week,” Grimard said. “On the touchdown, we just put that play in this week and it was the first time we ran it in the game. I threw it right to Blinn on the curl and he did all the rest. The inside backer was off and I knew if he could make a few people miss, he would break loose for a touchdown.”
Waynesburg grabbed an early 6-0 lead in the first quarter, courtesy of a 24- and 38-yard field goals by Alex Henry.
In the second quarter, Bethany got on the scoreboard with a 14-yard pass to tailback Brandon Hill from Grimard. The Bison missed the point after and the game was tied at 6-6.
The Yellow Jackets countered with a 10-play, 91-yard drive that was capped off by a nine-yard scoring connection from Hill to tight end Zac Capan. Waynesburg led 13-6 at intermission.
Grimard collected another scoring toss in the third quarter with an 11-yard strike to wideout Tyler Ambush to knot things up once again.
Later in the third, running back Jerry Lawman plunged into the end zone from a yard out, as Waynesburg retook the lead, 20-13. Lawman gained 111 yards on 25 carries.
“We been throwing it a lot this year, and I was happy with our production from our running game,” Shepas said. “We balanced it out and we broke some of our normal tendencies. We knew Bethany could score, so we wanted to possess the ball and keep their offense off the field.”
Hill went 18-of-30 for 225 yards, with wide receiver Andrew English hauling in a team-high six balls for 80 yards.
Defensively for Waynesburg, Josh Tolliver recorded a team-high nine tackles with a forced fumble and an interception. Ronnie Skinner also made five tackles and collected an interception.
“We got three turnovers in the game,” Shepas said. “Usually when you do that, you are going to win. It’s a hard loss and this is a character builder for our guys. Of course this is a bump in the road that you don’t want to have, but we have to look forward to the road ahead.”