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H-S Athlete of the Week: Jake Stephenson, Waynesburg Central

By Rob Burchianti 5 min read
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Waynesburg Central's Jake Stephenson is the Herald-Standard Athlete of the Week.

H-S Athlete of the Week:

Jake Stephenson, Waynesburg Central

Name: Jake Stephenson

School: Waynesburg Central

Class: Senior

Sport: Football

Stephenson’s week: Stephenson had a hand in five touchdowns in Waynesburg Central’s 49-23 win at Charleroi which kept the Raiders in the hunt for a WPIAL playoff berth out of the Century Conference. Stephenson, a 6-foot-2, 200-point quarterback, had touchdown runs of 1, 7, 8 and 67 yards and also threw a 65-yard scoring pass to Jack Ricciuti. Stephenson completed 9 of 14 passes for 163 yards and had 16 carries for 197 yards.

Stephenson is approaching the rare 1,000-1,000 season of passing for 1,000 yards and rushing for 1,000 yards. He’s thrown for 1,028 yards and six touchdowns and has run for 876 yards, leaving him 124 rushing yards away from that milestone. Stephenson is aware of his statistics but puts the team before his individual accomplishments.

“It’s been a goal, 1,000-1,000, and I’m excited to have a chance to do it but team success comes first,” Stephenson said. The Raiders are in the thick of the playoff race and with tiebreakers nothing is assured of yet but a win over Sto-Rox Friday night is imperative to reaching the postseason. “We can only control what we can control so we have to go out there and win that game, take care of business, that’s the most important thing.”

Stephenson, the 18-year-old son of Bob and Kristi Stephenson, also plays outside linebacker on defense for Waynesburg. His coach, Aaron Giorgi lauded his senior star.

“It’s hard to find the right words to talk about Jake because he’s such a special young man on and off the field,” Giorgi said. “He’s such an unassuming person in the school, very polite, a 4.0 student, kind to all his classmates and his teachers, and I think that goes to say what kind of person he is. He’s not just an athlete, he’s a student-athlete. But he steps on the football field and he’s larger than life. Everyone has to game plan around him. He takes over games. He is the heart and soul of Waynesburg Raider football. Our offense goes around him and even defensively he’s all around the field. Our defensive schemes are built so that Jake can make plays.”

Team turnaround: Stephenson was injured his sophomore year when Waynesburg went winless. “It’s pretty tough when you’re watching and not able to be out there on the field,” he said. “I was trying to help motivate the guys on the sidelines as best I could.”

Last year the Raiders, with Stephenson back on the field, rose from the ashes of the 2022 season to go 7-4 and make the playoffs. This year Waynesburg is 3-2 in the conference and 5-4 overall. “It’s awesome to play a big role in that but we’re a team as a whole, everybody contributes their part,” Stephenson said. “It’s more fun when you’re winning. This would be very big for the program to make the playoffs again. We hadn’t done that in like nine or 10 years before last year so to do it back to back would be pretty awesome.”

Super effort: Giorgi pointed out Stephenson’s most impressive game of the season was in a 27-26 overtime win over Carlynton. Stephenson completed 8 of 10 passes for 113 yards and carried the ball 17 times for 121 yards and came up with several clutch plays at the end of the game. “Carlynton scored at the end of the fourth quarter to tie the game but Jake blocked the extra point which sent us into overtime. He scored on a fourth down quarterback power run and (Dalton) Taylor made the extra point. They scored and tried to win it with a two-point conversion and Jake intercepted the pass to end the game. I’ve never seen a more complete game by a player. That was just an incredible performance.”

Tidbits: Despite his impact on the Carlynton win, Stephenson points to Waynesburg’s 21-13 win at Washington this year as his most memorable. “The Wash High game because we hadn’t beaten them in like 10 years,” Stephenson said. “That was an exciting win.” … Stephenson’s uncle, Justin Stephenson, also a great athlete at Waynesburg, died after a battle with cancer on Aug. 27. “It was really tough,” Stephenson said. “Our families are super close. He was my dad’s brother. It was a sad time.” … Stephenson also wrestles for Waynesburg and hopes one of the two sports will lead to him extending his athletic career in college. “I’m looking to do either sport in college,” he said. “I’ve had a couple schools reach out to me in both sports.” … Stephenson has two brothers, Caleb and Nate, and two sisters, Sarah and Lizzie. “I’m the second youngest to Lizzie,” Stephenson said. “We’re a pretty close family. We’ve always gone to each other’s games and still do.” … Stephenson cites fishing as one of his favorite hobbies. “I like to fish with some of my friends every once in a while,” he said. “My grandparents have a farm with a pond we like to go to.”

Compiled by Rob Burchianti

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