Stephenson joins 1,000-1,000 club as Waynesburg locks up playoff spot
WAYNESBURG – Waynesburg Central took care of business on all fronts Friday night.
The Raiders were looking to wrap up a WPIAL football playoff berth and quarterback Jake Stephenson was striving to become only the second player in program history to rush for 1,000 yards and pass for 1,000 yards in a single season when they hosted Sto-Rox.
They reached both goals emphatically.
Waynesburg rolled to a 21-0 lead in the first quarter on its way to a dominating 51-7 win, wrapping up third place in the Class 3A Century Conference and an automatic playoff spot in the process.
Stephenson needed 124 rushing yards to join the Raiders’ Lee Fritz in the 1,000-1,000 club and surpassed that with eight carries for 140 yards and two touchdowns. The senior also completed 7 of 10 passes for 82 yards and a TD to push his aerial yardage for the year up to 1,110.
“Jake is such a team guy,” Waynesburg coach Aaron Giorgi said. “The 1,000-1,000 is something that happened organically. He views it as a team award, not an individual award. And it is a team award. He needs help in order to do that. He needs people blocking for him and catching passes for him as well.
“I think he’s the 20th guy in WPIAL history to do it so he’s in rare air.”
Stephenson wore jersey No. 31 for the game instead of his usual No. 6.
“Jake requested to wear that number for his uncle, Justin Stephenson, who had passed away earlier this year,” Giorgi said.
Justin Stephenson, who died of cancer on Aug. 27 at the age of 45, also was an outstanding football player at Waynesburg who wore No. 31
“I just went out there giving it my all and doing it for my uncle,” Jake Stephenson said. “It meant a lot to me and my family for me to do this in this jersey.
“I couldn’t have done it without my teammates. They deserve all the credit.”
The Raiders (4-2, 6-4) found out Saturday afternoon that they were the No. 11 seed in the WPIAL Class 3A playoff bracket and will play at No. 6 South Allegheny in a first-round playoff game this Friday.
It’s the second year in a row Waynesburg has reached the postseason after an injury-ravaged winless season in 2022.
“That’s awesome,” Stephenson said. “Our coaches do an excellent job. It’s been a great team effort both years.”
“It’s something that hasn’t happened here in Waynesburg for a very long time,” Giorgi said. “I feel like the program is on the rise and I’m proud of the work that these boys and this coaching staff have done over the last couple years.”
Waynesburg had a pair of 100-yard rushers against the Vikings as Ross Tennant followed Stephenson with 104 yards and two touchdowns on just five carries.
“Ross is always lead blocking for Jake and doesn’t always get a ton of carries but whenever he does get the ball he always seems to make something happen,” Giorgi said. “Ross is very unselfish.”
Waynesburg took control of the game from the outset as Stephenson churned out runs of 10, 32, 7 and then 15 yards for a touchdown on his team’s opening drive. Zachary Jiblits made it 8-0 Raiders after he turned a bobbled snap for the extra-point kick into a two-point conversion run.
It took Waynesburg just two plays to find the end zone again on its next possession as Stephenson ran for 13 yards then lofted a 42-yard touchdown pass to Jiblits midway through the opening quarter for a 15-0 lead.
“Me and Vince Maley, we try to get the guys hyped before the game,” Stephenson said. “We knew we had to come out, start hot and just keep going.”
Teagen Crouse pushed the Raiders’ advantage up to 21-0 when a Vikings punt was partially blocked by Jack Ricciuti and he gathered in the ball at the Sto-Rox 32 and raced down the sideline for a touchdown.
Sto-Rox scored its lone touchdown with a nine-play 53-yard drive capped by Dushawn Smith’s 2-yard run with 10:31 left in the second quarter. Junior female kicker Allie Dotson was congratulated happily by teammates after she provided the Vikings with their first made extra-point kick of the season to pull the visitors within 21-7.
Waynesburg answered on the next play from scrimmage as Stephenson broke free for a 45-yard touchdown run to bump the lead back up to 21.
Sto-Rox kept the ball for 14 plays on its next possession, consuming 9:48 off the clock before turning the ball over on downs. Vikings quarterback Deron Woodson completed all four of his passes in the drive for 52 yards but was also sacked three times, the final two for a 9-yard loss by Ethan Kiger and a 10-yard loss by Kiger and Jeffrey Blair that gave Waynesburg possession on its own 45 with 32 seconds left in the half.
Stephenson’s 10-yard run on the next play put him over 1,000 rushing yards for the season and thus securing the double-1,000 milestone.
From there Stephenson, with no timeouts, completed consecutive passes to Ricciuti who gained 10 and 12 yards before stepping out of bounds after each reception. That set up Raiders kicker Dalton Taylor for a 40-yard field goal attempt which he drilled through the uprights for a 31-7 halftime lead.
“I was really happy the way the kids came out,” Giorgi said. “I thought they were very energized today. I thought we executed very well offensively. Defensively I thought we gave up a few too many third-down conversions but we ended up getting stops when we needed to.”
Tennant added touchdown runs of 15 and 2 yards, both after Waynesburg fumble recoveries, in the third quarter to put the hosts up 44-7. Blair added an 8-yard TD run in the fourth quarter.
Woodson completed 10 of 14 passes for 143 yards for the Vikings, but was sacked five times and intercepted twice, by Jiblits and Daniel Brookover.
“I thought he hung in there and he made some nice throws down field, especially on some third downs,” Giorgi said of Woodson.
Karic Willis had 5 receptions for 79 yards and Devant Jackson made three catches for 57 yards for Sto-Rox.