Forsythe leads ground game
In Waynesburg’s first two games this season, the Jackets have played a much different brand of football than that of the 2013 team.
The 2013 Jackets were a team that depended almost solely on the passing game and the right arm of then-junior quarterback Carter Hill. In an 11-game 2013 season, the Jackets attempted almost 500 passing attempts, totaling 479, which equates to about 44 attempts per game.
That team averaged only about 31 rushing attempts per game, which includes sacks and quarterback kneels. The 2014 Yellow Jackets have shown through two games to be a completely different team though, with balance being the word thrown around by the team.
Through two games, Waynesburg has passed the ball only 62 times while rushing the ball 84 times.
“It was all pass last year,” said senior running back Jake Forsythe. “We didn’t really have a run game last year. I didn’t come in last year as prepared as I am this year and it all came down on [Hill] last year.”
Forsythe rushed for 134 yards on 33 carries and scored two touchdowns in the win Saturday. He is the first 100-yard rusher for Waynesburg since then-sophomore Jerry Lawman ran for 111 yards on Oct. 19 against Bethany last season.
Forsythe’s 134 rushing yards is the most for one rusher in a game since Nov. 17, 2012, when Bertrand Ngampa ran for 175 yards on 20 carries against Carnegie Mellon in Waynesburg’s ECAC Bowl win.
The last time a Waynesburg ball carrier received more than 33 rushes in a game was Justin Falcon on Oct. 25, 2008 against Bethany, when he rushed 38 times.
“It does mean a lot that the coaches trust me to give me the ball that much,” Forsythe said. “We would really like to run the ball a lot to set up the play-action pass for [Hill].”
Most of that trust was developed in the third quarter of the game Saturday, when Waynesburg had great field position on the Saint Vincent 43-yard line to start back-to-back possessions.
On the first possession, Forsythe was given seven carries out of the nine total plays on the drive and scored the go-ahead touchdown for the Jackets. Forsythe then scored another rushing touchdown on the Jackets’ next possession to put Waynesburg ahead by 11 points.
“We didn’t have that [trust in Forsythe] last year,” said head coach Rick Shepas. “I think he’s committed to proving that this year and he definitely played his best game to date as a Yellow Jacket.”
Shepas believes a completely balanced offense is the best thing for his team. Ideally, Shepas wants the team to pass about half the time and run half the time.
“We can hurt you a bunch of different ways,” Shepas said. “Our versatility is the fact that we can no-huddle, spread you out and go fast, and if we’re executing like we did on our first possession of the game, we can get in the end zone pretty quickly. By the same token, when we need to get serious about what we’re doing and run the football, we can get a fullback in the game and pound you a little bit and set up some good play-actions, where you saw some of those longer throws come from.”
Once the running game was established after the two touchdowns by Forsythe, the play-action passing game started to come to fruition.
The pinnacle of the play-action passing game was on the nine-yard touchdown pass from Hill to senior wide receiver Andrew English. Hill faked a handoff to Forsythe, planted on his back foot and hit English who was open by a few strides in the back left corner of the end zone.
“An effective run game really makes your play-actions effective; a commitment to the run game in general will always help it,” Shepas said. “But the bigger chunks you’re getting in the run game, obviously, the bigger plays you’ll get in the play-action pass game.”
Hill understands the importance of a balanced offense and thinks the potential of the offense when it is balanced is insurmountable.
“When you think about the most potent offenses, the hardest ones to defend are the ones you have no idea what they’re going to do every snap,” Hill said. “We have the run game going, the play-action going and we can throw it around on people. It’s honestly a triple threat. We feel like we can move the ball any way we want to.”
Lawman, the change-of-pace running back who ran for 71 yards on 12 carries in the win over Muskingum Sept. 6, went down with a leg injury early in the game against Saint Vincent. This put most of the workload on Forsythe’s shoulders, but senior running back Willie Leavell stepped into Lawman’s role and scored a touchdown in the second quarter.
“Willie’s not only a good running back, [but] he’s also a wide receiver for us too, so he’s a dual threat,” Forsythe said. “Between [Lawman], him and me, I think we have a triple threat right there.”
Lawman suffered a high-ankle sprain in the contest, which means Leavell could have to continue in that role for as long as Lawman is injured.
When Lawman does return though, Hill believes having three running backs with different playing styles that all fit a team need is a special thing to have.
Shepas said the plan for next week against Geneva and the future of the season is to keep the offense balanced and continue to make a commitment to running the football.