Nov 6, 2015 By Jacob Meyer sports Editor 5 min read

The Waynesburg University football team traveled five hours to Crestview Hills, Kentucky to take on the first-place and nationally ranked Thomas More Saints.

Five touchdown passes and 317 passing yards from sophomore Thomas More (9-0, 7-0 PAC) quarterback Brenan Kuntz led the Saints to defeat the Yellow Jackets (3-6, 2-5 PAC) 42-13.

Kuntz had big-play touchdown passes of 89, 55 and 36 yards on the day.

“These teams are talented teams,” said head coach Rick Shepas. “I don’t think there’s any question that we’ve improved in those areas. Thomas More is a very explosive team, and all things considered, I thought we played really well against them. They’ve hung a lot more points on other teams.”

Both offenses began the game with punts, but Waynesburg’s second possession saw the game take an early turn for the worst.

Freshman quarterback Jake Dougherty threw an interception on the first play of the drive after the defense had just stopped the Saints. Freshman defensive back Brandon Neal picked off the Dougherty pass and returned it 28 yards to the Waynesburg 30-yard line. Thomas More then scored on a Kuntz pass to junior fullback Colin Justice for the 4-yard score. The touchdown gave the Saints a 7-0 lead with about seven minutes left in the first quarter.

“I think the key turning point in the game was the interception that we threw. That’s when we seemed to just unravel a little bit in at least the first half,” said Shepas.

“We just didn’t make an accurate read and threw the ball to the corner and the ball was underthrown. It just wasn’t a great throw for [Dougherty].”

Dougherty ended the game completing less than 50 percent of his passes at 14 of 29 for 96 yards, a touchdown and an interception.

Shepas said the game against Thomas More was not a strong performance for his freshman signal caller.

“We thought our preparation was good. We thought our plan was good,” said Shepas. “Some of those statistics are going to be skewed because we are not going to put [Dougherty] into bad situations throwing the football.”

Despite Dougherty’s performance, Shepas still believes in his young quarterback and the progression he is making.

“All things considered, I think it is still a positive the way things have gone for him,” Shepas said.

Thomas More would find the end zone again two drives later, as Kuntz completed a 55-yard pass to senior wide receiver Tyler Voegelpohl to give the Saints a 14-0 lead.

On the Saints’ next drive, Kuntz found Cohorn for the first of two hookups on the afternoon, this time for an 89-yard score. The touchdown would be the last score before halftime, as both teams went into the locker room with the score 21-0 in favor of the Saints.

The defense came out in the second half ready to play, as they immediately forced a Thomas More turnover, as sophomore linebacker Tristan Sandrosky caused the fumble and junior defensive lineman Zach Machuga recovered the loose ball.

The defense would also force a Thomas More turnover on downs on the Saints’ next drive too. The offense could not build off the positive momentum created by the defense, though, as both drives did not see a Yellow Jacket first down.

The first drive saw a turnover on downs, as the offense could not move the ball past the great field positive the Yellow Jacket defense awarded the offense from the fumble recovery.

The Saints would score on their next two drives, which increased their lead to 35-0.

The first was a 36-yard pass from Kuntz to Cohorn, while the second was a senior wide receiver Cody Schonburg 2-yard touchdown run. Cohorn caught five Kuntz passes for a total of 166 yards and two scores.

Waynesburg would score its first points of the game with about one minute left in the third quarter, as senior running back Jerry Lawman ran for a 22-yard score. Lawman finished the game with 137 rushing yards on 33 carries and a touchdown.

“I thought he played great; I think he’s been playing great all year,” Shepas said. “I don’t think there’s any question that Jerry’s been a leader for us all year; he’s been very consistent in his practice play, his game play and his leadership off the field.”

Lawman, who has run for 891 yards and eight scores on the year, is 109 yards away from a 1,000-yard rushing season. The lone game left on the schedule is a contest against Washington & Jefferson on Nov. 14.  

“To see him run for 1,000 yards is definitely be a goal for us going in [to W&J],” Shepas said. “I think that would be great for Jerry as well as the offensive line.”

Kuntz would throw his fifth and final touchdown pass of the game, this one to Justice for his second of the afternoon, to give the Saints a 42-6 lead.

With about two minutes left in the game, Dougherty hit junior wide receiver Joe Malta for a 3-yard touchdown. The touchdown was the first of Malta’s career.

The Jackets are on a bye week this week, but take on the Presidents from W&J on  in the last game of the season on Nov. 14.