Week seven football preview: Westminster
The Waynesburg University football team continues its challenging, late-season schedule with a home matchup with Presidents’ Athletic Conference foe Westminster College.
Waynesburg fell for the fourth time this season a week ago in Cleveland, Ohio to conference unbeaten Case Western Reserve by the widest margin of any Yellow Jacket defeat of the season, 41-14.
Case Western Reserve raced out to a 35-0 lead in the first half behind five consecutive scoring drives to open the game, while Waynesburg punted on four separate occasions and turned the ball over twice.
Case Western Reserve’s sophomore quarterback Rob Cuda accounted for six touchdowns on the day, and the Case offense outgained Waynesburg’s 581 yards to 201.
Statistical leaders for the Yellow Jackets included freshman running back Austin Wilson with 56 yards on the ground, 54 of which coming on a fourth quarter touchdown run. Kevin Barnes led the Jackets through the air with five receptions for 72 yards. Quarterback Jake Dougherty completed 16 of 31 passes for 104 yards with a touchdown and an interception in his sixth career start.
Waynesburg returns home Saturday to take on PAC competitor Westminster College. The Titans were a .500 football team in 2014, but many of their contributors returned for the 2015 season. Westminster improved to 4-2 on the season and 3-1 in PAC play with a 49-6 win over Thiel last week.
Waynesburg bested Westminster on the road last season in a dramatic 26-21 win, in which Westminster led with four minutes to play before Waynesburg drove for a touchdown with 45 seconds remaining and did not allow Westminster to score despite reaching the Waynesburg 3-yard line.
Burn the Tape
Waynesburg’s loss to Case Western Reserve was the most lopsided defeat in years for the Yellow Jackets and was the first game all season in which the game was not competitive going into the second half. “I’m disappointed in the whole team, not one individual player,” said head coach Rick Shepas. “This was a shared deal, we had plays on the table.”
Waynesburg struggled mightily to move the football, totaling only eleven first downs in the game while gaining first downs on only four of 12 third down opportunities. Case Western Reserve dominated time of possession; the Spartans’ offense had the ball for more than 39 minutes compared to 21 minutes of possession for the Yellow Jackets. Only one Case drive ended with a punt.
Dealing with Injury
The Jacket offense has been without one of its top threats in the passing game since losing junior wide receiver Tim Cooper to injury during the second half of Waynesburg’s game with Bethany in week four. Dougherty completed passes to six different pass catches against Case Western Reserve on Saturday, but just two were to wide receivers. Junior wide receiver Kevin Barnes was the only Waynesburg pass catcher to have a reception of more than 10 yards on the day.
“There’s no doubt that we miss Cooper and we also miss [junior defensive back Josh] Mundell on the defensive side of the ball. I don’t know which is greater,” Shepas said. “Mundell plays with spark, and he plays with fire. Cooper [does] the same. Cooper was having his best year in his career here with targets, catches and touchdowns.”
Waynesburg’s been without Mundell since his injury in week one, and the secondary in particular has been ravaged by injury throughout the beginning of the season.
Shepas indicated that injuries also served as opportunity for the next man, and Waynesburg has found it can count on a number of defensive backs outside of the opening day starters in juniors Drew Glotfelty and Eli Hargis, who have played important roles in the secondary the past few weeks.
Ground and Pound
Waynesburg was held to its lowing rushing total on the season with 91 yards on the ground, 54 of them coming on a late touchdown run. Running the football has been a common denominator in both Waynesburg victories this season.
Senior running back Jerry Lawman has been joined by freshmen Zach Helsel and Austin Wilson, all of which have had their moments this season.
“We’re happy with the running back play we’re getting from all three of those guys,” said Shepas. “The way [Lawman] practices and plays, it’s unbelievable.”
Lawman’s put together two three-touchdown performances in each of Waynesburg’s wins over Muskingum and Grove City, and accumulated at least 99 yards of total offense in each of the first five games of the season before being held to 30 yards on twelve carries and 5 yards receiving on 5 receptions.
Waynesburg ran the ball on 25 of 30 first down plays two weeks ago in its homecoming win over Grove City, but the score and Case Western’s defense dictated that Waynesburg only handed the ball off 10 of 18 times on first down against last Saturday.
Scouting Westminster
Unfortunately for Waynesburg, the second half of the season pits the Yellow Jackets against the four top teams in the standings of the PAC. Case Western and Thomas More are unbeaten, Washington & Jefferson is nationally ranked and the opponent for this week has only lost to Thomas More and W&J.
“I looked at Case Western game very optimistically,” said Shepas. “I knew we were going to be challenged. I felt there was as much opportunity out there against Grove City. When I look at an opponent there’s always a belief that we can execute, that we can win, that we can do everything we want to do.”
Westminster has dispatched Bethany, Carnegie Melon and Thiel in PAC play with a strong defense and running game. Westminster’s fourth ranked scoring defense is one of three teams in the PAC that holds opponents to less than three yards a carry and leads the PAC in takeaways with 20.
Offensively, whoever lines up at quarterback for the Titans will have the luxury of the PAC’s third leading rusher, Domonique McKinley and short-yardage specialist Kimu Kim. Westminster is 3-1 on the road this season with its lone loss against W&J 35-31.