Football Loses Third Straight in Loss at Saint Vincent
The Waynesburg University football team lost its third straight game in a 30-12 loss to host Saint Vincent College Saturday. The Yellow Jackets fall to 2-7 on the season and 2-5 in Presidents’ Athletic Conference play, while the Bearcats improve to 5-4 and 3-4 in conference action.
“We had enough points out here,” Shepas said. “We’re going to watch this film and see a lot of open receivers. There were plenty of points out there. I think our defense played well enough to get us a win. We needed to score the points.”
After both teams went three and out on their first offensive drives, the Bearcats got on the board first. The drive started with a 45-yard pass from senior quarterback, and the PACs leading passer, Derek Stewart to junior wide receiver Damon Black Jr.
The Jacket defense bent but didn’t break, as they forced the Bearcat offense into a fourth-down situation and a 24-yard field goal from sophomore kicker Sam Elliott.
After another Waynesburg three and out, Saint Vincent started with the ball at midfield. The Bearcats converted two third downs en route to their first touchdown of the game – a 7-yard pass from Stewart to Black, who finished with eight catches for 111 yards and the touchdown.
Waynesburg redshirt freshman quarterback Tyler Perone then drove the Jackets down to the Saint Vincent 1-yard line. Shepas decided to go for it on fourth down, but a false start put the Jackets back to the 6-yard line, forcing the 12th-year head coach to elect to kick the field goal. Freshman kicker Mike Ryhal knocked down the 22-yard attempt, putting the Jackets down 10-3.
The Waynesburg defense forced a punt on its next drive, and the offense took over on its own 15-yard line. A few Perone passes, a couple of Ben Ciero runs and a roughing the passer call later, the Jackets were inside the Bearcat 5-yard line for the second straight drive.
But then Perone threw three straight incomplete passes, and Ryhal missed a 20-yard field goal.
The Jacket defense then forced another punt, but Perone threw an interception on the first play of Waynesburg’s next drive. The pass was picked off by junior linebacker Kim Ornis with about five minutes left to play in the first half.
The Saint Vincent offense started on the Waynesburg 44-yard line, and the drive ended with a 1-yard run by senior running back Shavonta Craft.
The Jacket offense drove into Saint Vincent territory on its next drive, but Perone threw another interception, this time to senior defensive back Devin Anderson.
Saint Vincent wasn’t able to capitalize on the turnover, though, as the score entering halftime was 16-3.
“Defense I thought played really well early,” Shepas said. “[They were] stingy; [they] didn’t give up a lot of points, so we were right in that game.”
Perone led the offense downfield on the first drive of the second half, but Ryhal was forced to attempt his third field goal of the game, this time a 28-yarder that he made to put the Jackets down 10 points.
After four straight punts, two from both offenses, Stewart hit DJ Oceant-Kelly for a 53-yard score, increasing the Bearcats’ lead to 23-6. Oceant-Kelly ended the game with 7 receptions for 148 yards and the touchdown, while Stewart totaled 284 yards on 18-30 passing, two scores and no interceptions.
Freshman quarterback Aaron Jenkins, who has played in a few games for the Jackets and started one, replaced Perone in the middle of the quarter. Perone, who played one of the best games a Jacket passer has played in the last two years last week against Thiel, completed 16 of 32 pass attempts for 208 yards and two interceptions.
“Tyler didn’t play bad,” Shepas said. “But with those inadvertent interceptions, we couldn’t not go to Jenkins.”
Early in the fourth quarter, Jenkins’ legs led the Jackets downfield and his arm capped off the drive, as he hit freshman wide receiver Ta’Vaughn Johnson for a 7-yard score. The Jackets were not able to convert the 2-point conversion, and the score was 23-12 with 12 minutes left.
Jenkins ended the game 5-11 passing for 52 yards and a touchdown, while running for 64 yards on 12 attempts.
Craft then scored his second touchdown of the game, this time from 14 yards out, to increase the Bearcat lead to 18 points. The game would end with the score 30-12.
Waynesburg – 3-0-3-6 – 12
Saint Vincent – 10-6-7-7 – 30
First Quarter
SVC: Sam Elliott 24-yard field goal, 10:27 – SVC 3 WU 0
SVC: Damon Black Jr. pass from Derek Stewart (Elliott PAT), 6:24 – SVC 10 WU 0
WU: Mike Ryhal 22-yard field goal, 0:14 – SVC 10 WU 3
Second Quarter
SVC: Shavonta Craft 1-yard run (Elliott kick blocked), 3:05 – SVC 16 WU 3
Third Quarter
WU: Ryhal 28-yard field goal, 9:47 – SVC 16 WU 6
SVC: DJ Oceant-Kelly pass from Stewart (Elliott PAT), 0:41 – SVC 23 WU 6
Fourth Quarter
WU: Ta’Vaughn Johnson 7-yard pass from Aaron Jenkins (Jenkins pass failed), 6:59 – SVC 23 WU 12
SVC: Craft 14-yard run (Elliott PAT), 2:34 – SVC 30 WU 12
Records:
Waynesburg – 2-7, 2-5 PAC
Saint Vincent – 5-4, 3-4 PAC