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Week Four Football Preview: Case Western Reserve

By Andy Stanko for The Yellow Jacket 6 min read
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The Waynesburg University football team continues to search for its first win of the 2016 season in its Week Four game against Case Western Reserve University at John F. Wiley Stadium, Saturday afternoon.

Waynesburg fell to 0-3 on the year and 0-1 in Presidents’ Athletic Conference play after losing to Carnegie Mellon University 35-23 in Pittsburgh last week. The Tartans opened the season receiving top-25 votes nationally and were picked to finish in the top half of the conference again in the PAC preseason poll.

The Jacket defense was tasked with stopping Division III’s leading rusher from 2015, junior running back Sam Benger.

Benger piled up more than 250 yards on the ground in his first outing of the 2016 season, but was held to less than 100 yards through the first three quarters of play before finally breaking through with a 64-yard run to help CMU seal the win.

Waynesburg’s defense managed just two takeaways through the first two weeks of the season but added two more against Carnegie Mellon, with sophomore Justin Willkow intercepting a pass in the end zone in the first quarter and sophomore Michael Heasley getting to quarterback Alex Cline and forcing a fumble. The Jackets recovered and found the end zone three plays later.

Offensively, quarterback Jake Dougherty put together his best outing of the season, connecting on 22 of 39 pass attempts for 259 yards, without an interception. He found senior wide receivers Tim Cooper and Kevin Barnes Jr. for fourth quarter touchdowns in a comeback attempt. Junior wide receiver Mitch Kendra continued his strong season with seven catches for 94 yards as well.

Then, late in the fourth quarter, the Jackets lined up for a two-point conversion to cut the CMU lead to three with less than four minutes remaining, but Dougherty was stopped short of the goal line on a quarterback draw and was injured on the play. Sophomore-transfer Tyler Perone finished the game for the Jackets at the quarterback position.

Case Western Reserve brings an undefeated record to John F. Wiley Stadium after dismantling Grove City 55-0 last week. The Spartans amassed 580 yards of total offense while holding Grove City to 136 yards from scrimmage in the shutout victory.

Returning All-PAC first-team quarterback Rob Cuda passed for 337 yards and four touchdowns and two interceptions on the day. Wide receiver Brandan Lynch recorded a conference-high 222 yards receiving and three touchdowns.

Defensively, Case Western confounded Grove City’s freshman quarterback Brett Laffoon. Laffoon threw for just 74 yards on 34 attempts with three interceptions and was sacked four times. Grove City converted just one of 16 third downs on the evening, and Case Western possessed the ball for 39 minutes of the game.

Saturday’s game between the Jackets and the Spartans will be the third meeting between the two teams since Case joined the PAC as an affiliate member of the PAC in 2014. Waynesburg won at John F. Wiley Stadium on homecoming two years ago, and Case rolled to a win in Cleveland last season, 45-14.

Start from Scratch?

The Waynesburg offense looked better than it had all season in Saturday’s loss to CMU, putting up 23 points after scoring 23 points in the first two weeks combined.

Barnes returned to his 2015 form by going over 100 yards, Cooper came back from injury to grab a few catches early and a touchdown in the fourth and Kendra kept his impressive season going with another solid performance.

For Dougherty, Saturday was his best performances this season and one of the better games in his career. Towards the end of the first half, Dougherty orchestrated an 80-yard scoring drive and then brought the Jackets 83 yards in fewer than 90 seconds to close the half.

The drive ended in a missed field goal as the half expired, but the two minute-drill’s effectiveness was encouraging, Shepas said, especially a throw down the right sideline to find Barnes for a 44-yard gain.

Dougherty completed four passes in a row to come up with a fourth-quarter touchdown to put the Jackets in position to come back and win the game.

“I think we started to see it better, which is really the art of playing quarterback,” said head coach Rick Shepas. “Coverage recognition, seeing where the openings are going to be in advance. I thought we saw it better and we can continue to work to see it better.”

Dougherty will not be working with the offense Saturday, and the offense will have to find its stride under Perone.

“I won’t ever feel like we’re starting from scratch,” said Shepas. “We’ve spent perpetual time in thought about how we’re going to handle different guys. I was happy when Tyler did come in and he didn’t hold back from getting the ball out of his hands. I thought he took some good snaps.”

Despite clicking in the second half against CMU, Perone inherits an offense that ranks 10th out of 11 teams in scoring, yards from scrimmage and rushing. The Jackets converted five third downs last Saturday, but have only converted 10 of 44 third downs on the season, good for 23 percent, a mark that is last in the conference.

Another Defensive Challenge

Waynesburg’s defense rose to the challenge of taking on the nation’s reigning rushing leader and kept Waynesburg in the game with an outstanding first half effort against CMU, Shepas said. The only Tartan touchdown in the first half came after a Jacket fumble set up CMU at the Waynesburg 1-yard line.

Later in the game, two personal foul penalties led to Tartan touchdowns and CMU’s backup quarterback converted two third-and-long situations with completions of 18 and 21 yards on scoring drives.

Case Western comes into Saturday with 100 points through two games. Cuda, who leads the conference in total offense, accounting for almost 350 yards from scrimmage per game, leads the Spartan offense. Case connected on six passing plays of 25 yards or more last week against Grove City after putting together five scoring drives of at least 10 plays in week one against Chicago.

“This will be our toughest week of preparation, according to [defensive coordinator] coach Venick,” said Shepas. “[Cuda] runs it – he’s the guy you can’t account for. He’s always a dangerous threat to run and keep the drive alive.”

Scouting Case

Case Western Reserve continues to receive votes for D3Football.com’s top 25 poll in Division III.

The passing combination of Cuda to senior wide receiver Brendan Lynch is one of the best in the PAC. Lynch is among the statistical leaders in catches, receiving yards and touchdowns despite Case having its bye week already. Lynch is a top two receiver in terms of receptions and receiving yards per game and is tied for the conference lead with five touchdowns.

Regardless of the graduation of six of Case’s front seven defensive players in coach Greg Debeljak’s 3-4 front, the Spartans remain one of the top rushing defenses in the conference. Case’s opponents have totaled 133 yards on the ground in two games on less than three yards per rush.

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