Senior quarterback Brad Dawson put together a stellar performance in his final game at John F. Wiley Stadium on Saturday. He completed 32-of-46 passes for 299 yards and three touchdowns to push him over 2,000 yards for the season and 6,500 yards with the Jackets.
Box Score
WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Nov. 13) – For the second-straight week, the Waynesburg University football team faced a top-two Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) team at John F. Wiley Stadium in a game that had postseason implications as part of the story line.
For the second-straight week, the Yellow Jackets battled for 60 minutes and held leads at various times in the contest and were in a position to win. Unfortunately, for the second-straight week, the Jackets came up painfully short as a two-point conversion try for a victory was stopped by Washington & Jefferson in overtime of a 31-30 Waynesburg loss.
The deciding play of the game came after sophomore Waynesburg tight end Adam Moses pulled in a 21-yard touchdown pass on third down in the Jackets' first overtime possession. The home team decided to go for two and the win, but a rush by Ryan Williams was stopped short of the goal line.
With the loss, Waynesburg dropped to 6-4 on the season and 4-3 in PAC play. The victory, W&J's seventh in a row, improved their overall record to 8-2. The Presidents end the regular season with a 6-1 conference mark.
Despite the 61 points showing on the scoreboard after the final play, the game started as a close, defense-dominated affair. The Presidents managed to pick up a field goal with just under six minutes to go in the first quarter to take a 3-0 lead, which was the score at the start of the second. Just 47 seconds into the second quarter, Waynesburg sophomore kicker Jon Storck tied the game at 3-3 with a 24-yard field goal of his own.
Roughly six-and-a-half minutes later, Storck was tacking on the game's first extra point after senior quarterback Brad Dawson found freshman tight end Mike Ferraro on a six-yard scoring play. The Jackets led 10-3 with 7:51 to go in the half, and took that lead with them to the locker room.
In the third quarter, the visitors looked ready to put the game away as they scored 21 unanswered points to take a 24-10 lead with 28 seconds remaining in the period. However, playing in front of their largest home crowd of the season, the Jackets refused to quit.
After recovering a President fumble at the Jacket 34-yard line, Waynesburg marched 66 yards in 10 plays. Dawson capped off the drive with a 24-yard touchdown pass to fellow senior Kyle Kyper for the score. Storck's PAT cut the deficit to 24-17.
The Jacket defense backed up the offense's stellar effort by forcing W&J to go three-and-out on the ensuing possession. After taking over at its own 38, Waynesburg took off on another drive to the end zone. This time, it was freshman running back Dominic Moore who broke the goal line with his team-leading 10th touchdown run of the season. The one-yard plunge ended a short four-play, 62-yard possession. Storck tacked on his second successful extra point kick to tie the game at 24-24 with 7:39 remaining in regulation.
The President offense looked primed to regain the lead and possibly close out the game on the ensuing drive as they marched as deep as the Waynesburg 11-yard line on the ensuing possession. However, a three-yard tackle for loss from senior defensive lineman Isaac Rosser, a nine-yard sack by junior defensive lineman #Darryl Moore, Jr. and an incomplete pass on a fantastic play in the end zone by junior cornerback Sean Hunt# took W&J from a first-and-10 at the 11, to a fourth-and-22 at the 23.
From there, the Presidents missed a 40-yard field goal and gave the Jackets the ball at their own 23-yard line with 2:17 showing on the clock. Waynesburg drove all the way down to the W&J 22 and set up for the game-winning field goal with five seconds showing on the clock. Unfortunately, Storck missed the 39-yarder and the game went into overtime.
After Waynesburg won the toss, they elected to go on defense first. The Presidents scored on their first play from scrimmage and added the extra point to go up 31-24. The Jackets got the touchdown to answer, but their gamble to go for the win instead of kicking the extra point didn't pay off.
In his final game at John F. Wiley Stadium, Dawson put together a fine day throwing the football. He completed 32-of-46 passes for a game-high 299 yards and three touchdowns, with only one interception. He also went over 2,000 yards for the season (2,111) and over 6,500 yards during his time at Waynesburg (6,568). He completed six passes each to junior wide receiver Jeff Young and senior receiver Brent Heckel for 85 and 32 yards, respectively. Junior running back Jamelle Bowers led the Jacket rushing attack with 44 yards on 10 carries.
W&J got a game-high 10 catches for 139 yards and a touchdown from Jordan Roycroft and also had the game's leading rusher in Tim McNerney, who went for 107 yards and two touchdowns on 23 carries.
The Jacket defense was led by Moore and sophomore safety Bryan Gary. Both players tied for the game high with seven total tackles. All of Gary's stops were solo hits. Moore piled up a game-high 3.5 tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
Waynesburg out-gained their opponents 418 to 395 in total yardage. They also held a 299 to 293 edge in passing yardage and a 119 to 102 advantage in rushing yardage. The Jackets held the ball for 30:40, as compared to W&J, who maintained possession for 29:20.
NOTES: Not only was Saturday's game senior day, but Waynesburg also retired the number 29 jersey of Mike Czerwien, who holds the NCAA all-division record for sacks with 53.5, was a four-time first-team All-PAC pick and the 2008 PAC Player of the Year. Czerwien also served as a graduate assistant coach during the 2008 and 2009 seasons.
