PITTSBURGH, Pa. (Oct. 13) – For two-plus quarters, Waynesburg's defense was able to keep the Yellow Jackets in position to pull an upset against Carnegie Mellon on Saturday night. Unfortunately, the offense of the host Tartans finally wore down the Jackets for 21 points over the final 24-plus minutes on their way to 24-3 Presidents' Athletic Conference (PAC) victory.
 
Things started well for Waynesburg (1-5, 1-4), which opened the scoring with 3:24 left to play in the first quarter. After getting the ball on an interception from freshman defensive back Eric Townsend II (Midlothian, Va. / James River), the Jackets put together a 16-play, 61-yard drive that lasted 9:14. Though the Jacket offense couldn't punch the ball in for six points, it still managed to set up senior kicker Mike Ryhal (Fredonia, Pa. / Reynolds) for a 32-yard field goal that gave the Orange and Black a 3-0 lead.
 
CMU (5-1, 4-1) tied the game with a field goal of its own midway through the second quarter. The score remained tied at 3-3 by the time the first half reached its conclusion.
 
After doing a terrific job of keeping the Tartans out of the end zone for the entirety of the first half, the home team broke through for the game's first touchdown at the end of a third quarter-opening possession. Carnegie Mellon never looked back from that point on and secured a win that allowed it to take over second place in the PAC standings.
 
An interception return for a touchdown made the score 17-3 near the end of the third quarter. CMU posted the game's final points to cap its first drive of the fourth quarter.
 
Sophomore Dozhay Crumb (Ambridge, Pa. / Ambridge) was Waynesburg's top offensive performer on the night, pulling in a game-high six catches for a contest-best 53 yards. Junior quarterback Mason Schrenker (Robinson, Pa. / Montour) completed 12-of-20 passes for 91 yards.
 
The Jacket defense held CMU to just 296 yards of total offense in the loss. Senior safety VaShon Graham continued his strong final season as a collegiate player by racking up a game-high 11 tackles, including a contest-best seven solo stops. He also forced a fumble and broke up a pass. Sophomore linebacker Bret Hicks (Pittsburgh, Pa. / Chartiers Valley) contributed nine tackles that included 1.5 tackles for loss and a sack.
 
Waynesburg returns home for the first of three-straight games at John F. Wiley Stadium on Saturday, Oct. 19. The Yellow Jackets square off with Grove City for a 1:30 p.m. PAC showdown.