Although the Waynesburg University football team fell to Westminster in each of Chris Smithley’s first two seasons as head coach, he was pleased with how his players approached those games.

That wasn’t the case Saturday afternoon in New Wilmington.

Westminster [2-0, 1-0] jumped on the Yellow Jackets [0-2, 0-1] early, taking a 21-0 lead into halftime. Waynesburg’s offense found its legs in the second half, scoring three touchdowns, but most of the scoring came after the sand in the Jackets’ hourglass had expired. The Titans scored 24 points in the second half to polish off a 45-24 win.

“The last two years, [when] we played Westminster, we knew it was a physical battle,” Smithley said. “We knew that they’re a group of guys that are going to try to come out and try to hit you in the mouth and take the game to you. The last two years we matched that energy, and we matched that attitude that we take towards the game. In the first half, I don’t feel that we had that same fire.”

It took the Titans less than five minutes to draw first blood. Receiver Antwon Jones’ only catch of the day was a 34-yard touchdown from quarterback Cole Konieczka that capped off a five play drive in which Westminster marched 70-yards in 1:20. It was the first of four touchdown passes to three receivers for Konieczka, who finished 13-25 with 191 yards passing.

On the other side, Waynesburg’s quarterback Tyler Perone went 19-31 for 164 yards while throwing a touchdown and an interception. 

Westminster struck again toward the end of the first quarter. Konieczka hit Connor Cox on a 4-yard pass, and the extra point made it 14-0. Cox finished the day six receptions, 92-yards and two touchdown receptions. 

It got worse for Waynesburg in the second quarter. Dwayne Brown hauled in a 17-yard pass from Konieczka to put the Titans ahead by three scores. 

The Jackets showed they still had a pulse in the second half. Running back Jordan Taylor capped off a 12-play drive with a 1-yard run, and the Jackets cut the deficit to a reasonable 21-7.

This was followed, however, by 17 unanswered points from the Titans. By the end of the third quarter, Westminster led, 38-7, and had the game in hand. 

The Titans out gained Waynesburg 465-332 in total yardage. 274 of Westminster’s yards came on the ground. Bryce Hill [Eight carries, 92 yards] Keano Grice [Nine carries, 91 yards] and Tyler Greene [9 carries, 87 yards] stole the show.

Westminster’s success running the ball was made possible by the offensive line. Smithley knew Waynesburg needed to win the battle up-front, and felt losing it was key in the outcome. 

“We knew we had to win the line of scrimmage on offense and defense, and in the first half we didn’t do that,” he said. “Even in the second half, we didn’t do a great job [of] that. We had some spurts and did some things here and there that got us rolling, but they beat us up front.”

Smithely saw some positives to take away from Saturday’s loss, such as the performance of freshman running back Justin Flack, who led the team with 59 yards on the ground.

Backup quarterback Mason Schrenker went 3-3 in relief of Perone and threw his first career touchdown pass. Smithley was excited to see some of his underclassmen thrusted into varsity action in the second half. 

“We got some younger guys in there toward the end and developed some guys, got some guys playing some football,” he said. “We’re seeing a lot of good things in our less experienced guys.”

Next Saturday, Waynesburg will host a conference game at John F. Wiley stadium for the first time in 2019 against Bethany at 1:30 p.m. For Smithley, Waynesburg must once again do its job in the trenches in order to get a positive result. 

“We have to win up front on both sides of the football,” he said. “Bethany probably has one of the best if not the best defensive line in our conference. So it’s going to be a battle.”