From September 17, 2022

WAYNESBURG (Sept. 17) – Coming off a loss against Case Western last week, the Waynesburg University football team came into week three with a different kind of energy facing the Geneva Golden Tornadoes.  

The last time that Waynesburgs beat Geneva was in 2018.

On Saturday, the Yellow Jackets ended the three-year losing streak with a 37-30 win at John F. Wiley Stadium in Presidents’ Athletic Conference play.

Waynesburg Head Coach Dr. Cornelius Coleman and the Yellow Jackets (2-1, 1-0 PAC) had to face Geneva’s (0-3, 0-1) triple-option offense, however, to earn the win. 

“They have a good, balanced running attack,” Coleman said. “Coach [DeMarco] has been there for a while and has had success not only as a coach but maintaining and operating a scheme that he has, in my opinion, kind of perfected over the last several years.”  

Saturday marked Coach Coleman’s first win at John F. Wiley.  

The first touchdown of the day came from freshman quarterback Thomas Burke to sophomore wide receiver Ke’Andre Hollis for a 66-yard catch and run. Burke performed well in place of senior Tyler Raines.

After the Yellow Jacket defense allowed another touchdown, Waynesburg came right back as Justin Flack ran the ball for a 49-yard touchdown run to make it 14-14.  Nick Hall scored a nine-yard touchdown run to give the Yellow Jackets a 21-17 advantage. 

Geneva put together a 13-play, 60-yard possession that made the score 24-21. 

Just a few plays later, Hunter Cameron sprinted out of the line of scrimmage for a 63-yard rushing touchdown that gave the Jackets the lead 28-24 at halftime. 

 In the second half, the defense for both teams showed up.  At the start of the third quarter, Justin Flack broke loose for a 75-yard running touchdown.  The Waynesburg defense showed up big time after stopping a 2-point conversion making the score 35-30.  Defensive lineman Chuck Taylor spoke on how well the defense played throughout the second half. 

“As a defense, we just did our jobs,” Taylor said. “Everyone went out and executed what we practiced all week.”  

The Jacket defense showed up big again when freshman Austin Derr blocked a punt for a safety putting the Jackets up by seven.  The Jacket’s defense continued to hold out, forcing a fumble and ending the game 37-30. Waynesburg will take on Allegany next week at 1 p.m.