By: Caleb Yauger

For the Yellow Jacket

A field goal on the first offensive drive was all that the Waynesburg football team could manage on Saturday, Sept. 25.

The Carnegie Mellon University Tartans defeated the Yellow Jackets 39-3 under the lights for the home opener at Gesling Stadium in Pittsburgh, Pa.

“That’s got to be seven, not three,” Waynesburg head coach Chris Smithley said. “We shot ourselves in the foot, and we didn’t play Jacket football.”

Things looked positive in the opening minutes of the game for the Yellow Jackets. Less than a minute into the contest, the Jacket defense forced a fumble, which then led to the first points of the game with a line-drive field goal by sophomore kicker Keegan Raabe.

From that point onward, it was all Tartans, scoring 39 unanswered points and not allowing Waynesburg to score for the rest of the night.

Sophomore quarterback Ben Mills went 11-22, throwing for 128 yards, one touchdown and had one rushing touchdown of his own.

The dual running backs for the Tartans also were productive on the offense, each having one touchdown apiece. Sophomore Tre Vasiliadis, who only had one carry for 11 yards last week against Grove City, bounced back from his reaggravated injury to rush for 93 yards on 11 attempts. Junior Zachary Hamilton stepped in for three attempts and rushed for 19 yards.

A bright spot for the Waynesburg defense was freshman defensive back Javionne Smith, who tied for a team-high eight total tackles with senior and veteran safety Luke Menges.

“I thought the defense battled,” Smithley said. “We’re going to find some things on the film that we just [have] to get fixed.”

Through the first three games of the 2021 season, junior quarterback Tyler Raines did not throw a single interception.

Raines threw three picks against the Tartans, one of which resulted in a pick-six. He went 12-25 through the air, passing for 149 yards and getting sacked four times.

Junior running back Justin Flack’s night was completely different from the previous week against Thiel, as he would only run for 35 yards on 13 attempts.

“We’ve got to do a better job of running the football,” Smithley said. “When things weren’t  going smooth, I think our guys got a little bit flustered.”

Senior Trenton Kerns led all Waynesburg receivers with seven receptions for 97 yards, an accolade that has been dominated by freshman Dakota Romantino over the course of the past two weeks.

Romantino only had three catches for 42 yards.

“Offensively, we didn’t have as much success as we had in the past two weeks,” Kerns said. “Nothing really fell our way this week.”

Turnovers, defensive struggles, and an unfruitful night on the offense hindered Waynesburg, but Smithley was still hopeful for his Yellow Jackets.

“I love these guys,” Smithley said, “I believe in these guys probably more than anyone in this world does.”

Waynesburg tried bouncing back at their homecoming game against Grove City on Saturday, Oct. 2, but they were unable to bring home a win.