By Ethan Spozarski

WAYNESBURG (Oct. 8) – The Waynesburg Yellow Jackets lost in a close matchup Saturday against the No. 18 Carnegie Mellon Tartans 27-20.

Both Waynesburg (2-3, 1-2 Presidents’ Athletic Conference) and Carnegie Mellon (6-0, 4-0 PAC) punted on their opening drives. However, the Tartans would respond to score 13 unanswered points.  

Then senior quarterback Tyler Raines hit sophomore Dakota Romantino for a 52-yard touchdown. 

Romantino gave all of the credit to offensive coordinator Gabe Luvara.

“Coach Luvara puts in a lot of time every week on studying the defense and he puts us in the best situation to be successful,” Romantino said. “We knew what they were going to give us so we just had to do our job and execute and it paid off.” 

Romantino continued to mention how this Yellow Jackets team is truly starting to play together. 

“We are starting to buy in together as a team and it showed but it doesn’t matter who we play. If we go into the game confident and ready to play and do our job we will be successful,” Romantino said. “It was nice to compete against them but it would have been better if we got the win.” 

The Yellow Jackets would then kick a field goal before the second quarter expired, down 13-10 at the half. Waynesburg would kick another field goal on the first drive of the second half to tie the game. 

The Tartans would break the tie after a 20-yard pass from junior quarterback Ben Mills to sophomore Ben Condemi.

Waynesburg would continue the back-and-forth action and tie it up again with yet another Raines and Romantino connection, this one a 74-yard touchdown to tie the game 20-20.

Romantino would finish the day with six receptions for 213 yards and two touchdowns. 

However, there was another standout on the day. Freshman Emanuel Myers finished with 11 total tackles, a tackle for a loss and a half of a sack. It would be the only sack Waynesburg recorded on the day. 

Myers said he has his coaches to thank for this opportunity. 

“I just feel like all of my work has paid off and I am grateful for this opportunity the coaches gave me,” Meyers said. 

This was the fourth game Myers played this season and his first official start. Myers said the difference between college and high school is not even on the field.

“You can really hear the crowd, the jerseys move faster like flags,” he said. “The only thing on my mind is what the coaches want me to do and what they are thinking.”

The Tartans would respond with 1:09 remaining in the fourth quarter and Waynesburg would not respond in time.

“We know what we have to do, it is all a common goal,” Myers said.

The Yellow Jackets are on the road for the next two games, but Meyers says that doesn’t affect the team’s performance.

“We’ve been exposed to different things, and at the end of the day it is just another game for us,” he said. 

Waynesburg begins the two-game road trip at Bethany. Kickoff is at 1 p.m.