The Waynesburg University football team entered its game against Westminster Saturday afternoon looking to bounce back from a 31-24 loss to Muskingum in its season opener last week, but also aiming to break a couple of trends that have developed over the past few years.

Coming into the game on Saturday, the Yellow Jackets hoped to avoid starting 0-2 for a third consecutive season as well as get their first win over the Titans since 2014. Both of those trends continued, however, and Westminster (1-1, 1-0) beat the Jackets (0-2, 0-0) 27-12 at John F. Wiley Stadium.

“We just have to play better football,” said head coach Chris Smithley. “We have to put a game together, offensively, defensively and in special teams. You see the offense playing really well, and then the defense slips up, or the defense plays really well, and the offense slips up. We have to do a better job as a team of playing a whole, four-quarter football game.”

Waynesburg put up points first when senior quarterback Jake Dougherty—who entered in relief of junior Tyler Perone—led an 18 play, 76 yard drive that started with more than four minutes left in the first quarter and carried over into the second, taking 10:36 off the clock.

Although the Jackets advanced the ball all the way to the Westminster 4-yard line, they had to settle for three points instead of seven, courtesy of a field goal by freshman Garrett Horne.

Dougherty, who took second team reps in practice all week, wasn’t sure the role he would play against Westminster. He ended up going 24-36 throwing for 171 yards with an interception while picking up 34 yards on 14 carries and scoring a touchdown on the ground.

“I really didn’t think I was going to play,” Dougherty said. “I only got 6-10 reps a day [in practice], so when they called my number to go out, I [wasn’t very confident]. That’s why we didn’t start throwing until [the end of the game] because I wasn’t confident in myself early in the game.”

Neither team scored for the rest of the half, with sophomore kicker John Cybak missing a 22-yard field goal with less than a minute left in the second quarter that would have put the Titans up by a touchdown.

Westminster’s offense came to life in the third quarter, outscoring the Jackets 13-2. Necastro hit junior receiver Connor Cox for a nine-yard touchdown and Cybak converted the extra point to make it 14-3, capping a six play, 74 yard drive that took just 2:14. Cox caught four passes for 64 yards on the day.

The Titans continued to move the ball on their next possession, with Necastro completing a 17-yard pass to Paulinellie, moving to the Waynesburg 8-yard line. Junior running back Bryce Hill subsequently finished a six play, 58 yard drive that again took under three minutes with an 8-yard touchdown run. Hill was Westminster’s leading rusher on the day, picking up 32 yards on just five carries. Cybak’s PAT was blocked and returned for a 98 yard two-point conversion by junior defensive back Brennan Sefick to make it 20-5.

The Jackets had a chance to make it a one possession game at the end of the third quarter and into the fourth, when they drove the ball to the Westminster 3-yard line over a span of roughly seven minutes. Junior running back Chad Walker was stopped for a one-yard loss on a 4th-and-goal attempt. Waynesburg got to within the Titans’ 5-yard line twice without scoring a touchdown.

“We have to make those plays happen,” Smithley said. “That’s on us as a coaching staff. We have to have our guys [readier]. When they get in that red zone, they’re not moving forward.”

Waynesburg scored its first and only touchdown of the afternoon on a 1-yard quarterback sneak by Dougherty with 5:19 left, but the Titans put the game away on their next possession when backup quarterback Shamon Walker capped off a four play, 60 yard drive with a seven yard run. The point after made it 27-12 and ended a productive day for Westminster’s offense. The Titans raked up 305 total yards, 243 of which coming through the air, outgaining the Jackets 305-241.

Offensively for Waynesburg, Walker led the way on the ground with 60 yards on 18 carries, and junior wideout Bobby Grishaber caught five passes for 46 yards.

Waynesburg’s defense was missing arguably its most important player in Justin Willkow who was ruled out for the second consecutive week with a pinched nerve. Willkow’s elgibility remainds day-to-day with the team.

Despite Willkow’s absence, Smithley feels that the man who replaced him at cornerback, sophomore James Jackson isn’t just an adequate substitute, but sets an example for his teammates to follow.

“We believe in James Jackson,” Smithley said. “We have a lot of trust in Jackson to get it done. He plays physical, he’s a great football player and he plays with his heart. We need more guys to play like Jackson. I’ll go with Jackson every day of the week.”

Despite another 0-2 start, both Dougherty and Smithley are encouraged about the current state of the program.

“If we had played Muskingum the way we played Westminster, we would have won by 35,” Dougherty said. “I think right now our problem is we play to our competition, and we need to get out of that groove, and also we have to have guys buy in…I thought today was a great game for us going forward because we played the second-best team in the PAC and we hung with them.”

The Jackets will look for their first win next week under the lights when they play Bethany for their first road game of the season. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:05 p.m.

Smithley feels that the program is in a better position now that it was in his first season as head coach last year

“We’re a much better football team,” Smithley said. “Offensively, defensively and in special teams. We just haven’t capitalized on the opportunities that we need to capitalize on, but we’ll do that. We’re going to go back to work here tomorrow, we’re going to get better, and we’re going to be just fine.”