In their game against Geneva College, the Waynesburg University football team managed to keep themselves in the competition for the majority of the first half, but the Golden Tornadoes triple-option offense finally pulled away in the third quarter, as the Yellow Jackets dropped a 35-14 decision.

“I give those guys credit, [Geneva Head] Coach [Geno] DeMarco does a great job with that offense,” said Interim Head coach Chris Smithley. “They had a really good day and we had trouble stopping that triple-option. Those are part of the issues that we had…We should have easily matched that they put on the board in that game. It just comes down to those little things that affect the momentum and way you’re flowing and driving.”

The Yellow Jackets (0-6, 0-4) opened up the scoring as freshman running back Jeremiah Doswell-Hardrick finished off the team’s opening drive with a 6-yard rushing touchdown, the first of his career. The Golden Tornadoes (3-2, 3-1) promptly answered with three consecutive drives that ended in touchdowns, to take a 21-7 advantage into the second quarter.

Waynesburg ended its scoring drought as junior running back Austin Wilson capped off a 7-play, 63-yard drive with a 2-yard touchdown run, his first of the year. Momentum continued to swing in favor of the Yellow Jackets when freshman defensive back Charles Poindexter blocked a punt on Geneva’s ensuing drive, giving the Jackets the ball on Geneva’s 38-yard line with 23 seconds remaining in the half.

With Geneva holding a 21-14 advantage, Waynesburg was unable to tie the game heading into halftime. Smithley said that Waynesburg’s last drive before the break had big implications on the final result of the game.

“We go into the locker room pumped up right there if we get that touchdown and we have the momentum coming into the third quarter,” he said. “Then we come out in the third quarter and we get a stop. Then we are right on track. It’s crazy how little things in the game can completely change the whole thing and which direction it goes.”

Geneva dominated scoring for the rest of the game, with the Golden Tornadoes adding two rushing touchdowns in the third quarter, to put the game away and bring it to its final score. Geneva finished the game with 367 yards rushing, including 170 from the leading rusher in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference, junior running back Trewon Marshall.

Geneva’s triple-option managed to keep Waynesburg’s offense off the field for a majority of the game, leading the Jackets in time of possession by a 36:33-23:27 margin. Sophomore quarterback Tyler Perone finished the afternoon completing 11-of-23 passes for 82 yards and two interceptions.

A big reason for the discrepancies in the time of possession and score, according to Smithley, was a lack of execution of minor details.

“I don’t think this was a 35-14 game,” Smithley said. “I really don’t think it was that, and the stats even show that it was not necessarily that,” Smithley said. “You can’t turn the ball over, you can’t have those drive killers and you can’t drop the ball. It’s just those little things from the offensive side of the ball that we need to do a better job at. Defensively we have to get some more stops.”

A big bright spot for the Yellow Jackets on the day was the emergence of the run game. Doswell-Hardrick rushed for 74 yards on 12 carries before being sidelined mid-way through the second quarter with an injury, while Wilson picked up the slack the rest of the way by accumulating 101 yards on 14 carries.

“There’s a lot of things that are changing from a run game standpoint that’s really making this run game more successful,” Smithley said. “We’re getting some more guys in there and there’s more guys playing offensive line. There’s some younger guys and inexperienced guys that have proven themselves over the course of the season in practice and they’re getting shots. When they’re getting their shots they’re taking advantage of those shots.”

While also noting the improvement of the offensive line and better blocking from receivers contributing to the success of the run game, Smithley said that a huge factor in the team’s improvement has been because of a player that has moved from tight end to fullback, senior Alec Watts.

“He has been really impressive from our standpoint of really trying to will this thing to happen,” he said. “He’s done a fantastic job and he’s playing a little bit out of his position. He’s not necessarily a fullback, but we’ve been asking him to do a lot of that stuff. He’s been finding a way to get that done day-in and day-out over the course of the last month. He’s really done a great job for us.”

Another positive note that Smithley took away from the game was the increase in liveliness he saw from his team as they look to snap a 10-game losing skid.

“Just the energy of this game was completely different,” he said. “We’ve made some major strides in how these guys have attacked the game and [their excitement level]. We sit here and talk about how to win football games, those are things that are extremely important in taking those steps to get to that point.”

Waynesburg is back in action this Saturday, Oct. 14 against the Thomas More Saints in Crestview Hills, Kentucky. Kickoff is set for noon.