The Waynesburg University football team finds itself in unfriendly territory – an 0-4 start to the season. However, this is the second consecutive year the Yellow Jackets have opened their season without a win in the month of September.

The defense got roughed up, but the offense tallied its highest point total of 2017 following a 56-21 loss at the hands of the Case Western Reserve University Spartans last weekend.

The Spartans opened up a 14-0 lead on Waynesburg and never looked back, with an offensive output that scored 56 points and accumulated 595 yards. The balanced attack produced three rushing touchdowns from senior fullback Jacob Burke. Senior quarterback Rob Cuda tossed three touchdown passes, two going to senior running back Aaron Aguilar and one to junior wide receiver Justin Phan.

The Yellow Jackets achieved their highest scoring game of the season by putting 21 points on the scoreboard. Sophomore quarterback Tyler Perone connected with freshman wide receiver JaWuan Jones on a pair of passing scores – a 35-yarder and 5-yard catch. Perone would find sophomore wide receiver Chad Walker for his first-career Waynesburg touchdown in the third quarter.

On Saturday, the Yellow Jackets take on the Grove City College Wolverines, who are coming off their first victory in four years after knocking off Presidents’ Athletic Conference foe, Saint Vincent 24-14.

Last season, Waynesburg got the best of Grove City and spoiled homecoming for the Wolverines with a 14-10 win on the road. This year, Grove City will be looking to return the favor.

There are few keys the Yellow Jackets can look to in order to pick up win number one versus Grove City for the second straight season.

Get back to basics

Waynesburg has been able to build on its offensive production each week of the season, and if the team can continue, it will score more than 21 points on Saturday. Interim head coach Chris Smithley said the first important step to continuing that progress is sticking to the basics.

“We have to be good at what we do and we cannot make mistakes,” Smithley said. “We have to have those long offensive drives and we have to end those with touchdowns.”

Getting guys healthy goes a long way when getting players back to basics, and Smithley believes that will help Waynesburg against Grove City.

“We have to get our defensive guys healthy, and we just have to have a good week,” Smithley said.

Don’t sleep on Grove City

The Grove City football program has had a handful of turmoil over the past few seasons, most recently with the untimely departures of quarterback Brett Laffoon and wide receiver Nick Ponikvar. But the Wolverines are coming off a stunner against Saint Vincent a week ago, and Smithley does not see them as the team they were in the past.

“This is a better Grove City team than what a lot of people think,” Smithley said. “They play with a lot of fire and they play with a lot of heart. They are getting back on track to being a good football program.”

Smithley sees a lot of similarities between the two squads, and entering the game with an 0-4 record, the Yellow Jackets cannot take the Wolverines lightly.

“I see [Grove City] being in the same situation that we’re in,” Smithley said. “[Grove City] has a young coach setting up a foundation for how he wants things to be done.”

Use energy from Homecoming, but don’t get distracted

Last year, the Yellow Jackets used the energy from homecoming to pull off an upset win over Geneva, and they hope to do the same thing Saturday afternoon in front of what is normally one of the largest crowds of the year.

This will be Smithley’s first homecoming game as head coach at Waynesburg, and he wants to make sure his team keeps their focus where it should be.

“Our focus has to be the game at hand and what we have to do to get our jobs done,” Smithley said. “We have to win a football game and that’s where our focus is going to be.”