Fourth-and-one, leading Saint Vincent 24-21 early in the fourth quarter and on its own 45-yard line, Waynesburg lined up to punt the ball back to the Bearcats. After just scoring a touchdown to cut the deficit to three, the Saint Vincent defense forced a three-and-out of the Waynesburg offense to keep the momentum rolling in its direction.

Interim head coach Chris Smithley and senior punter RJ Leon had other ideas.

Initially selling to the Bearcats that they were going to punt, Leon quickly sprinted back up to the line of scrimmage, took the snap and pushed forward two yards to give the Yellow Jackets a first down and keep the drive alive. Later in that drive, freshman full back Hayden Belcher gave Saint Vincent the dagger with a 1-yard touchdown run to give Waynesburg a 31-21 advantage it would not relinquish.

With the win, the Yellow Jackets have won two consecutive games to move to 2-7 overall and 2-5 in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference.

For Smithley, the timing and execution of that play is exactly how he ideally wants to utilize a trick play like the fake punt.

“It’s not necessarily a fake that’s like a splash play, that really gets us going, but the way I’d like to fake a punt would be to ice the game,” Smithley said. “To be put it in a situation where ‘hey, you’re either going to be giving the ball back to a team to have an opportunity to tie the game, or to make it a closer game,’ and then you fake a punt and ice that thing. That’s kind of a dagger in the heart, and I like the scenario in which we did that. I’m really proud of [Leon] for getting it done because it came down to him just wanting it more than they did.”

Leon has been an under-the-radar leader for the Yellow Jackets for the majority of the season and has been getting the job done in many facets of his game. Leon is averaging 39.5 yards per punt, good for fifth in the PAC, and has made three tackles this year, not to mention his big fourth down conversion this past Saturday.

“I gave [Leon] the game ball for this game,” Smithley said. “Just the way he’s punted, how big that was for him to pick up that conversion and just being a great leader on this team. All year he’s been consistent at being a leader, being a guy that gets our guys going and picks up the energy at practice. He’s really taken control of that and I have a ton of respect for him.”

The first half was back-and-forth between the two teams, as Saint Vincent and Waynesburg traded touchdowns throughout the first quarter, leaving the score tied at 14 heading into the second quarter. The Yellow Jackets broke the alternating streak when junior kicker Garret Guthrie connected on a 34-yard field goal to give the Jackets their first lead of the day 17-14.

Another big play, according to Smithley, came right before the end of the half as junior defensive back Justin Willkow picked off a throw from Bearcat freshman quarterback Aaron Austin and took it 44-yards to the end zone to give the team a 10-point advantage heading into the half.

“[That play] was huge—huge momentum [for us],” said Smithley. “Justin’s a guy that I expect those kind of plays out of him. I still think that he’s one of the best corners in the conference. He doesn’t stat up a ton because no one throws at him—no one goes at him. I think that those are plays that he can make all the time and I have a lot of confidence in him to get that done.”

With the win, Smithley was enthusiastic about his team’s response to different situations throughout the game and said he felt his team has evolved throughout the season as they continue to establish an identity.

“This was a win that I was really pleased with because of different times in this game we faced some adversity that we didn’t necessarily face against Thiel,” he said. “And the way that we responded and the way that we came out of that game, this was really something that makes you feel good and makes you feel like these guys are getting this thing going in a direction.”

One of the biggest takeaways from the past two weeks has been the emergence of the run game for the Yellow Jackets. Last week against Thiel, the team totaled 284 yards rushing and four touchdowns, with three different players going over 80 yards on the ground, while this week saw 170 yards rushing and three touchdowns. Junior Austin Wilson took on a lead-role for the rushing attack, something Smithley noted was due to the way the flow of the game was going, as he rushed for 102 yards and a score.

“We’ll evolve a little bit the way we need to make sure we’re progressing and giving ourselves a chance to win football games,” Smithley said. “The mindset was the same—we want to run the football and we’ve always wanted to run the football. Whatever that takes to get that done, we’re going to do that.”

Junior quarterback Jake Dougherty continues to get the job done after spending most of the season at wide receiver. Dougherty finished the day completing 9-of-13 passes for 98 yards and added 53 yards rushing and a touchdown.

Now with a 2-0 record this season as the starting quarterback, Smithley has seen significant improvements out of Dougherty’s overall game from his first two seasons.

“I think he’s a completely different player for us,” Smithley said. “When he does run the ball, he runs the ball patient. It’s almost like he got some action and he got the ball in his hands and ran with the ball a couple of times as a receiver…I think it just really loosened him up and made him more comfortable at having the ball in his hand.”

This Saturday, the Yellow Jackets will travel to Washington for their final game of the season against PAC rival Washington & Jefferson. The Presidents currently have a 9-0 record and are ranked 10th in the country by the AFCA Coaches Poll in DIII and 15th by D3football.com. Kickoff is scheduled for 1 p.m.