With a 42-0 loss to Presidents’ Athletic Conference rival Washington & Jefferson this past Saturday, the Waynesburg University football team wrapped up a season that left a lot to be desired for.
The Yellow Jackets finished the year with a 2-8 overall record, including a 2-6 conference mark that put them tied for eighth place out of the 11 teams in the PAC.
For first-year interim head coach Chris Smithley, the team had to overcome many obstacles throughout the season and had solid leadership to help get them through a year where they knew there would be some growing pains.
“I thought we faced a lot of challenges and I thought we faced a lot of adversity that a lot of teams may not have went through,” said Smithley. “Our seniors did a phenomenal job of keeping our team focused and keeping them believing in the process, how we needed to do things and how we needed to handle ourselves away from the field. I think that they made a great stand and a great representation of how we want this program to be.”
Before the season, 12-year head coach Rick Shepas retired from his position, leaving the gap that was eventually filled by Smithley. For the players, the change was one of the first adjustments they had to make and they knew the team was in the beginning of a rebuild.
“We knew there was going to be adversity coming in from the beginning because of the coach situation and we didn’t know [who our head coach would be] until the middle of summer,” said junior linebacker John-Glen Davis. “We knew coming in it wasn’t going to be easy to win games. When we were losing, we were like, ‘it’s a building process’…we just needed to find where our niche was and we did that towards the end. It started to click.”
The team lost its first seven games, including losses to three of the top four teams in the conference in Westminster, Carnegie Mellon and Case Western Reserve. Waynesburg finally broke through in Week Eight against Thiel in dominant fashion, defeating the Tomcats 34-7 for its first win of the season. The Yellow Jackets followed up with a 31-21 win over Saint Vincent in the second to last game of the year before traveling to W&J.
Facing many of the top teams in the PAC early is something that junior quarterback Jake Dougherty felt benefitted the team for the long-run of the season and beyond.
“I think it was difficult, but it helped us,” Dougherty said. “If we had the lower-end teams first and then started winning, I think that would have given us a false sense of reality of where we really were. I think going out and getting our butts kicked at the beginning of the season really opened our eyes and [had us thinking] ‘holy cow, if we don’t start doing things different, this could be this program for the next five years.’”
One of the changes the team dealt with was a midseason quarterback switch from sophomore Tyler Perone to Dougherty, who entered the year as a wide receiver after spending his first two seasons with the team as the starting quarterback. Perone started the first seven games, completing 46-percent of his passes for 878 yards, seven touchdowns and 10 interceptions. Following the switch to Dougherty, the junior led a run-heavy attack for the Waynesburg’s wins against Thiel and Saint Vincent and started the W&J game as well.
The variation of roles was something Dougherty said he had to adjust to throughout the year, as wide receiver was a completely foreign position to him entering the season. As a receiver, Dougherty said he struggled to find a consistent role before Smithley made the decision to make him the starting quarterback.
“It was kind of a roller coaster year,” said Dougherty. “I didn’t play at all in the Grove City or Westminster games, and I’ve kind of played the whole season since then with a chip on my shoulder…I guess that’s what it’s all about, just sticking with it and trusting the process.”
While the team may not have finished where it wanted to from a record standpoint, Smithley feels it made significant strides throughout the duration of the season in almost every aspect. He is confident that the Yellow Jackets are developing an identity that will carry into 2018 as each player also develops individually.
“We’ll compete until Week One of next year,” said Smithley. “Over the course of an offseason, a lot of things can change. I’ve seen so many guys emerge that are young guys in the last two weeks, it’s just really impressive to me and really reassuring that we’re doing the right things. That’ll continue up until Muskingum next year. We’re excited about where this thing is going, we really are.”