jmontecalvo@observer-reporter.com
Hanover College head football coach Wayne Perry has announced he will retire at the end of this season. After the thumping Washington & Jefferson put on his Panthers Saturday afternoon, you can't blame the Perry if he feels like hanging up the whistle a little sooner.
The Presidents scored on each of their first seven possessions, rolled up an incredible 675 yards of offense and blew past non-conference opponent Hanover 50-14 at Cameron Stadium.
W&J exploited in every way a Hanover defense that had given up 84 points and an average of 484 yards in its first two games.
Quarterback Bobby Swallow completed 20 of 25 passes for a career-best 307 yards and tied Chris Edwards' record for touchdown passes in a game with six.
Kevin Mathews led the rushing attack with 145 yards on 13 carries as the Presidents (2-0) gained 342 yards on the ground.
David Ravida paced a strong receiving corps, catching a career-high eight passes for 137 yards and three touchdowns.
"We knew what we wanted to do coming into the game and we followed our game plan," Swallow said. "We said, coming in, we wanted to try and not punt. We did that in the first half."
The Presidents scored six touchdowns and Chuck Grabner nailed a 21-yard field goal in the first half.
The only time W&J failed to score in the first 30 minutes was the last time it had the ball. But that drive began at W&J's 34-yard line with 26 seconds left after Josh Juett scored for Hanover to make it 43-7.
Still, the Presidents took just two plays - completions of 26 and 28 yards to Tom McCafferty and Ravida, respectively - to reach the Hanover 12. After an incomplete pass, which McCafferty had in his hands until his back hit the turf and jarred the ball loose, Grabner missed a 28-yard field goal to the right.
The Presidents' defense, meanwhile, limited Hanover (0-3) to 105 total yards, including four in the first quarter, when W&J took a 33-0 lead. The Presidents also sacked Hanover quarterbacks five times and held the Panthers to 43 passing yards. David Gitlitz had 10 tackles and Jeff Ernst finished with two sacks for No. 16 W&J.
"We played well from the get-go," W&J coach Mike Sirianni said. "We were real emotional last week against Geneva. I was worried about a little bit of a let-down, but that didn't happen. We played real well in the first half."
The Presidents got the scoring started early.
Hanover fumbled on its third offensive play, and five plays later, Mathews scored from seven yards out.
On the first play of W&J's next drive, Mathews fumbled, but had the ball bounce back to him. The junior from Upper St. Clair recovered, broke several tackles and picked up 35 yards. Swallow found Ravida running free down the middle of the field for a 30-yard score on the next play.
It was that kind of day for Hanover, which lost all four starting defensive backs to injury last week. Against the Presidents, Hanover's secondary included a cornerback that hadn't played football for three years, a converted wide receiver and another player who came out for the team on Wednesday.
"That wasn't the difference in the game," said Perry, who is in his 26th season and has a 172-84-2 record. "We were feeling a little sorry for ourselves. You could tell all week, defensively, we were in a funk and we just couldn't get out of it.
"We just didn't play well. I'm not taking anything away from W&J because they are a very good team and Bobby Swallow is an excellent quarterback."
Swallow found Ravida crossing the back of the end zone for another touchdown on W&J's third possession before he hit Ryan Church, who made a diving catch for a 14-yard score.
Swallow, a junior, has 10 TD passes in two games. He connected with Luke Espe from 43 yards out as time expired in the first quarter, Mathews on a 16-yard scoring pass in the second and Ravida for the record-tying touchdown in the third.
"(The record) means a lot," Swallow said. "What Chris Edwards did here is amazing, so to be in the same category as him is nice.
"Luckily, we had the right plays for their coverages, which helped get (receivers) wide open and they made some big plays. They had a two-safety look and we were running the seam. They were flowing with the outside routs because our outside receivers are so good, too. It's hard to cover them all."