jtuscano@observer-reporter.com

GROVE CITY - Football players and, in particular, coaches tend to be a superstitious lot. Most believe it's bad luck and nearly all think it's bad form to talk about future games. The fear is that an opponent will be overlooked and a season destroyed because of a lack of, what they call, focus.

Now, all the preliminaries are out of the way and that is no longer a roadblock to this discussion.

It is officially OK to talk about next week's matchup between the two best teams in the Presidents' Athletic Conference: Washington & Jefferson and Waynesburg.

After the Presidents disposed of Grove City, 49-14, Saturday and the Yellow Jackets downed Thiel, 25-20, the two teams each moved their record to 7-0 overall.

The game that should decide the PAC champion and assure an automatic berth in the NCAA Division III playoffs, takes place at Wiley Stadium in six days. Waynesburg will bring a 4-0 conference record and W&J 3-0.

"We'll find out next weekend," said W&J head coach Mike Sirianni. "I'm happy that we've not looked ahead."

Even Grove City head coach Chris Smith didn't mind offering a quick appraisal of that big game.

"They are definitely different teams," said Chris Smith, whose Wolverines lost to both this season. "Waynesburg has a talented runner (in Robert Heller) and he is outstanding. That puts you in position where you can focus on stopping one aspect and you can slow the whole offense. You can't do that with W&J."

Smith's most recent memory is that of the strength of the Presidents. The two-pronged attack, an offense led by the pinpoint passing of quarterback Bobby Swallow and a defense that simply suffocates you, was on display at Robert Thorn Field yesterday.

Swallow again was superb, completing 22 of 33 passes for 256 yards and five touchdowns. The only negative was that he doubled his season's interception total in the game. A wind-blown pass in the second quarter gave him two in 191 attempts.

But he was accurate enough to hit Luke Espe with touchdown passes of four and 13 yards. His first score gave W&J a 21-0 lead at halftime. Craig Besong caught scoring tosses of 10 and 16 yards, and Ryan Church snagged a three-yard flip.

"The line gives him time to block and he makes the throws," said Espe. "He's an extremely hard worker and he's always right on with his passes.

Ravida, who leads the Presidents with 40 receptions, had a team-high six catches for 89 yards against the Wolverines. Espe had five for 46, Ryan Church four for 34 and Besong three for 35.

"He's the most accurate quarterback I ever played with," said Ravida. "Only once or twice have I seen him throw a bad ball. This is the most easy I've had it in my life."

Most of the players on W&J's defense know what Ravida means. They were magnificent, holding the Wolverines to just nine first downs, including only two in the first half, and gave up just 196 total yards. Grove City quarterback Andrew DiDonato, a South Fayette High School graduate, ran for his life most of the game. He completed just 16 of 38 passes and was responsible for three of the Wolverines' four interceptions. At halftime, Grove City had just two first downs and only 17 yards passing.

"We played great on defense," said Sirianni. "We didn't play that good on offense but that was mostly because of their defense."

W&J was without tailback Kevin Mathews, who bruised his lower right leg in last week's victory over Westminster. He's expected back this week. Curt Jones stepped in and started slow, fumbling twice and gaining 35 yards on 13 carries at halftime.

But he came on strong in the second half to finish with 97 yards on 22 tries. Reserve tailback Terrence McCallister had a game-high 116 yards on eight carries, all in the second half, and scored on a 17-yard run early in the fourth quarter to give W&J a 42-0 lead.

The shutout was lost when Grove City scored twice in the fourth quarter, the first one coming on a weird play. On second down from the W&J 25, DiDonato hit Wes Basham with a pass over the middle. Basham fumbled the ball and Zach Summy picked it up at the nine and carried it in.

W&J finished the scoring when Zach Zebrasky ran around right end from one yard out.

Notes

W&J piled up 517 total yards on 84 plays. The Presidents controlled the football for 13 more minutes than Grove City. ... Craig Sedunov, David Gitlitz, P.J. Hoskin and Doug Melton each intercepted DiDonato. ... With 124 yards passing, DiDonato, a sophomore, moved into second place on Grove City's career passing yardage list. His 2,782 yards are 212 behind leader Duke Johncour (1989-91).

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