Nov 14, 2013 3 min read

Every time Brandon Fedorka snaps his chin strap, he thinks about him.

Every time Fedorka sacks the quarterback, he thinks about him.

Every time Fedorka looks at the wrist bands with the No. 29 written on them, he thinks about him.

Mike Czerwien, who recruited Fedorka to Waynesburg University before his untimely death from heat exhaustion three years ago, is always on Fedorka’s mind when it comes to playing football.

And it will be Saturday afternoon, when the Yellow Jackets travel to Cameron Stadium for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff against their arch-rival Washington & Jefferson in the regular-season finale.

“That was a tough day,” said Fedorka of July 6, 2010, the day Czerwien died. “I came home, and my father told me about it. I couldn’t believe it. It was tough for me, because we built such a bond. I play every game for him.”

Fedorka is a 6-1, 250-pound senior defensive end, bigger and heavier than the 5-8, 225-pound Czerwien was when he played and later coached at Waynesburg. Czerwien was one of the best defensive player in the program’s history. He was a four-time first team All-Presidents’ Athletic Conference selection and two-time All-American who racked up 53 1/2 career sacks. The sacks total still stands as the most recorded in NCAA history (all divisions).

“He always felt I could break his record,” said Fedorka. “I work on that every day in practice.”

Fedorka leads the PAC and ranks 18th in NCAA Division III with 9 1/2 sacks this season and has 32 career sacks. He will be looking to add to that total against W&J.

A win by the Presidents (6-1, 7-2) will tie them with Thomas More for first place in the conference standings but give them the automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs because of a 45-21 victory over the Saints in Week 6. Waynesburg (5-2, 7-2) will be looking to derail those plans by beating W&J.

“As a freshman, I learned that W&J was your big rival here,” said Fedorka. “It’s the biggest game of the year. It’s hasn’t been good memories, because we’ve lost to them every year I’ve been here.”

Fedorka and the rest of the Waynesburg defense can expect W&J to try to find some balance between the run and pass.

W&J is averaging 35 pass attempts per game, and quarterback Matt Bliss is having a strong season. With Dion Wiegand having a breakout season at tailback, the Presidents are running the ball an average of 41 times per game.

“We know what they are going to do,” Fedorka said. “We just have to be prepared.”

Fedorka is one of seven senior starters on a Waynesburg defense that is third in the PAC in stopping the run and third in total yardage. Among the others possibly playing their final game is safety Bryan Gary, who has made a remarkable recovery from knee surgery and leads the Yellow Jackets with 69 tackles.

“They have meant so much to the defense for us for four years,” said Waynesburg head coach Rick Shepas. “They have been impact players since Day 1. They have a desire to want to lead this team, and that’s what they do.”