Oct 16, 2014 5 min read

Russ Moore’s second stint as head football coach at Waynesburg Central High School has forced him to be creative.

When he embarked on the reclamation project in 2012, the youth programs were decimated by low participation, the elimination of freshman football stunted the growth of the varsity program and high expectations were gone.

The Raiders won just one game in 2012 in what Moore calls a “fun” season because of low expectations and a team hungry to learn.

Last season brought more ups and downs, including a one-point loss to Southmoreland in Week 5 that cost Waynesburg a playoff berth and upset victory over perennial power Jeannette. When preseason camp opened this August, the excitement from the community was similar to Moore’s first stint, which included a WPIAL championship in 1999.

“Before the season, people were asking me, ‘What are we going to do this year?'”, Moore said. “I told everyone that I had no clue. You never know what you’re going to do. We have some talent, we have skill guys, but we had a line that was an unknown.”

Moore envisioned the season sparking the return of Raiders-style football with a strong defense and an offense that could score at will. While the coach saw the pieces in place, few thought it would become a reality.

When Waynesburg defeated Southmoreland, 26-21, last week, the Raiders positioned themselves to clinch the program’s first WPIAL playoff appearance since 2003. The defense came up with two goal-line stands and senior running back Hunter Cenname rushed for 186 yards with three touchdowns.

The victory set up an important matchup with Interstate Conference rival McGuffey (5-1, 6-1), which has won six in a row, tonight at 7 p.m. in Claysville. The winner clinches a Class AA playoff spot while the loser will be in a must-win scenario next week.

Waynesburg’s players have been hearing about McGuffey since the Raiders’ boys basketball team defeated Highlanders Feb. 7 on a buzzer-beating shot. The player who made the game-winning shot is one of Waynesburg’s leaders on the football team, senior wide receiver Dom Sarra.

“A lot of hype has been built around it for the past couple of months,” Sarra said. “All that win over Southmoreland did was boost our confidence. (McGuffey) has been talking about this for so long, so we know they are waiting for us and it’s going to be a heated game.”

Waynesburg (4-2, 5-2) is averaging 34.9 points per game with an offensive line that replaced four starters. Moore mixed and matched to find the right group. Success came with trial and error.

The final product is junior Jonathan Cogar at left tackle, former receiver/tight end Tim Heldreth at left guard, senior W.D. Belding at center, former fullback/tight end Robbie Miller at right guard and senior right tackle Sam Augustine.

What was once a question mark is a brute strength for the Raiders. Despite averaging just 230 pounds, the group has led the way for one of the best rushing attacks in Class AA.

“(The offensive line) has played their hearts out,” Moore said. “They’ve laid it on the line, and to see the program going in the right direction is a great feeling.”

After losing back-to-back close games to Washington and Mt. Pleasant, the Raiders responded with a 42-point rout of Charleroi, but as the team prepared to board the bus back to Waynesburg, Moore had to address the silence looming after a devastating injury.

Senior running back/linebacker John-Glen Davis, who rushed for almost 600 yards and nine touchdowns, suffered a season-ending knee injury against the Cougars. Cenname and Davis were a physically dominating tandem. Moore’s speech was simple. Who is going to hold the rope to keep the group from falling off the cliff?

The answer has been everybody. Cenname is third in the WPIAL with 1,235 rushing yards and has scored 19 touchdowns. The offensive line, along with sophomore tight end Colin McCracken, has won the battle up front. Along with Davis, junior fullback Jacob Tretinik was lost for the season with a knee injury and Davis’ replacement on defense, senior Jason Zeleny, suffered a fractured kneecap in practice last week.

Next up is McGuffey, which has one of the most potent offenses in the WPIAL, led by senior running back James Duchi and a massive offensive line. While injuries would have players doubting success in previous years, the momentum has steadily built for Waynesburg since the 12-point victory over Jeannette last October.

“It’s hard to believe how far we’ve come the last couple of years,” Augustine said. “It’s almost like you don’t realize it’s happening until you go up against these teams that you once thought were really good and now it’s like, ‘we can take them.’ It really changes things for you. I know (McGuffey) has a good team, but there’s no doubt in my mind we’ll come out on top.”