Sep 6, 2014 4 min read

The diet did not include cheeseburgers or milkshakes, but one could understand if he snuck a couple over the summer. It is a bigger and stronger Pete Coughlin who will run the offense for Washington & Jefferson College’s football team.

Coughlin pushed his weight to 180 pounds in time for fall camp through diet and exercise and weight training. That’s 20 more than last season.

W&J hopes that means a better version of the lithe freshman who made a good impression at the end of last season.

“I wanted to get stronger,” said Coughlin, a 6-0 sophomore. “I lifted a lot, and I worked out with my best friend’s brother, who is a quarterback at Dartmouth.”

That would be Alex Pack, who, like Coughlin, went through the rigorous demands of Jim Render’s offense at Upper St. Clair High School.

Now, Coughlin is under the tutelage of Mike Sirianni, who starts his 12th season as head coach of W&J tonight (7 p.m. kickoff) against Wooster.

The Presidents are one of three local teams in action today.

Waynesburg, which finished third in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference behind W&J and Thomas More, hosts Muskingum, which went 2-8 last year. California opens the season with a non-conference home game against Virginia State, a team that had a controversial end to a 9-1 season in 2013.

Coughlin had an impressive start against Mount Union in the first round of last season’s NCAA Division III playoffs, taking over for an injured Matt Bliss. In a driving snowstorm, Coughlin passed for 216 yards and three touchdowns and was not intercepted in a 34-20 loss to the Purple Raiders.

“Ideally, it would have been best if Matt was healthy,” said Coughlin. “I was able to get a game situation under my belt. I learned a lot from Matt, like how to look at certain plays and understanding down and distance, looking for certain routes.”

Coughlin played in nine games and started two. He passed for 580 yards and four touchdowns. He was not intercepted in 100 throws.

“Wooster plays a lot of Cover 3 and likes to attack,” said Coughlin. “Their secondary is very athletic. I just have to make smart plays and follow the game plans.”

Virginia State finished last season with a 9-1 record, but it was not a traditional season-ending situation. The game between Virginia State and Winston-Salem State for the Central Intercollegiate Athletic Association never took place.

Winston-Salem was awarded the conference championship after a player from Virginia State reportedly beat up the starting quarterback from Winston-Salem State at a luncheon before the game. Virginia State was banned from the playoffs.

Much of the Trojans’ offense, including quarterback Justin Thorpe (1,296 yards, 11 TDs), graduated.

James Harris makes his first opening-day start for the Vulcans after beating out Cody Schroeder at midseason and again last spring, prompting Schroeder to transfer.

It also will be the first start for Trinity graduate Ken Wilkins, who spent three seasons at Michigan. Wilkins will start at either defensive end or outside linebacker depending on the alignment.

Cal is 53-40-1 in regular-season openers and head coach Mike Kellar has won all four of his.

An offensive showcase should be unleashed by Waynesburg in this non-conference game. Nearly all the parts of last year’s offense returns, including quarterback Carter Hill, running back Jerry Lawman and wide receivers Bernie Thompson, Andrew English and Willie Leavell.

That group accounted for 3,433 yards and 30 touchdowns.

The defense?

Well, that’s another matter.

Two of the PAC top defenders – safety Bryan Gary and end Brandon Fedorka – are gone. Fedorka was the PAC Defensive Player of the Year.

So it will be up to the Yellow Jackets offense to strike early and often to allow the defense to settle in.

Muskingum lost eight of its last nine games last season.