Sep 13, 2014 4 min read

WAYNESBURG – The Waynesburg University football team is right where it wants to be after two games – undefeated heading into the Presidents’ Athletic Conference opener – but how the Yellow Jackets got to this point left many people on the home team’s sideline Saturday afternoon feeling unsatisfied.

Waynesburg needed two touchdown passes from Carter Hill and a career-high 134 yards and a pair of rushing scores by running back Jake Forsythe to overcome a halftime deficit and defeat improved Saint Vincent, 35-24, at John F. Wiley Stadium.

Though both teams are members of the PAC, the game was considered a nonconference contest and does not count in the league standings. It was the 23rd consecutive loss for Saint Vincent (0-2), but the Bearcats gave Waynesburg (2-0) fits for much of the game.

“It was sloppy, but it was a win,” Waynesburg coach Rick Shepas said.

The Yellow Jackets were mistake-prone, and even seemed disinterested, during the first half. Waynesburg dropped several passes, committed three first-half turnovers, had four defensive penalties on the same series leading to a Saint Vincent field goal and yielded a 99-yard kickoff return for a touchdown that gave the Bearcats a 17-14 lead at halftime.

The kickoff return, by Darius Brown, energized the Saint Vincent sideline and had the Bearcats thinking upset.

“Absolutely, with the way their sideline exploded, we had to make a statement early in the second half,” Shepas said.

The Yellow Jackets turned to their running game, in particular Forsythe, a 5-10, 235-pound battering ram who is in his second year at Waynesburg after transferring from California University. Forsythe capped a pair of 43-yard drives with touchdowns plunges from two and one yards, giving Waynesburg the momentum and a 28-17 lead.

“We made a commitment to run the football in the second half,” Shepas said. “Forsythe had his best game in the program.

“We moved the ball in the first half but we weren’t scoring points. We didn’t protect the ball. … For us, it was about not getting frustrated and just settling in.”

Forsythe carried a career-high 33 times – exactly half of his total of last season – and many of the yards were hard-earned as the Bearcats packed the line of scrimmage to stop the run.

“I feel like the more I get the ball the better my vision gets,” Forsythe said. “I get a better feel for the defense.”

Saint Vincent made one final push when it changed quarterbacks in the third quarter. The Bearcats replaced drop-back passer Matt Deakins and replaced him with a more mobile Andy Borgen. The change created a shift in offensive style as Borgen ran the read option and it took one series for the Yellow Jackets’ defense to adjust.

Borgen engineered an 80-yard touchdown drive that included a 28-yard pass to Matt Duffey (Canon-McMillan) and culminated in Shavonta Craft’s second one-yard TD run, trimming Waynesburg’s lead to 28-24.

Hill, who completed 19 of 34 passes, threw a nine-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Andrew English that pushed the lead to 35-24 with 8:53 remaining. Waynesburg sealed the win with interceptions by free safety Mike Lopuchovsky on each of Saint Vincent’s last two possessions.

For Shepas, the game seemed a coach’s dream. It was a victory for the Yellow Jackets, but there were enough mistakes to allow for plenty of coaching and teaching at practice this week.

“We didn’t have a good week of practice, and Coach Shepas said that if we hang our heads, Saint Vincent was going to give us a run for our money,” Forsythe said. “We let ’em stay in the game.”

Hill opened the scoring on Waynesburg’s first possession with a 31-yard touchdown pass to wide receiver Bernie Thompson, who was open while running a route up the hashmarks. Thompson had nine catches for 111 yards.

Hill was intercepted twice in the first half. The first turnover set up Craft’s initial TD that tied the score at 7-7.

“I don’t feel like we got a week better,” Hill said. “We have to practice harder. It was sloppy, but you have to win the ugly ones, too. At the end of the day, we’re 2-0, but we’ve got to get a lot better.”

Linebacker John Sikora led Waynesburg with 10 tackles. Nose tackle Zach Machuga had four tackles for losses. … Willie Leavell had a two-yard touchdown run in the second quarter that gave Waynesburg a 14-10 lead. Brown returned the ensuing kickoff for a touchdown after dropping the kick and picking the ball up on a bounce while retreating to his own goal line. … Waynesburg hosts Geneva next week in the PAC opener.