W&J cruises past Carnegie Mellon to win No. 700
W&J’s Jesse Zubik jumps over Carnegie Mellon’s Nico Comsa during Saturday’s game.
W&J’s Jesse Zubik dives into the end zone with Carnegie Mellon’s Samer Abdelmoty in pursuit Saturday.
W&J’s Max Creighan and Pete Coughlin celebrate after Creighan scored a touchdown in the first half of Saturday’s game against Carnegie Mellon.
The pregame festivities began with John Luckhardt and John Bord, two distinguished members of past Washington & Jefferson College football teams, being honored before Saturday’s game against Carnegie Mellon.
It ended with Presidents head coach Mike Sirianni presenting a game ball to college president Dr. Tori Haring-Smith at midfield.
In between, the Presidents rolled up seven touchdowns and 566 total yards in a 48-30 victory at Cameron Stadium for the program’s 700th victory.
Only two other NCAA Division III programs have reached that victory plateau: Wittenberg, which had 727 heading into last night’s game against DePauw, and Mount Union, which has 729, 11 of which came in the Amos Alonzo Stagg Bowl.
That this notable victory came against Carnegie Mellon simply made the day better. These two programs were intense rivals until the Tartans left the Presidents’ Athletic Conference for the University Athletic Association in 1989.
CMU returned to the PAC and along with Case Western Reserve became full-fledged members in football this season. So the fact the 700th win came against one of its past rivals and opened PAC play only made it more satisfying.
“In the locker room, it gave me chills when Coach Sirianni said we are playing for everyone who was ever on that field,” said freshman wide receiver Jesse Zubik.
Zubik stepped in when sophomore Eric Scott went down with what appeared to be a left knee injury in the first quarter and had his best game ever. Zubik caught 12 passes for 91 yards and a six-yard touchdown in the second quarter that gave W&J (1-0, 3-0) a 21-7 lead.
“He’s a talented young man,” said Sirianni. “As his confidence grows, he’s going to get better and better.”
The Presidents’ passing game turned the game. Quarterback Pete Coughlin completed 26 of 38 passes for 333 yards and five touchdowns. The sophomore from Upper St. Clair has thrown 198 passes since arriving at W&J and has been intercepted only once.
“We knew we had to work on the passing game,” Sirianni said. “We knew we would need it to win this game.”
Coughlin completed only three passes to senior Max Creighan but each went for touchdowns. The first was from three yards and opened the scoring; the second covered 70 yards on a pretty post pattern and made it 14-0; and the third went from six yards and gave the Presidents a 28-14 lead at halftime.
“I’m a captain so I’m supposed to have a big role on this team,” said Creighan. “I want to be one of the go-to guys. I’m expected to play a bigger role so I worked harder (in the offseason) to prepare for it.”
Creighan said it never bothered him that he didn’t have a touchdown in the first two games.
“The coaches said they were going to try to get me the ball this week,” he said. “Last week, I had eight catches. I knew they were counting on me so I’m glad I went off a little.”
Coughlin’s other TD pass went to Daniel Lis, a Chartiers-Houston graduate, that covered 24 yards and pushed the W&J lead to 48-21 in the fourth quarter.
“This is one of the most talented receiving corps in Division III,” said Coughlin. “The whole group is making plays.”
And Ryan Ruffing is still making big runs from his tailback position. Ruffing, who came into the game as the leading scorer in the NCAA, all divisions, gained 193 yards on 25 carries and scored on runs of 32 and 4 yards to push his total to 12 scores for three games. He has 515 rushing yards.
“He’s more than welcome to do what he does,” Coughlin said with a smile. “He had a lot of long runs.”
Carnegie Mellon got within a touchdown in the first half but three straight scores through the second and third quarters pushed W&J’s lead to 42-14. The Tartans (0-2, 0-2) scored the last nine points of the game, two of them coming on a rare return of an extra-point attempt by W&J placekicker Blake Davis. His attempt was blocked by Bryan Khoury and recovered by Tim Swanson, who returned it to the Presidents’ end zone for two points.
“We have to shore up our special teams,” said Sirianni, who also was unhappy with the long kickoff returns by CMU. “We just did a poor job on special teams.”
Quarterback Andrew Hearon threw for 227 yards and three touchdowns, but the CMU running game struggled to find openings.
“That’s a fine Division III program,” said CMU coach Rich Lackner. “I wish the outcome was different. … That’s a long-standing program, similar to Carnegie Mellon and Carnegie Tech, and they had their heyday the last 10 or 15 years. It’s one of the strongest Division III programs in the country.”