Wrong route to Jackets’ victory
WAYNESBURG – Zac Capan thought he won Waynesburg University’s football game Saturday afternoon with a touchdown catch in the fourth quarter.
It turned out that the Yellow Jackets’ senior tight end had to wait almost an hour to win the game a second time. And he did it by running the wrong pass route.
Capan hauled in a 25-yard touchdown pass in the corner of the end zone in the second overtime as Waynesburg outlasted Geneva, 44-38, in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference opener at John F. Wiley Stadium.
“We had two tight ends in the game and we faked the ball to the running back. I ran the wrong route. I was supposed to go inside,” Capan explained. “Our X receiver, Andrew English, was supposed to be the guy running the corner route.”
Hill’s pass, which came on Waynesburg’s first offensive play of the second overtime, hit Capan in stride in the end zone near the left sideline. The touchdown came after Waynesburg defensive back Mitch Vacek blocked a 44-yard field goal by Mike Gardner on Geneva’s possession in the second OT.
“Capan was supposed to either stay in and block or run a post,” said Hill, who completed 23 of 45 passes for 301 yards and four touchdowns.
“I dropped back and was going to throw the corner to Andrew. I was waiting for him to get out of his break, then I saw Capan’s hand go up. You do think, ‘What’s he doing there?'”
“Sometimes you’ve got to be living right,” Waynesburg coach Rick Shepas said of Capan’s presence in the end zone.
Capan’s catch gave Waynesburg (1-0, 3-0) its first overtime victory in 17 years. It also capped a wildly entertaining game that featured three lead changes and two ties after halftime.
A 12-yard touchdown pass from Hill to Capan gave Waynesburg a 23-14 advantage with 12:51 left in regulation.
“I thought we had the game won right there. I thought our defense would get a stop and we would have this one,” Capan said. “A lesson learned – we took our foot off the gas.”
Geneva (0-1, 1-2) rallied for three scores in the final 10:03 and forced overtime at 31-31 when running back Dylan Jones caught a two-yard TD pass from Aaron Channing, and Gardner booted the extra point, with 1:46 left in regulation. Channing, a freshman transfer from Kutztown, completed 22 of 31 passes for 317 yards and five touchdowns.
Waynesburg had a good chance to win at the end of regulation. After driving to the Geneva five-yard line in the final minute, a sack of Hill pushed the ball back to the 15 and Scott Lewis, who made a 41-yard field goal in the third quarter, missed a potential game-winning 32-yarder with five seconds left.
Both teams scored touchdowns on their first possession of overtime. Geneva had the ball to start the second OT, but a two-yard loss on a first-down running play and two incomplete passes led to the long field goal that was blocked.
“We couldn’t run the ball,” Geneva coach Geno DeMarco said. “That first-down run in the second overtime got us behind the chains. I called that one. That’s on me. The bottom line on this game was Waynesburg’s ability to run the ball and our inability to run it.”
Waynesburg overcame an eight-point first-half deficit by turning to its ground game. Hard-running Jake Forsythe had 101 yards and two scores on 26 carries. He also caught a 34-yard TD pass. Backup tailback Willie Leavell added 91 yards on 14 carries.
A seven-yard run by Forsythe pulled Waynesburg to within 14-13 at halftime. Lewis kicked his first collegiate field goal, a 41-yarder in the third quarter, to give the Jackets their first lead at 16-14.
Capan’s first TD pushed the gap to nine points, but Channing passed 20 yards to Devin Kelosky for a score and a 19-yard Waynesburg punt set up a 40-yard field goal by Gardner that put Geneva back in the lead at 24-23 with 7:01 left.
A long kickoff return by Leavell set up Forsythe for a two-yard scoring plunge. Waynesburg had missed an extra point earlier in the game but made up for it when Hill passed to wide receiver Bernie Thompson for a two-point conversion and 31-24 lead with 4:05 left.
Hill connected with Thompson from 13 yards for a touchdown on the initial possession of overtime, but Geneva answered with a nine-yard Channing pass to Josh Guiser to force the second extra session. Guiser had a 68-yard catch-and-run for a score on Geneva’s first offensive play.
“There’s no wavering in our guys,” Shepas said. “They just stay the course.”
It was the second week in a row that Waynesburg overcame a halftime deficit to win.
“We need to come out faster so we don’t have to fight and claw with every team,” Hill said. “We didn’t execute, but we’ll get better and move on.”
Waynesburg held Geneva to 15 rushing yards after halftime. … The Yellow Jackets’ last overtime win was 1997 at Bethany (29-23) in double overtime. … Waynesburg nose tackle Zach Machuga had three sacks. … Hill was intercepted twice in the first half and had two other interceptions negated by defensive holding penalties.