Waynesburg comeback picked off by Bethany
BETHANY, W.Va. – Through the first three weeks of the football season, Waynesburg University seemed determined to carve a reputation as a come-from-behind team as the Yellow Jackets won two games with stirring second-half comebacks after experiencing sluggish starts.
There is nothing wrong with that. The only problem is the Yellow Jackets seem determined to prove it every week, and that’s a tough act to keep up over a 10-game season. And Saturday night, in the first road game of year, was not the time for Waynesburg to try overcoming a double-digit deficit.
The Yellow Jackets finally ran into a team that refused to fold after forging a first-half advantage.
Bethany built a 19-point lead, then held off a furious second-half charge by Waynesburg to hand the Yellow Jackets their first loss, 33-27, in a Presidents’ Athletic Conference game at Bison Stadium.
“A little bit too big of a hole,” a disappointed Waynesburg coach Rick Shepas said afterward.
The game wasn’t decided until the final play, when Bethany linebacker Larry Kpadehyea intercepted a Carter Hill pass intended for tight end Zac Capan in the right side of the end zone.
After being held to one rushing yard and six first downs in the first half, Waynesburg (1-1, 3-1) rallied behind hard-charging running back Jake Forsythe and three times cut Bethany’s lead to six points in the second half.
Waynesburg reached the Bethany nine-yard line with nine seconds left, but two incomplete passes and Kpadehyea’s interception secured the win for Bethany, which improved to 2-0 in the PAC and 3-1 overall.
“When was the last time Bethany was 3-1?” asked head coach Bill Garvey. “I’ve been here seven years and I’m pretty sure we’ve never been 3-1.”
Waynesburg almost snatched the victory from Bethany with its final drive, which began at the Yellow Jackets’ 18-yard line with 4:03 left. Waynesburg converted a third-and-15 with a 16-yard pass to Bernie Thompson to reach the Bethany 21 with less than a minute remaining. A holding penalty on fourth-and-eight negated an incomplete pass and gave Waynesburg a first down at the nine with nine seconds to play.
“We knew they were going to go with their one-on-one moves with the receivers,” Garvey said.
After two incompletions – the latter with nine-tenths of a second left – Waynesburg had one final shot. Capan ran and out pattern in the end zone but Kpadehyea undercut the route, stepped in front of Capan and snagged the interception.
“We had the call we wanted on the last play,” Shepas said.
Bethany hit Waynesburg with a no-huddle offense that produced 52 offensive plays in the first half as the Bison built leads of 13-0 in the first quarter and 19-0 at halftime.
The Bison took the opening kickoff and ran 15 plays in rapid-fire fashion, taking only 4:01 off the clock and driving 81 yards for a one-yard touchdown plunge by Brandon Hill, who rushed for a career-high 133 yards on 24 carries.
“We won this game with the running game,” Gravey said. “It set the tempo. That hasn’t happened here in a long time.”
About the only thing Bethany struggled with in the first half was extra points. Chris Ray’s kick after the Hill TD was wide right, leaving the score at 6-0. A bad snap foiled an extra-point attempt in the second quarter.
Bethany drove 45 yards late in the first quarter to stretch its lead to 13-0. After reaching the three-yard line, Brandon Barnes, a 235-pound defensive tackle, was inserted at quarterback in the shotgun offense, took a snap and powered into the end zone for his first career touchdown.
Bethany pushed its lead to 19-0 when the Bison caught Waynesburg in an all-out blitz. Wide receiver Eric Blinn took a quick screen pass from quarterback Brian Vales, cut upfield and raced untouched for 41 yards and a touchdown early in the second quarter.
Waynesburg’s offense sputtered in the first half. Hill completed only three of his first 12 passes and the Yellow Jackets ran just four plays in Bethany territory, none inside the Bison 45-yard line.
“We thought the lead for them would play into our hands at halftime,” Shepas said. “We needed to make some adjustments and just settle down.”
Waynesburg finally showed some life on the opening possession of the second half. Sparked by a 44-yard run by Forsythe and 20 yards of penalties on the Bethany defense, the Yellow Jackets drove 76 yards for a touchdown. Hill passed nine yards to wide receiver Andrew English on a slant route to cut Bethany’s lead to 19-6.
Hill completed 21 of 46 passes for 235 yards.
Forsythe broke free for a 29-yard run on Waynesburg’s next possession, setting up a two-yard TD flip from Hill to fullback Jake DiGuilio that pulled the Yellow Jackets to within 19-13 midway through the third quarter. It was the first time all season that DiGuilio touched the ball.
Bethany wide receiver Chris Collins caught a 50-yard pass touchdown pass when a Waynesburg defensive back slipped and fell, leaving Collins wide open and putting the Bison ahead 26-13.
Waynesburg answered with a thrilling 70-yard scoring run by Forsythe, who ran off left end, stopped, reversed course back across the field and up the right sideline to the end zone. Forsythe was held to only 12 yards on 10 carries in the first half, but he finished the game with 172 yards on 20 attempts.
“We needed that,” Shepas said. “We haven’t had that in our run game for two years. Jake was due for some runs like that.”
Brandon Hill made it 33-20 early in the fourth quarter with his second touchdown, a six-yard run off right tackle, but Waynesburg responded again. A 19-yard run by Willie Leavell to the Bison’s 2 set up Forsythe’s second touchdown and made the score 33-27 with more than nine minutes left.
Waynesburg had only one more possession and it set up an exciting finish, one that the Yellow Jackets are sure to replay in their minds for weeks.
“Our guys play hard,” Shepas said. “This is a good, competitive league. Give credit to Bethany for doing a great job and improving.”