Nov 17, 2015 5 min read

The stands were empty and the field was clear when Russ Moore took a seat on the bench at Derry’s Trojan Field. The season-ending defeat last month was like any loss during his coaching career, but the night held a special meaning.

As he sat and stared at the water-logged grass surface, his wife, Lisa, and daughter, Macy, took a seat at his side. Football was a family affair for the Moores. Lisa filmed games and Macy worked as the team’s water girl. He could not help but shed a few tears when the three sat on the bench and shared memories.

Moore, who has spent the past four seasons as Waynesburg’s head football coach, knew that night was his last coaching the Raiders.

His second stint as Waynesburg’s coach officially came to an end Tuesday night as the Central Greene School Board accepted his resignation. The Raiders have gone 12-25 since Moore returned, with a 1-8 record this fall. The decision coincides with Moore’s retirement as the high school’s athletic director, which is effective Dec. 31.

“It’s tough any time you step away from a program, when you really like it, and you feel like you need to be there,” Moore said. “I love Waynesburg. It’s a great place to coach. We started with 35 kids this year and finished with 35, but we finished 1-8. I can’t kick that feeling.”

Last fall, Moore led the Raiders to their first postseason berth since 2003. This year, his task was to replace Waynesburg’s leading passer, rusher and receiver, who totaled more than 4,500 yards. Despite the losses, Moore was confident that Waynesburg could compete for a playoff berth.

That never came to fruition and Moore pointed the finger at himself.

“The biggest factor was I thought I had it turned in the right direction,” Moore said. “We lost a lot of kids from last year, but I thought we had enough to be competitive and do better than we did. My main thing is maybe they just need someone new to come in and light another fire.”

One year after posting a 6-4 record with a physical defense and strong running game, Waynesburg started slowly this fall and struggled on defense, allowing 26.8 points per game. The Raiders lost four consecutive games to start the season before defeating Charleroi, 47-0. They lost to Quaker Valley after a failed two-point conversion that would have given them a win on the road and were outscored by an average of 18 points in the final three games, including the 26-0 season-ending loss Oct. 30 at Derry.

“I just felt we’d do a lot better,” Moore said. “I can’t question my kids’ efforts. They left it on the field every game. I just don’t know what the problem was. We just didn’t execute in game situations.”

It was a disappointing end to two successful stints at Waynesburg. Moore, 57, led the school to its first playoff win in 1996, when it defeated Elizabeth Forward in the first round of the Class AAA playoffs.

The Raiders won another playoff game in 1998 and went on to win the Class AA championship over Washington at Three Rivers Satdium a year later. Moore resigned from Waynesburg five months later. Moore later was an assistant coach at Washington & Jefferson College, an assistant at Canon-McMillan under Tim Sohyda and was head coach at Ringgold for two seasons.

Dave Sarra, who spent nine seasons as an assistant coach under Moore at Waynesburg and took over as the Raiders’ football coach in 2000, said it was Moore who built the program’s participation and called him “a great motivator.”

“When he came aboard here, we were playing Triple-A and our team had like 20 kids on it,” Sarra recalled. “He turned it around immediately to having mid-40s and 50s within a season or two. He was able to build excitement in the school and community about football. That excitement wasn’t always there. He always got the most out of kids.”

Moore’s first stint with the Raiders ended with his well-publicized resignation and a push from the community to bring him back, but he walked away unsatisfied. Now, he’s leaving on his own terms with numerous upgrades to the school’s athletic facilities under his direction as athletic director, and the football program is far from bare.

A Canonsburg resident, Moore plans to spend more time with his family, but his coaching career is far from over.

“I’m going to still coach somewhere,” Moore said. “I’m not ready to sit down on the porch. I’d like to, but my wife won’t let me.”