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Yellow Jackets QB search makes running game crucial

5 min read
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WAYNESBURG – When Waynesburg University began spring football drills in March, Cage Galupi was a transfer student trying to find his way around the campus, and Jake Dougherty, Austin Pinkerton and Conor Shimabukuro were attending high school in Pennsylvania, New Jersey and Maryland, respectively.

In four days, one of them will be Waynesburg’s starting quarterback in the season opener at Muskingum.

It doesn’t matter which quarterback plays in the opener, none of them has ever thrown a pass in a college game, and they’re competing for control of an offense that rolled up 403 yards per game last season then lost eight starters.

Gone are quarterback Carter Hill, a three-year starter who passed for 6,976 career yards and a school-record 72 touchdowns, wide receivers Bernie Thompson and Andrew English and tight end Zac Capan, who combined for 167 catches and 26 touchdowns a year ago, and running back Jake Forsythe, who had 1,159 yards and 10 scores on the ground. They were big reasons why the Yellow Jackets were 8-3 last season, defeated PAC champion Washington & Jefferson for the first time in 11 years and played in an ECAC bowl game.

Rick Shepas, who is in his 11th season as Waynesburg’s head coach, was sweating at his team’s sun-baked media day, but it wasn’t because of the quarterback situation or the need to find so many new starters on offense.

“We feel we have a formula for that,” Shepas said. “Our recruiting class mixed with guys who we really feel can contribute will help, but certain guys are not replaceable. Guys like Carter Hill, Bernie Thompson and Jake Forsythe, those are tough guys to replace but that’s where opportunity affords itself. We have some key fits. We have a plan in place for them.”

Shepas admitted that playing more than one quarterback at Muskingum is an option, if one player hasn’t separated himself from the pack as the clear-cut starter.

“Three years ago, it took two quarterbacks to win at Muskingum,” Shepas recalled. “It might take that this year. It might take that the second week.

“This year, it will be very similar to when Carter took over. The guy who wins the quarterback battle, at whatever point that is, will start to put his identity on this football team.”

Until the quarterback situation is stable, Waynesburg will rely on its running game. Senior Jerry Lawman has rushed for more than 500 career yards but was slowed last year by an injury that limited him to only four games. If healthy, Lawman should get a heavy workload.

Waynesburg’s most dynamic offensive player is senior speedster Willie Leavell, who has played tailback and wide receiver. He averaged six yards per carry last year and turned five of his 24 receptions into touchdowns. Getting him the football more often will be a priority.

The strength of the offense will be the line, where center Nik Sappie (6-2, 285) and guard Tyler Powell (6-3, 270) return as starters. Junior J.T. Colosimo (6-2, 260) started several games last season at guard and sophomore Nick Aligori (6-3, 250) started as a freshman but did not play football last year.

Junior Tim Cooper, who caught 21 passes last year, is the most experienced receiver in camp.

“We put an expectation on the O-line to block very well and protect very well and let’s run the football,” Shepas said.

There is more experience on the defense, which returns cornerbacks Dontae Gibson and Josh Mundell and should get a boost from sophomore Christian Breisinger, who was moved from quarterback to safety.

“Breisninger was an all-conference defensive back in high school at Thomas Jefferson. His move was to put him in a better comfort zone,” Shepas explained. “He’s a great athlete and he’s going to make a difference in this program for the next three years. He could have been the incumbent at quarterback, but we thought it would be best to bring out his best play and move him to the secondary after the loss of Mike Lopuchovsky (five interceptions).”

Linebacker Aaron Palmer, who was the second-leading tackler last year, returns as do defensive end Jordan Voitus and nose guard Zach Machuga.

The focus for the defense will be to keep the Yellow Jackets in games until the offense develops.

“We know there is going to be a learning curve,” said Machuga, a three-year starter. “Last year, there might have been pressure on the offense because the defense was young.

“The key for this team is getting an identity and separating ourselves from a lot of good guys we lost from last year. We have to mesh. We have a lot of new guys who will have to learn quickly.”

The Yellow Jackets do have weapons on special teams with Leavell as a kick returner and punter Jonathan Hager, who can change field position. Kicker Scott Lewis also is back. He booted the game-winning field goal in overtime against W&J.

“We have to run the football early, and we think we made some moves defensively that will help us,” Shepas said. “We’ll play it out and see how it goes, but not having the expectations will help.

“We want to win, but when you don’t have a set expectation, sometimes the ride is a lot more fun. I’m going to treat this like we did in 2008, when we had unproven people everywhere and our line wasn’t as good.”

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