Sep 17, 2015 4 min read

Coming off a bizarre game, Washington & Jefferson College’s football team hopes Saturday afternoon’s encounter against Carnegie-Mellon is more sedate.

The Presidents went through a 15-minute power outage, had a Westminster special-teamer, Isaiah Faulk, throw a W&J player to the turf then land punches, setting off a bench-clearing situation, and needed a late rally to capture a 35-31 victory at Cameron Stadium last week.

“I thought they would be really good,” said W&J head coach Mike Sirianni. “Did I expect us to be down three touchdowns in the fourth quarter? No.”

Fortunately, senior tailback Ryan Ruffing rushed for two fourth quarter touchdowns and finished with four to help W&J outscore Westminster, 21-7, in the final 15 minutes.

“Westminster had a physical defense and good speed,” said Ruffing. “It was definitely good to come back from all the diversity. It was good to see us fight back.”

Junior quarterback Pete Coughlin also struggled, throwing two interceptions. Coughlin threw only six interceptions in 417 attempts last season.

“I made a couple of bad decisions,” said Coughlin. “On the first interception, I should have just held onto the football. It was bad execution on my part.”

Carnegie Mellon had two weeks to prepare for this game, thanks to a bye last week. But the Tartans are 0-8 coming off bye weeks. The last win came in 2006 against Case Western.

“They are a bigger team than Westminster and have a vertical passing game, which we’ve struggled against in the past,” said Sirianni. “We’ll see how good our pass defense is.”

Carnegie Mellon had 519 yards in a 45-24 loss to Washington University in Week 1 and senior quarterback Andrew Hearon threw for 286 yards and two TDs against Washington. CMU’s defense allowed 517 yards and didn’t produce a turnover.

“When you struggle, especially on offense, which we haven’t done in a few years, you look at what you can do differently,” said Sirianni. “We’ll adjust.”

Kickoff is 1 p.m.

Kickoff: 7 p.m., Saturday

Waynesburg is coming off a surprising loss at Saint Vincent but head coach Rick Shepas believes it was not because freshman starting quarterback Jake Dougherty played like, well, a freshman.

What irked Shepas, and what was discussed at practice this week, was a subpar effort by the defense.

The Yellow Jackets allowed four touchdowns, the longest from 79 yards and the shortest from 11.

“I was not happy with the way we played defense,” said Shepas. “I expect them to play better.”

The Yellow Jackets gave up 414 yards and did not produce a turnover.

Dougherty, who won the quarterback job in camp, had a strong performance in a Week 1 win over Muskingum but slipped in Week 2. He completed 16 of 34 passes for 189 yards and was intercepted twice. The last one hurt the most, coming at the Saint Vincent 3-yard line with just 50 seconds to play.

“I’m happy with the way he’s playing,” Shepas said. “I don’t want to draw comparisons but he is ahead of Carter (Hill) in several areas. I’m happy with his progress.”

In Geneva, Waynesburg gets a team that snapped a 12-game road losing streak by beating Grove City, 21-16. The Golden Tornadoes have struggled on offense, combining for just 449 yards in two games.

Shepas said Josh Mundell, a defensive back from Carmichaels, did not play last week because of a thumb injury and could be lost for the season.

Kickoff: 1 p.m., Saturday

After a second-half collapse against the strong running game of Bloomsburg last week, California University’s football team will get a dose of a high-powered passing attack from Shippensburg.

“They are playing well,” said Cal head coach Mike Kellar. “They put it on Edinboro (20-13 last week). They have a high-tempo offense and a good quarterback.”

Ryan Zapoticky has completed 55 percent of his passes for 471 yards, five touchdowns and an interception.

His counterpart, James Harris, had a poor game against Bloomsburg, missing three opportunities to score and being intercepted three times.

“He watched the tape on Monday and was mad at himself,” said Kellar. “He’s had good practices and looked sharp this week and he’ll bounce back.”

The Vulcans might be without leading wide receiver Garry Brown, a junior who sprained his left ankle in the loss to Bloomsburg. Brown will be a game-time decision.

If he can’t go, senior Devon Lomax and freshman Jordan Dandridge will step in. The two combined for five receptions for 50 yards against Bloomsburg.

“He sat out practice (Tuesday),” said Kellar. “It’s sore.”