Nov 2, 2017 4 min read

It was a long and sometimes frustrating trip to Chris Smithley’s first victory of his coaching career.

But the interim football coach at Waynesburg University sees it more as a team accomplishment.

Smithley doesn’t want the 34-7 victory over Thiel to be just the end of a seven-game losing streak this season and an 11-game run dating back to last season. He wants it to be the start of a winning streak and will preach that to the players before Saint Vincent visits Saturday for a 1:30 p.m. kickoff in a PAC game at Wiley Stadium.

“I was happy for our guys and the hard work they were putting in,” said Smithley. “It’s not easy being in a situation where you are 0-7. (The win) reinforces that we are doing the right things and we believe we can change this thing back to what it once was. I think we were frustrated a little bit because we were close against some really good teams. Then you have some situations where things didn’t go your way. Sometimes, you have to will yourself to make things go your way.”

The Yellow Jackets snapped the streak by grounding the Tomcats’ defense into the turf. Waynesburg ran the ball a whopping 65 times for 284 yards and threw just five passes.

The 284 yards was the highest single-game total since 2012.

“There has been a progression in our running game, especially the past three weeks,” said Smithley. “The foundation of this program is the running game and we’re going to build ourselves back up based on the running game.”

Sophomore Chad Walker ran 16 times for 104 yards; and juniors Austin Wilson rambled for 84 yards on 19 tries and Jake Dougherty went 82 on 21 attempts.

Dougherty completed 2 of 5 passes for 3 yards with an interception. One completion gained ground and the other lost yardage; both were screen passes.

“I think we ran one play 18 times and another six times,” said Smithley. “We found something that worked and stuck with it until Thiel adjusted.”

Waynesburg’s running game will be counted on this week against a Saint Vincent team that is ninth in the PAC at stopping the run and is allowing 221 rushing yards per game.

Wash & Jeff at Geneva

Kickoff: Saturday, 1 p.m.

If Washington & Jefferson is successful this week, then the Presidents would not only be one win away from a 10-0 season and the automatic berth into the NCAA Division III postseason, but coach Mike Sirianni would tie John Luckhardt for most wins in school history.

The two coaches would each have 137 victories.

Luckhardt has the unique accomplishment of being the winningest coach at two college programs in the same county. Luckhardt was 137-37-2 in 17 years at W&J and 88-33 in 10 seasons at Cal. Sirianni is 136-30 in 15 seasons, all at W&J.

Quarterback Alex Rowse will be a game-time decision, recovering from a shoulder injury. Sophomore Jacob Adams completed 15 of 22 passes for 172 yards and a touchdown in W&J’s 21-3 win over Saint Vincent last week, his first varsity start.

California at Edinboro

Kickoff: Saturday, noon

For the second straight week, California can snap a tie for second place in the PSAC’s West Division, this time with a win against the Fighting Scots. Cal, Edinboro and Slippery Rock have 4-2 records. Indiana leads at 6-0 and has already qualified for the conference’s State Game. Cal needs a win and a major upset by winless Seton Hill over Slippery Rock to finish second and possibly earn an NCAA Division II playoff berth.

Edinboro sophomore tailback Walter Fletcherranks second in the league with 1,437 rushing yards and 16 rushing touchdowns.Senior quarterback Jake Sissonhas thrown for nearly 2,100 passing yards and has 20 touchdowns.