W&J looking to fine tune effort against Grove City
Washington & Jefferson College’s football team has one more week to break in the new guys before a critical showdown against Thomas More in the Presidents’ Athletic Conference in Week 3.
Two crucial parts – quarterback Alex Rowse and tailback Jordan West – had good games in a season-opening 37-27 victory over St. John Fisher.
This week’s opponent, Grove City, won’t offer as much resistance, but head coach Mike Sirianni isn’t about to let up on the gas.
After a sluggish start, Rowse finished strong completing 24 of 40 passes for 259 yards and two touchdowns. This after a 2-for-7 start that produced 9 yards and an interception. West, a Washington High School graduate, finished with 154 yards on 27 carries and scored two touchdowns, one from 52 yards and another from seven.
“I don’t think Alex was nervous (at the start), just eager to play,” Sirianni said. “It took a while for him to settle down. Once he got into a groove, he was pretty good. A couple of his incompletions were what impressed me the most. He really lasered it in there.”
There are aspects of the game that needs work.
West needs to be better at picking up blitzes, the defense allowed 27 points and had trouble getting off the field on third and fourth downs, and special teams were bad with some poor punts and for allowing a fake punt run for a first down.
“We put kids in the wrong situation on that fake punt, and that’s my fault,” Sirianni said. “We were misaligned and they did a good job outcoaching us. Some of the other things we’ll work on.”
Grove City is on an 11-game losing streak since Andrew DiDonato took over as head coach. The Wolverines are coming off a 42-31 loss to Juniata in their season opener.
“Grove City is much improved over last year,” said Sirianni. “We’re looking to improve as a team. All those freshmen starters are back. They should have won their opener.”
A 25-yard field goal by William Brazill in the last minute and a 50-yard miss by Ohio Dominican as time ran out iced a 36-34 victory for California University’s football team and pushed the Vulcans to No. 5 in the NCAA Division II rankings.
Cheyney, coming off a 56-28 victory over Lincoln, has lost the last 16 games in this series after a 12-0 win in the first meeting in 1972. Cal routed Cheyney, 79-3, last season.
Senior quarterback Mike Keir set a career high with 398 passing yards on 36 of 51 attempts, nearly posting the program’s first 400-yard game since 2014. Keir also averaged 43.2 yards on four punts.
Things can only get better for Waynesburg University’s football team after last week’s 19-0 loss to Muskingum in Chris Smithley’s first game as interim head coach.
The Yellow Jackets produced no points, 114 total yards and turned the ball over three times. The loss marked the first time Waynesburg was shut out since 2001.
Waynesburg quarterback Tyler Perone completed just 11 of 36 passes for 95 yards. He was intercepted twice.
Westminster lost its opener, 14-10, to traditional power Wittenberg.