W&J shows flaws in loss
DANVILLE, KY – Throughout this season, head coach Mike Sirianni talked about how young his football team is.
On Saturday, the players on Washington & Jefferson College’s football team played like it.
The loss of 41 seniors from last year’s team might not have the same effect in the regular season as it does in the first round of the NCAA Division III playoffs. Centre showed that in a 54-13 rout of the Presidents at Farris Stadium.
The game was never close, well, unless you count the first few minutes of the first quarter. But Center, boasting 31 seniors on a team that went 9-1 and was co-champion of the Southern Athletic Association, controlled it from start to finish.
The numbers weren’t pretty.
W&J was outgained by 343 yards. The defense gave up 593 yards and the 54 points. Andrew Wolf, who had 1,337 receiving yards and eight games with 100 or more yards coming in, was held to one catch for two yards. And quarterback Jacob Adams suffered through a miserable game, completing only 13 of 34 passes for 130 yards. His one touchdown came on a crossing pattern by Josh Burns, who turned it upfield and outran everyone to the corner of the end zone.
Only tailback E.J. Thompson made his first tournament game memorable. Thompson rushed for 93 yards on 23 carries and scored one of the two W&J touchdowns.
So was it W&J’s youth or Centre’s superior talent that decided this game? Sirianni felt it was the latter, especially in the passing attack.
“They got a hold of the Westminster tape,” Sirianni said of a 27-20 regular-season loss last month. “There are some things that bother our offense. They got into the faces of our receivers and were physical. It bothers us. We have to figure out a way to move the ball against that style of play. We’re going back to the drawing board and … figure out a way.”
W&J’s defense looked helpless, especially in the second half. Tailback Colin Burnam sliced through the front line, broke at least four tackles and scored on a 39-yard, back-breaking run on the first drive of the second half that all but ended the game. That defense allowed Centre’s backup quarterback, John Walton, to pass for 189 yards and two touchdowns.
And the special teams, which struggled all year, had another down day. An extra-point attempt was blocked and two kickoffs were misplayed.
Those type of mistakes and shortcomings are not disastrous against inferior opponents, but are devastating against teams of equal or superior talent.
The good news is most of the skill position players and a large chunk of the defense for W&J return next season. There is time and opportunity to fix these flaws and make this a stronger team for the postseason.
Because no one in this program wants to go through another game like this.