Pugh on fire as W&J routs Saint Vincent
For openers, the football team at Washington & Jefferson can’t complain.
In fact, they should be ecstatic over their performance.
Quarterback Jacob Pugh passed for 362 yards and four touchdowns. He ran for two other scores.
And those stats all came in the first half of what would eventually be a 59-6 victory over Saint Vincent in the first game of the season at Cameron Stadium on a breezy Saturday afternoon. The two teams were each playing the first Presidents’ Athletic Conference (PAC) game of the season.
W&J piled up 578 total yards in the win.
“People are going to look at the stats and say we’re pass-happy,” said W&J head coach Mike Sirianni. “But a lot of the passes came on RPOs (run-pass options). They were taking everything and pinching them inside, trying to take away the run and leaving our wideouts in single coverage. We have two good wideouts, and if you’re going to do that, we’re going to throw it to them.”
Pugh, a 5-11 senior from Thomas Jefferson High School, threw touchdown passes of 63 yards to Kobe DeRosa, 54 and 26 yards to Jacob Macosko, a graduate of Peters Township High School, and 69 yards to John Peduzzi. Another long touchdown pass was negated by a W&J penalty.
“We knew the talent we have on this team and we wanted to put it on display to start the year,” said Pugh, who was 18 for 24 without an interception. “We need to clean up some things. I missed a lot, left a lot out there. But I’m proud of the way these guys played.”
The record for passing yardage in a game is 499 yards and is held by Jacob Adams against Westminster in the 2019 season. In an offense that puts a premium on passing, Pugh’s performance was an eye-opener.
“This is my second-and-a-half year of playing,” said Pugh. “The more you see, the more comfortable you get. When you have players like Macosko and Peduzzi out there with all the running backs and line, it makes my life easier for me.”
Because of the closeness of their homes, Pugh and Macosko got together to work out over the summer.
“This is definitely one of my best games so far,” said Macosko.”There are a bunch of leaders on this team: Pugh, Peduzzi, there’s a bunch of guys out there who are leaders on this offense.”
Macosko had 10 catches for 158 yards and two touchdowns. He had a game-best 73-yard catch in the first half.
“He lives in TJ and I live in Peters Township,” said Macosko. “So we’re only 20 minutes away. We got together a lot.”
Kellan Stahl, a 5-11 junior from Richland High School in Johnstown, replaced Pugh to start the third quarter.
Peduzzi had five receptions for 127 yards.
The ground game produced four touchdowns and 204 yards. Owen Petrisek, a graduate of Bentworth High School, gained 60 yards on six carries.
W&J’s defense finished the game allowing just six points. The Presidents were looking for the 49th time they opened the season with a shutout and second season in a row. W&J held Saint Vincent to 173 total yards. The six points came from a 40-yard TD run by Julian Walker with 1:42 left to play in the game.
“That’s a good team,” said Saint Vincent head coach Adam Smetanka. “They’re sound. The game didn’t start the way we wanted it to. How did we finish the game? We played a lot of freshmen. Hey, we played the 21st team in the country right off the bat. Those are things we can take away from this game.”