W&J waits out weather delay, rolls past Jackets
WAYNESBURG 鈥� Washington & Jefferson didn鈥檛 allow a lengthy weather delay to hinder it in rolling to a 55-16 victory over Waynesburg University on Saturday.
With 1:22 remaining in the first half, the game was stopped after lightning struck near Wiley Stadium. The automatic 30-minute delay for each strike put the game on ice for 2陆 hours and delayed what would become a Presidents鈥� Athletic Conference victory for W&J.
Washington & Jefferson moved to 3-0 overall and in the conference. The Yellow Jackets fell to 0-3 overall and in the conference.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 the first time I鈥檝e had that,鈥� said W&J head coach Mike Sirianni. 鈥淭he funny thing is I was reading an article in ESPN about all these weather delays and what to do about them.鈥�
So he got his assistant coach Carter Santo and the two made a trip to a nearby grocery store.
鈥淲e bought bananas, oranges, Gatorade, peanut butter sandwiches,鈥� Sirianni said. 鈥淗e saved the day. I鈥檓 proud of the way our kids handled it, especially my man Carter Santo.鈥�
W&J quarterback Jacob Pugh completed 20 of 29 passes for 355 yards and six touchdowns. He was one touchdown toss away from tying the school鈥檚 single-game record of seven. He remains one behind Pete Coughlin, who did it twice in the 2016 season.
鈥淭hat was the first time I had to sit through it. It was long; that鈥檚 for sure,鈥� Pugh said. 鈥淲e didn鈥檛 really know what was going on. Multiple times, the sun came out. We thought we were going to play. There must have been some (lightning) nearby.鈥�
W&J wide receiver John Peduzzi caught three of Pugh鈥檚 six TD passes. He caught seven passes overall for 207 yards.
Before the game was halted, W&J had built a 28-6 lead.
Pugh threw two touchdown passes to John Peduzzi and one each to Jacob Macosko and Kobe Derosa.
Pugh hit Peduzzi with a 54-yard touchdown pass to open the scoring then found Macosko from seven yards out to make it 14-0. He hit Peduzzi from 23 yards to make it 21-6. DeRosa finished the scoring before the weather delay by connecting with Pugh from 21 yards out.
W&J rolled up 245 total yards in the first half.
Waynesburg scored the third touchdown of the game when Carson Shriver bulled over from the one. The extra-point attempt by Drew Pinkerton was no good and W&J led 14-6. The touchdown was set up by Pugh鈥檚 first interception of the season by Quilik Wooten.
The Yellow Jackets had two long drives dashed by W&J鈥檚 defense. A fourth-down pass attempt by quarterback Samuel Barber was turned into a sack and gave W&J the ball back. In the first quarter, Waynesburg drove 77 yards but again could not score.
After the lightning delay, Waynesburg got a 29-yard field goal from Pinkerton.
The Yellow Jackets rushed for 120 yards on 44 tries and passed for 117.
鈥淭he tables were balanced,鈥� said Waynesburg head coach Dr. Cornelius Coleman of the weather delay. 鈥淲e just didn鈥檛 play very well in the second half. We gave up way too many points. It鈥檚 the simple thing, the fundamentals, we have to get back to. The smallest mistakes turn out to be huge.鈥�