WAYNESBURG, Pa. (Oct. 23) – After spotting host Waynesburg an early 7-0 lead, Saint Vincent scored 38 unanswered points to cruise to an emphatic 38-7 win in a Presidents' Athletic Conference battle at Wylie Stadium.
Saint Vincent quarterback Brady Walker threw for a career-high 371 and four touchdowns, tying head coach Aaron Smetanka's team record with 31 career touchdown strikes, while the SVC defense allowed just 241 yards of total offense and set a team record with four interceptions, two each by Kyle Coombe and Marvelle Cromerdie.
Molayo Irefin continued his stellar sophomore season, making 10 receptions, including two touchdowns, for 173 yards, one shy of his team's single-game record, while the Bearcats' 26 offensive first downs were also just one shy of a team record.
The Yellow Jackets received the opening kickoff and embarked on a sustained drive, eventually taking a 7-0 lead on a Trevor Miller touchdown pass to Dakota Romantino with 8:40 left in the opening quarter.
Saint Vincent countered with a long drive of its own, eventually moving inside the red zone, but came away empty after a blocked field goal. The Bearcats promptly got the ball back, with Coombe recording his first pick of the afternoon on the Jackets' third play of the drive at the Waynesburg 33-yard line. Two plays after the turnover, the Bearcats tied it on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Walker to Phil Harding with 1:08 left in the quarter.
After the teams traded punts over the first few trips of the second quarter, SVC went back to the air to take the lead, with Walker and Irefin hooking up for a 41-yard touchdown to make it 14-7 with 8:51 remaining in the half.
Two plays after Irefin's touchdown, Cromerdie recorded his first pick of the afternoon with a leaping interception at the Waynesburg 43. As they had a quarter earlier, the Bearcats made the Yellow Jackets pay for the miscue, with Walker firing his third touchdown pass of the afternoon, this one an 18-yarder to Andre Dixon, to up the lead to 21-7 with 6:25 left in the second quarter.
Waynesburg's ensuing drive again ended abruptly, with Cromerdie recording his second pick on as many drives on a third down pass at the SVC 39, giving the ball back to the Bearcats with five minutes left in the half. This time, the team opted for a methodical, clock-chewing drive in favor of another quick strike. Joey Kremer opened the trip with an 18-yard run, before Walker fired completions of 10, 8 and 12 yards to Jeremy Wodarek, Irefin and Kremer, respectively. A 6-yard run from Antonio Zambrano followed by a 14-yard pass to Jeffrey Downs advanced SVC inside the Waynesburg 13. The drive would then stall out but was salvaged by a 24-yard Adam Koscielicki field goal with 7 seconds left in the half to give the Bearcats a 24-7 lead heading into the locker room.
The halftime break did little to slow the Bearcat offense, as Walker opened the third quarter with three straight first down passes, with 16- and 20-yard throws to Irefin and a 16-yarder to Harding, to set up first down inside the Waynesburg 40. A 4-yard run by Billy Beck on fourth-and-1 kept the drive alive, before Walker and Irefin connected for a 29-yard scoring strike to push the SVC advantage to 31-7 with 10:45 left in the quarter.
On the ensuing trip, Waynesburg used a couple of big plays and took advantage of a pair of SVC penalties to drive deep into Bearcat territory, but Saint Vincent's defense came up with yet another turnover, as Coombe picked off a pass just shy of the goal line to thwart the drive.
Neither team was able to find the scoreboard over the remainder of the third quarter, but the Yellow Jackets began the fourth stanza on the move. While they would embark on an 18-play, 70-yard drive that spanned more than 9 minutes, they were unable to close it out with points, with SVC forcing incompletions on both third and fourth down to get the ball back at its own 10-yard line with just over 7 minutes left in regulation.
The Bearcats countered with a lengthy offensive drive of their own, twice extending the possession with third down conversions. The trip proved productive, with Devin Gleason connecting with Jeffrey Downs II for a 24-yard touchdown pass to cap off the 8-play, 90-yard excursion and close out the day's scoring with 2:04 remaining.
Saint Vincent doubled up Waynesburg in both total offense (480-241) and first downs (26-12), averaging 7.5 yards per play. SVC owned a healthy advantage in time of possession, holding the ball for 34 minutes, 55 seconds, while the Bearcats went 7-for-14 on third down conversions and a perfect 2-for-2 on fourth down.
Led by Irefin's 10 grabs, 10 different Bearcats made at least one reception, with Harding making four for 69 yards and Downs four for a career-high 61 yards. Freshmen Billy Beck and Joey Kremer led the SVC ground game, with 29 and 25 yards, respectively.
Defensively, Joanes Polynice led the Bearcats with 9 tackles, including 0.5 TFLs, while also forcing a fumble. Cromerdie made 7 tackles to go with his two interceptions.
The Bearcats' move over the .500 mark with the win, improving to 4-3 overall and 3-3 in the PAC, while Waynesburg suffered its fourth straight defeat and falls to 1-6 overall and 1-5 in league play.
Saint Vincent will now prep for its Oct. 30 home date with Carnegie Mellon, scheduled to begin at 1 p.m. at Chuck Noll Field.
Saint Vincent snaps losing streak in emphatic fashion
/seasons/2021/boxscores/20211023_k7xt.xml
2021
St. Vincent
38
Waynesburg
7
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| St. Vincent (4-3) | 7 | 17 | 7 | 7 | 38 |
| Waynesburg (1-6) | 7 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 7 |
Oct 23, 2021