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Oct 27, 2007
WAYNESBURG, Pa.
— Junior quarterback Bobby Swallow's (Salem, Ohio/West Branch) 1-yard sneak with 7:29 remaining in the contest proved to be the game-winning touchdown as No. 8 Washington & Jefferson survived Waynesburg, 22-21, on Saturday afternoon at Wiley Stadium.
The Presidents (8-0, 4-0 PAC) can now clinch the PAC's first-ever automatic bid to the NCAA Division III playoffs with a win at Thomas More next Saturday or versus Bethany on Nov. 10th.
W&J grabbed an early 7-0 after freshman linebacker Zachary Pugliese (Vandergrift, Pa./Kiski) recovered a fumble by Waynesburg running back Robert Heller and junior running back Curt Jones (Falconer, N.Y./Falconer) bullied his way for a 2-yard touchdown run at the 5:10 mark of the first quarter.
The Presidents appeared ready to up the score to 14-0 on their next possession, but fumbled at the Waynesburg 1-yard line one first down.
Heller galloped 89 yards on the second play of the Yellow Jacket drive (1st play of second quarter) to tie the game, 7-7.
Swallow was sacked three times on the next two W&J possessions and Heller capitalized with a 1-yard scoring run at the 4:05 mark of the second quarter to give the Yellow Jackets (7-1, 4-1 PAC) a 14-7 lead at halftime.
Washington & Jefferson drove 59 yards on 10 plays at the start of the third quarter and tied the game on a 5-yard Swallow pass to junior wide receiver David Ravida (Solon, Ohio/Solon).
Heller gained 49 yards on the first play of the subsequent drive for the Yellow Jackets and Kyle Kiper capped the five-play, 72-yard drive with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Andy Hodanich for a 21-14 Waynesburg lead with 8:09 left in the third quarter.
W&J could not convert a fourth-down play inside the WU 10-yard line on its next possession, but the Presidents sliced the lead to 21-16 at the 6:08 mark after senior defensive end Russ Chase (Girard, Pa./Girard) sacked Kiper in the end zone.
The Presidents turned the ball over on downs twice over the next seven minutes deep in Waynesburg territory, but finally jumped ahead with 7:29 remaining after Swallow dove in for the eventual game-winning touchdown. Swallow completed all five of his pass attempts on the 11-play drive.
Heller put Waynesburg in field-goal position with a 36-yard jaunt on Waynesburg's first play following the touchdown, but Kyle McBride's 45-yard attempt with 3:10 remaining was short. The Yellow Jackets forced a punt and had the ball with 51 seconds remaining, but Kiper was picked off by senior cornerback Ryan Mullen (Uniontown, Md./South Carroll) and W&J escaped with the win.
Swallow completed 27-of-42 passes for 208 yards, but was sacked six times. Junior running back Kevin Mathews (Pittsburgh, Pa./Upper St. Clair) steadied the W&J offense with 115 yards on 21 attempts, while senior wide receiver Tom McCafferty (Large, Pa./Thomas Jefferson) hauled in eight passes for 100 yards. Junior linebacker John Fahey (Boardman, Ohio/Boardman) led the defense with nine tackles, while sophomore defensive end Jacob Bloomhuff (Grosse Pointe, Mich./North) had six tackles, including three for a loss, and two sacks.
Heller topped his previous school record mark for single-game rushing yards with 289 on 30 attempts. Kiper was limited to 4-of-15 passing for 52 yards. Dan Andreassi led the Waynesburg defense with 18 tackles.
W&J was out-gained for the first time all season (358-311), but held a 35:10-24:50 edge in time possession, including a 10-minute advantage in the second half.
Press release submitted by Washington and Jefferson on Oct 27 2007 at 07:14 PM