Sluggish first half dooms Titans

Boardman High graduate Brian Ekis caught a TD pass in the loss.
By BILL ALBRIGHT
VINDICATOR CORRESPONDENT
NEW WILMINGTON, Pa. -- Sometimes in the game of football, the hole you dig for yourself turns out to be just a little too deep to climb out of.
After shaking off a sluggish start that saw them trail Waynesburg 12-0 at halftime, the Westminster Titans battled back to take a 13-12 lead five minutes into the final period.
But they couldn't hold on as they fell 18-13 to the Yellow Jackets on Saturday in the regular season finale for both teams.
"This has been a good group of seniors and I only wish they could have gone out with a win," said Westminster coach Jerry Schmitt. "They have been right on the edge of doing some big things during the past couple of years and I am very sad to see them go."
A few first half stats told the story.
Waynesburg (7-3, 3-2) held big advantages in first downs (15-5), total yards (230-72) and time of possession (20:13-9:47).
The Titans also had almost as many penalty yards (71) as total offense (72).
Clearly, the halftime deficit could have been worse.
"I didn't really know those stats, but it certainly felt like that down on the field," said Schmitt.
"We struggled a little bit mentally, but give them credit because they are a good defensive football team."
The Titans (5-5, 2-3) played inspired football in the second half and Schmitt said it was just a matter of talking about a few things at the break.
"We just talked about some things that we felt would work," he said. "We also had a little heart-to-heart talk, but that was about it. We didn't do anything special. We just executed a little better."
Rally
The Titans took their first possession of the second half and marched 56 yards on eight plays, capped by a 10-yard TD pass from quarterback J.R. Barley to Boardman High graduate Brian Ekis.
"It was more of a one-on-one, post-corner move," explained Ekis. "He played me inside so I couldn't get the post move on him, but I just sort of leaned on him and the quarterback just had confidence that I could come down with it."
The Titans tied the score with a 3-yard touchdown by Barley, but the Yellow Jackets answered on their next drive to regain control.
"I have always said that good teams answer when they need to," said Schmitt.
"Waynesburg is a very good football team and that made me nervous when we scored with that much time left on the clock.
"I knew their offense could get going in a heartbeat."
Ekis entered last week's game against Grove City needing 122 yards to become the school's all-time receiving leader, but was blanked by the Wolverines and managed just five catches for 54 yards against the Yellow Jackets.
Still, he'll leave Westminster with plenty of good memories.
"Possibly my best memory I can take away from here is having been around this bunch of guys," Ekis said.
"I love and respect every guy that I have played with here because they have been behind me in everything I was able to do. I hope I have taught them some things because they certainly taught me a lot."
Tony Ventresco, also a Boardman graduate, added 11 tackles for Westminster, including two tackles for a loss and two sacks.