W&J receiver is tops in D-III
Tri-State Sports & News Service
Jesse Zubik loved the play call: A fade pattern designed to hit him in the corner of the end zone. His Washington & Jefferson football team was trailing Carnegie Mellon by three points in double-overtime and a touchdown would win the game. Deep breath, Jesse. “I was exhausted, but I kept telling myself that I needed to make one more play to get the game over with,” said Zubik, an Avonworth High School graduate. “I had to maintain my focus.”
Quarterback Pete Coughlin took the snap and sent a pass skyward to Zubik, who raced underneath, clutched it and double-tapped his toes inside the end line.
It was his fourth touchdown, his 17th catch and his 201st yard on a recordsetting afternoon. His jubilant teammates, nearly 100 of them, converged to celebrate a pulsating, 55-52, victory.
“They surrounded me,” Zubik said. “I remember the linemen holding me up in the air. It was a great feeling.”
A 5-foot-10, 180-pound junior, Zubik is Division III’s version of Antonio Brown. A playmaker/gamebreaker, he leads the nation in receiving yards per game (169.3) and touchdowns (14) and is third in receptions per game (9.5).
Two weeks ago, he was placed on the D3football.com Team of the Week after breaking the W&J single-game receiving record of 14 against CMU. He also tied the Presidents’ Athletic Conference record for touchdowns in a game.
“He just keeps getting better,” said coach Mike Sirianni, whose high-scoring team is 5-1, 3-1 PAC. “We’ve leaned heavily on Jesse this season.”
In a 37-36 victory against Bethany last Saturday, Zubik was brilliant. Again.
The Sewickley native hauled in seven passes for a school record-tying 235 yards and two touchdowns. His 57-yard score in the fourth quarter not only provided the winning points, but put him over 1,000 yards in just six games.
His performance against Bethany earned him PAC Offensive Player of the Week honors on Monday.
For the season, Zubik has 57 receptions for 1,016 yards. That total includes 34 catches for 635 yards and nine touchdowns the past three games.
Not that the numbers matter to Zubik, who prefers humility over headlines.
“I just go out there to help us win games,” Zubik said. “I don’t have any personal goals. I don’t care if I get the ball one time or 20 times, I just want to win.”
Speed (4.46 seconds in the 40-yard dash), technique and a high football IQ account for some of Zubik’s success. But there is more to it, per Sirianni.
“I know this is a coaching cliche, but whenever your best player is also your hardest worker, that’s pretty special,” said Sirianni, who employs a nohuddle, spread offense. “During training camp, I tried to give him a day off, but he wouldn’t take me up on it. He said, ‘If everyone else is going to practice, then I’m going to practice, too.’ Now, when I offered the same thing to some of our defensive players, they jumped at it. But that’s just not him. That’s not the person he is.”
An offensive juggernaut, W&J ranks fourth nationally in points per game (47.7), 10th in passing (352.2) and 13th in total yards (516.3). Quarterback Coughlin, a senior from Upper St. Clair, leads the nation in touchdown passes with 27 and ranks 13th with 1,818 passing yards.
He and Zubik share a unique and special chemistry, Zubik said.
“Love playing with Pete,” Zubik said. “We’ve developed a great connection over the last three years. Each of us knows what the other is going to do, and you can’t beat it. I’m lucky to be playing with a quarterback who has so much talent.”
If Zubik remains healthy, he could feasibly rewrite the W&J record books. This former Avonworth basketball star is in striking distance of the single-season marks in yards (1,631), receptions (94) and touchdowns (20).
Moreover, he needs 615 yards, 6 touchdowns and 102 catches to eclipse the career marks of 3,204, 39 and 269 in those categories.
“People have been bringing this stuff up lately, so it’s hard not to know about it,” said Zubik, who carries a 3.35 GPA as a financial economics major. “I’ve talked to Alex Baroffio (the career leader in catches and yards) and I know how great of an athlete he was. Knowing that I have a chance to pass him is pretty humbling.”