Box Score The Yellow Jackets' offense came to life Saturday in Buckhannon but the 420 yards and 30 points it put up on the day was not enough as host West Virginia Wesleyan defeated visiting WVSU 45-30 in front of a Homecoming crowd.

A few big plays made the difference.

Things looked promising in the early going as the Yellow Jackets took the opening kickoff and drove 69 yards in 12 plays to take a 7-0 lead.

Dominique Matthews picked off a third-down pass on the Bobcats' next possession to set up a Josh Reuber 19 yard field goal to give WVSU a 10-0 lead with 9:48 remaining in the opening period.

"It was great to get the offense firing on all cylinders," WVSU Head Coach Jon Anderson said. "And to see the those guys score some points and come off the field with smiles on their faces."

On its next possession Wesleyan responded with an 11-play, 64 yard drive of its own to make the score 10-7.

Neither team was able to do much on its next two possessions before the Bobcats scored to take a 14-10 lead.

The Yellow Jackets immediately answered on a 63-yard pass from senior quarterback Tyler Seals to Jon Cabral-Ramsey to make the score 17-14.

The Bobcats countered just before halftime to go ahead 21-17.

Wesleyan then took the opening kickoff of the second half and drove 63 yards on nine plays to push the margin to 28-17.

The Bobacats stretched the lead to 35-17 when they picked up a WVSU fumble and ran it back 48 yards to the endzone with 11:04 to play in the third period.

Seals threw for a career best 289 yards on the day and connected with Cabral-Ramsey for a 16 yard touchdown in the on the Yellow Jackets' next possession to make the score 35-23.

After WVSU gave the ball back to the Bobcats sophomore Mark Guerin made the first of two late big Yellow Jacket defensive plays that almost turned the game around. He stripped Wesleyan running back Robert Chesson of the ball and ran it back 10 yards to make the score 35-30 with 9:55 to play.

Then it was sophomore Romell Haley's turn.

After the Bobcats took the ensuing kickoff and marched 56 yards the Mountain East Conference interception leader seemed to provide an opening for the Yellow Jackets when he picked off his fifth pass of the season on the Yellow Jacket goal line with 7:30 to play.

The Geurin and Haley plays were the kind that the Yellow Jackets had been looking for much of the season.

"Absolutely," Anderson said. "That's what I ask of the guys is to be there late and have a chance to win."

Unfortunately the next big play of the game came on the Yellow Jackets' first snap as they fumbled and a Bobcat picked up the ball and ran it 18 yards to the endzone.

"We had four big plays, two on offense that led to points, and two on defense that led to points," Anderson said of plays that proved costly.

Wesleyan added a field goal on its next possession to account for the final margin.

The 420 yards of offense was a season high for WVSU and the Yellow Jackets won most statistical categories. They outgained the Bobcats by 48 yards, picked up 23 first downs to the Bobcats' 20, and won the time of possession battle 33:10 to 26:50.

Matthews finished with three interceptions, returning them for a total of 79 yards.

The kicking game continued to be a bright spot as Cory Broughton had another solid game punting and averaged 54 yards per kickoff while Reuber converted his sixth field goal in eight attempts this season.

Senior LeFloyd Phillips carried the ball 15 times for 66 yards.

"I'm happy overall that for the first time since early in the season all three phases were doing some positive things," Anderson said. "I was really proud of the effort the team put out to put together a complete game."

The Yellow Jackets return home to host the University of Charleston Saturday at 1:00 p.m..