West Virginia State University Athletics

     WVSU dominated Saturday's game against visiting Urbana for more than three quarters.
     
      But the Blue Knights owned the final 12:28 as the Yellow Jackets fell 36-35 in their final home game of the season.

     Whether from the flow of Senior Day adrenaline or simple determination to lock up a winning season the Yellow Jackets looked unbeatable in the early going.

      Led by quarterback Matt Kinnick, one of 15 seniors playing their final home game, WVSU proceeded to march 64 yards to take a 7-0 lead with Quinton Gray hauling in a 13-yard strike from Kinnick to finish off the drive.

       Kinnick finished the day with 307 yards through the air on a 27-of-38 effort. His five touchdown passes tied a WVSU single game record and gave him 24 on the season breaking his own single season mark of 20.
       
       Gray caught 13 passes for the second straight week and ended up with 134 yards and three scores.

       It looked like Urbana was going to come right back and answer as the Blue Knights took the ensuing kickoff and drove 60 yards on seven plays to the WVSU 19.

        But the Yellow Jackets forced a fumble to end the threat and take possession at their own 15.

        The visitors threatened again late in the period but the WVSU defense held forcing the Blue Knights to attempt a 31-yard field goal that sailed wide right.

       Urbana did put together a 45-yard drive following an interception to pull within 7-6 with 10:09 left in the first quarter as the point after kick missed.

       But the Yellow Jackets answered immediately with an impressive 12-play, 86-yard drive that consumed 5:25 to expand their lead to 14-6.

       Gray made a one-handed catch off of Kinnick's 12-yard throw on the right side of the endzone in front of the Monroe Athletic Center.

      WVSU forced the Blue Knights to punt on their next possession but the Jackets found themselves backed up to their own eight yard line.

     After Dionta Brown ran three times for 15 yards out to the 23 Kinnick found Lucas open from the slot on the right side.

     The Buffalo High product made the most of his first reception of his career. After hauling in the ball at the 29, Lucas made one nice stutter move to shake a defender, and then sprinted down the right sideline ahead of three Blue Knights to paydirt to move the lead to 20-6 with 42.8 second to go before halftime.

      The WVSU defense continued to play well and the offense mounted another time consuming drive midway through the third period.

      After taking over on downs on their own 32 the Yellow Jackets put together a 17-play, 68-yard drive that ate up 8:38 on the clock and resulted in a 3-yard toss from Kinnick to Brady Cox in the back of the endzone to go up 28-6 late in the third period.

      After that though it was as if a new Urbana team had arrived and taken over.

      The Blue Knights started their comeback by going 94 yards on nine plays to get a score and then converted the two-point conversion to pull back to within two scores at 28-14 with 12:28 to play.

     Urbana picked up more momentum when the Yellow Jackets lost the ball on a fumbled high snap three plays later giving Urbana the ball on the WVSU 46.

     The Blue Knights took advantage with a 25-yard touchdown pass five plays later to cut the margin to 28-21 with 10:54 left.

     But the WVSU players dug deep though and answered this time marching 60-yards to go back up by two scores at 35-21.

     A 28-yard hook-up between Kinnick and Gray was the biggest play on the possession. The duo finished off the drive with a 16-yard connection with 7:42 remaining.

      The Yellow Jackets could not come up with an answer for the Blue Knights ' offense though as they went 77-yards in eight plays to make the score 35-28 at the 4:42 mark.

      WVSU took over on their own 7-yard line after the kickoff and were forced to punt after gaining just four yards giving Urbana the ball at midfield with 3:30 showing on the clock.

       It took Urbana 8 plays and 2:25 to get into the endzone.

       The Blue Knights then opted to pass on the usual extra point kick that would have tied the game and instead left their offense on the field and hit a short pass for two points and the final margin with 1:05 to go.

       The final Yellow Jacket drive ended when a pass slipped through a receiver's outstretched hands around midfield and into the arms of an Urbana defender with 30 seconds remaining.

       By the time the dust had cleared Urbana had outscored WVSU 30-8 in the fourth quarter.

      Statistically the game was as close as the score indicates.

     The Yellow Jackets had 444 yards of total offense while Urbana finished with 432.

      Probably the most telling difference came in the turnover department where WVSU committed four to Urbana's one.

      Senior Dionta Brown led the ground effort with 75 yards on 17 carries. Darius Goode had 11 tackles and Moises Valcarcel 10 while Kyle Alexander broke up three passes to pace the defense.

     The Yellow Jackets wrap up the season Saturday at West Virginia Wesleyan.