Is This The Year? Football Hosts Shepherd Saturday - West Virginia State University Athletics

Coming off of last year's winning season the West Virginia State football program had a new feeling of hope, an air of confidence.

Head Coach John Pennington can feel and see his squad improving.

So what do the Yellow Jackets need to take the next step in their push to the top of the Mountain East Conference?

"We need a signature win," he said.

WVSU threatened to earn such a win a couple of times last season.

Last week the Jackets came agonizingly close in spite of what Pennington described as "shooting ourselves in the foot".

Saturday WVSU will take a shot at the "John Hancock" of signature wins when the Yellow Jackets host perennial power Shepherd at noon.

Beating the Rams would be a really good victory for any team.

But for WVSU it would have even more meaning. That is because it has not been years since a Jacket win in the series, it has been decades.

How long has it been?

Since the cost of a gallon of gas was $1.19, a video camera cost $1,599.00, and you could see "The Empire Strikes Back" at the movies for $2.75.

A memorable year when Ronald Reagan was elected President, the U.S. hockey team upset Russia in the "Miracle on Ice" game in the Olympics, the first 24-hour news television news channel, CNN, was launched, Rubik's Cube came out, former Beatle John Lennon was shot and killed in real life and a record number of viewers at the time tuned in to see "Who shot J.R." on the television show Dallas.

It was 1980 and West Virginia State defeated Shepherd 12-7 in football that fall.

     That is the last time the Yellow Jackets defeated the Rams but the hopes are high that this may be the year that streak is finally broken.

     Shepherd comes into Saturday's game with a 1-1 record having lost their opener by two points at Notre Dame.

     Last week WVSU traveled north to play the Falcons and also lost by two points. The Jackets played nearly that entire game without sophomore leading rusher Calil Wilkins who was ejected after the first series when he gained 27 yards on two carries. WVSU was driving for what would have been a game-winning field goal when time at expired at the Notre Dame 44. 5361

     The Yellow Jacket faithful also have to be encouraged by last year's result on the road in Shepherdstown. In that contest WVSU trailed by just one touchdown or less for most of the game before Shepherd took advantage of the Jacket's onside kick attempt and scored with just over a minute to play to make the final score 56-41.

     "Everyone around the program knows how close we are," WVSU Head Coach John Pennington,who is 36 year sold, said. "There is a a lot of optimism here but optimism doesn't win games, we still have to do the little things."

    He points to several small mistakes last week that led to the narrow loss and the wasting of an opportunity to pick up that signature win over what is considered on of the top programs in the Mountain East Conference.

    "We learned a lot last week," he said. "If we can put all of that to use we have a good chance."

     Grad student Faustino Saucedo will start at quarterback for a third straight game for injured starter Austin Hensley. Saucedo has played well in his two previous starts and finished 28-for-44 passing for 395 yards and three touchdowns last week.

      Wilkins will be back and is averaging 6.2 yards a carry with 300 yards on 48 attempts. He ran for 91 yards a year ago against the Rams. Sophomore Dylan Lucas is right behind at 6.1 yards a carry and has 253 yards on the ground so far.

      Senior Tyrell Henderson caught a career best 12 passes last week and has 23 on the season for 336 yards. His previous best outing was at Shepherd last season when he caught 11 passes for 166 yards.

     Slot receiver Zach Pate follows with 17 catches for 180 yards and the A.J. Barrette with 11 for 178. Wilkins and Lucas are also receiving threats out of the backfield as Wilkins has five catches for 62 yards and two touchdowns and has six receptions for 35 yards.

      Tevon Littleton and Joe Stoneman are leading the WVSU defense with 22 tackles each and seven different players have been in on a sack.

     Shepherd is led by freshman quarterback Tyson Bagent.

    In two games Bagent has completed 68-of-97 pass attempts for 896 yards. He threw three interceptions in the loss at Notre Dame but cut that to win in last week's win over Glenville State. His favorite target is senior Ryan Feiss who leads the MEC in catches per game and has a total of 22 for 286 yards. Feiss caught 10 passes for 168 yards in last year's game.

     The Rams have not been nearly as productive on the ground where leading rusher Zyan Studivant has run for 134 yards on 27 caries, an average of 5.0 per carry.

      Chrys Lane leads Shepherd with 21 tackles in two games.

      This will mark the first meeting between the programs since longtime Ram's coach Monte Cater retired after last season.

      If you cannot make it to the game yu can follow the action live right here.

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