INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The West Virginia State University football team defeated West Liberty, 39-29, in front of a crowd of nearly 4,000 spectators at Dickerson Stadium on Saturday afternoon. The victory marked the third straight Homecoming win under head coach John Pennington and meant that the Yellow Jackets are still unbeaten in the Mountain East Conference (MEC) this season.
WVSU improves to 4-1 overall and 4-0 in the MEC with the win. Meanwhile, WLU falls to 2-3 on the season and 2-3 in league-action with the loss.
Offensively, junior running back Dylan Lucas rushed 21 times for a career-high 149-yards (7.1 yards per carry) and caught seven passes for 58-yards to total 207-yards of offense by himself. He also scored two touchdowns, one on a carry and the other off a reception. Senior wide receiver AJ Barrette made seven catches for a game-high 123-yards and a touchdown, including a long reception of 57-yards. And senior quarterback Austin Hensley completed 24 of his 41 passes for 268-yards and two touchdowns.
Defensively, senior defensive lineman Kenan Johnson recorded 11 tackles, including a five-yard tackle-for-loss and one nine-yard sack. Also, junior linebacker Dustin Crouser registered two huge sacks for a total of 23-yards among his five solo tackles in the game.
The first quarter was a stalemate between the two teams. On the first drive of the game for the West Virginia State offense, the Yellow Jackets marched down to their opponent's 11-yard line and ended up with a field goal to go ahead 3-0. That drive consisted of 17-plays and lasted for nearly eight minutes.
Both offenses jump started in the second quarter to excite the Homecoming crowd. The Hilltoppers finished off a drive with an 18-yard touchdown pass to take the lead, 7-3, early in the second quarter.
After Kendell Robinson came up with a huge stop on fourth down, the Yellow Jackets took over possession at their own 40-yard line. They made WLU pay for trying to convert on fourth down with a 57-yard connection between Hensley and Barrette. Dant'e Jones then took a direct snap from the wildcat formation to get across the goal line from three-yards out and give the lead back to WVSU, 9-7. The PAT did not go through the uprights.
The Yellow Jackets scored again on their next offensive possession with a 7-yard completion to Barrette in the end zone. WVSU went up 16-7 with 3:25 remaining in the second half after the touchdown grab. West Liberty managed to get a touchdown back on its next drive and subsequently left the scoreline at 16-14 in favor of West Virginia State going into halftime.
The only points put on the board by either team in the third quarter was a 10-yard pass to Lucas that increased West Virginia State's advantage to 23-14.
The Hilltoppers opened the scoring in the fourth quarter by punching in the ball from two-yards out and, thereby, getting back within two points of a tie, 23-21. The Yellow Jackets didn't take long to get their cushion back by going 65-yards on three plays, including a trick play in which wideout Zach Pate took an end-around and tossed the ball back to quarterback Donovan Riddick for a 23-yard score. The trick play gave WVSU a 30-21 lead with 7:39 left in the contest.
A snap out of the back of the end zone on a punt put WVSU up 32-21 with six-minutes left on the clock. West Virginia State made it 39-21 when Lucas rushed 20-yards for his second score of the day. West Liberty managed to score once more on an 11-yard pass to the corner of the end zone with under a minute to go. Nevertheless, the Yellow Jackets still claimed a 10-point margin of victory over WLU.
The WVSU offense put together a balanced attack of 289-yards rushing and 291-yards passing. On the other side of the ball, the WVSU defense held West Liberty to just 61-yards on the ground and 288-yards through the air.
West Virginia State will travel to Fairmont State for another MEC showdown on Saturday, Oct. 12 at 1 p.m.
