INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The West Virginia State University football team was victorious for the second consecutive week by defeating Glenville State, 33-30, in WVSU's home opener. The Mountain East Conference (MEC) clash came down to the Yellow Jackets' final drive on Saturday afternoon in which they were successful on a fourth down conversion.

Head Coach John Pennington commented on his team's resilience after the game was wrapped up:

"That was a gritty, Yellow Jacket win today. Glenville State played hard and our hats are off to them. I'm glad we could be mentally tough and hang in there for the win."

The Yellow Jackets improve to 2-0 overall, 2-0 in the MEC with the win. Meanwhile, the Pioneers tumble to 1-1 on the season, 0-1 in the conference with the loss.

Senior quarterback Austin Hensley did not put a foot wrong throughout the game, completing 38 of his 59 pass attempts for 439 yards, three touchdowns, and zero interceptions. His favorite targets were receivers Isiah Scott (6 rec./111 yds.), Zach Pate (9 rec./108 yds./2 TD), and AJ Barrette (9 rec./94 yds./1 TD). Defensively, junior linebacker Dustin Crouser matched his league-leading tackle tally from last week with 14. Additionally, sophomore cornerback Ibrahim Sesay was involved in three pass breakups that all came at critical moments.

Glenville State was able to get in field goal range twice in the first quarter, but were only able to make good on one of the two attempts. After going down 3-0, West Virginia State's offense finally got going with a 12-play, 73-yard drive that resulted in a rushing touchdown. Wildcat quarterback Donovan Riddick punched the ball in from four-yards-out to give the Yellow Jackets a 7-3 advantage going into the second quarter.

Following four straight drives that ended in punts to start the second quarter, WVSU managed to score again with a 39-yard touchdown pass to Pate. The point-after attempt failed, leaving West Virginia State with a 13-3 lead. The ensuing drives by both teams fizzled out to keep the score unchanged going into halftime.

The Yellow Jackets opened the scoring in the third quarter with a methodical drive that nearly stalled out on the goal line. On third and goal-to-go, Pate found some space in the end zone to haul in a pass from Hensley. The score gave West Virginia State a comfortable 17-point lead, 20-3, with just under six minutes remaining in the quarter. The Pioneers answered back on the next possession with a touchdown of their own to cut the deficit to 20-10.

Junior kicker Martin Ahlstroem started the fourth quarter off with a 30-yard field goal conversion that put WVSU up 23-10. The Pioneers then sprung to life and scored three touchdowns on their next three drives. A 37-yard field goal from Ahlstroem in between Glenville State's run meant that GSC was leading, 30-26, for the first time since going up 3-0 midway through the first quarter.

The West Virginia State offense got the ball back with just under three minutes remaining in the contest. The Yellow Jackets drove down to GSC's 23-yard line and then made three consecutive pass incompletions. On fourth and 10, Hensley found Barrette on a post route for 13-yards and the first down. Now on GSC's 10-yard line, two more incompletions meant WVSU was facing third down and 10-yards-to-go. Not wanting to have another do-or-die fourth down situation, Hensley threw a bullet to Barrette in the middle of the end zone to finish off the game-winning drive.  

The Yellow Jackets totaled 510 yards of offense and significantly cut their penalty yardage from the previous week. They were five-for-six on red-zone scoring and two-for-two on fourth down conversions. The other fourth down conversion came on West Virginia State's first scoring drive.

The Yellow Jackets will travel to Southeast Missouri State next to test their mettle against a Division I FCS opponent. Kickoff is scheduled for 2 p.m. on Saturday, Sep. 21.