FAIRMONT, West Virginia -- Yellow Jacket fans could finally let loose a sigh of relief followed by a loud cheer Thursday night.The WVSU football team had won its opening game.
Third-year Head Coach Jon Anderson looked on as his squad put together an extremely solid effort on both sides of the ball to score a convincing 59-34 victory over host Fairmont State under the lights on a warm and humid evening.
Young players proved they have matured, new players showed they have some game, and new offensive coordinator John Pennington's attack proved to be both exciting and effective.
And, oh yeah, the already strong defense recorded two safeties and ran back a botched Fairmont extra point kick for two points.
In other word, there was a little bit of everything for Yellow Jacket fans.
All of it good.
The Yellow Jackets ended up with 509 total yards of offense, 279 on the ground. Besides scoring six points the defense recorded 11 tackles for a loss totaling 43 yards and five sacks for 30 more negative yards.
They did not turn the ball over at all and allowed only one sack for a 1-yard loss.
The Falcons had won the last five meetings between the programs but it did not take long for the Jackets to show everyone there are more differences between this team and last year's than their new uniforms.
After taking the opening kickoff the Yellow Jackets drove 79 yards on nine plays with Tevin Brown topping the drive off with a 17-yard touchdown run at the 11:42 mark.
The two-point conversion attempt failed but a few minutes later WVSU senior linebacker Rudy Favard picked up the two points for the Jackets on a safety.
The Jackets drove 55 yards on the ensuing possession with Tyrone Barber going in from the 1-yard line for the score.
A 13 yard pass from D'von Dorsey to Chase Henderson with 28 seconds remaining gave WVSU a 22-0 lead after the opening period.
Just how big was that opening quarter to the Yellow Jackets?
The 22 points equaled last year's season high total – for an entire game.
The defense added another safety to make it 24-0, Anthony Herrera hit a 38-yard field goal, freshman Tyrone Barber broke free for a 46-yard touchdown run, and Herrera showed that even the WVSU kicking game is looking solid this year by hitting from 45-yards out to make the score 37-7 at halftime.
The last time WVSU scored that many points in a half was in the opening game of 2008 when the Jackets went on to win their first five games and reach as high as #21 in the national rankings before finishing 7-3.
After kicking off and stopping the Falcons to start the second half the Jackets scored on their opening possession when Akil Washington caught a perfectly placed 37-yard pass from Matt Kinnick to run the score to 44-7.
The teams traded scores with the WVSU touchdowns coming on a 5-yard run by Barber and one from 17-yards out by Kelvit Barrett as the third quarter came to an end with the Yellow Jackets leading 57-21.
The Falcons pulled to within 57-27 but Stevin Gomez picked up the missed extra point kick at the two yard line and ran it back 98 yards for two points to make it 59-27.
Fairmont State added one last touchdown with 3:41 to play to bring the final to 59-34.
Senior Will Merritt and junior Mitch Rowell each made eight tackles with sophomore Dennis Gardeck adding seven.
Kinnick finished the night 16-of-27 passing for 217 yards and a touchdown.
Barber carried 11 times for 103 yards, Tevin Brown 16 for 85, and Barrett 12 for 80.
Washington caught four passes for 76 yards and Quinton Gray four for 61 yards.
The 279 yards on the ground is the most in a game for WVSU since the Jackets picked up 414 against Charleston on November 12, 2011.
The 509 total yards is most since the Yellow Jackets rolled up 630 at Johnson C. Smith on September 3, 2011.
The last time a WVSU squad put up more points was when the 2008 squad beat Lincoln, Missouri 67-13 on August 30, 2008.
The Yellow Jackets play their home opener on Saturday, September 12 at 1 p.m. against Urbana.
Statistics
COURTESY WEST VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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