INSTITUTE, West Virginia -- The Yellow Jacket football fans attending Saturday's season opener will probably not even remember the wet and gloomy weather.To them the day could not have been any better.
In his first game as a Head Coach John Pennington gave WVSU faithful something they had not experienced before - a home victory over rival University of Charleston.
And not just a win but a dominating 51-28 performance.
"You just can't really draw it up any better," Pennington said of the start to his head coaching career.
"It's just a dream come true."
For the Golden Eagles it was more of a nightmare. One that began shortly after they kicked off.
The Yellow Jackets took that opening kick and needed just three plays and 1:29 to go 60 yards and take a 7-0 lead.
Senior quarterback Matt Kinnick hit Quinton Gray across the middle about 20 yards downfield and the speedy senior took it the rest of the way for a 59-yard touchdown.
That completion made Kinnick State's all-time leader in passing yards. He would later throw three more scoring passes tying him with former Jacket Kevin O'Brien for the program mark of 51 career touchdown passes.
Kinnick now holds four WVSU career records after setting the marks for total yards and completions last season.
The Yellow Jackets scored on their next two possessions with Kinnink throwing a 32-yard strike to Dionta Brown and a deflected 12-yard toss to Gray, to move ahead 20-0
While the St. Clairsville, Ohio, native was sharp in hitting 22-of-27 pass attempts for 311 yards. He also ran his streak of not throwing an interception to three games and 98 passes going back to last season.
"Considering how bad the conditions were he deserves a lot of credit," Pennington said. "And I don't think we had a ball dropped either."
After the field absorbed a daylong downpour Friday it dried a little as the rain stopped overnight. But a light rain began to fall around game time and turned heavier at the half making for wet footballs and muddy running.
When WVSU went to its ground game though neither the mud nor the Golden Eagles could stop red-shirt freshman Calil Wilkins.
The tough 5-foot-7, 200-pound back out of Maryland started his first college game with his family watching from the stands and he put on a show.
He carried the ball 24 times for 191 yards and a touchdown
"Just watching him in practice and seeing his mindset this year we knew it was just a matter of time," Pennington said. "He has a lot of talent and Coach (Quincy) Wilson has worked a lot with him and done a great job."
While the offensive fireworks were drawing everyone's attention the WVSU defense was turning in a solid performance.
"They did a great job of getting us the ball in good position several times," Pennington said.
Junior defensive back Khave Konte paced the unit with 13 tackles, 12 of them solo, while junior Moises Valcarcel added 12 including one for a 23-yard loss and junior Rob Branch picked off a UC pass.
Throw in a good outing by the special teams including kicker Aaron Ball, punter Kole Patterson, and long-snapper Dakota Booth and fans cannot help but be excited about the coming weeks.
"When all three phases play like that you are going to win," Pennington summed up.
Gray finished the day with six catches for 79 yards and two touchdowns while Zach Pate pulled in five passes for 77 yards.
The win earned WVSU the Kanawha Valley Classic trophy for the first time in its four years of existence.
"It feels good," Pennington said. "Down on the field it was just an incredible feeling."
So how long was he planning to take to enjoy the victory?
"Right now all I can think about is UVa-Wise," he said. "It's a short week, we play them on Thursday so we have to get ready."
That contest kicks off at 7 p.m. at Wise. The Cavaliers won 41-29 at Glenville State Thursday night.
WEST VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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