INSTITUTE, West Virginia -- The offense was steady and the defense came up with an outstanding performance when it was needed most as the Yellow Jackets captured a much-needed 34-28 win over Glenville State in front of a large Homecoming crowd Saturday."It was a team effort," WVSU Head Coach John Penningtn said. "That includes the alumni and all the fans, they made a difference at the end."
It looked early on like it was going to be an easy day at the office as WVSU dominated play in the first half controlling the ball for 18:30 and jumping out to a 21-7 lead.. But the Jackets could not pull away from the Pioneers and held just a 21-14 lead at halftime after the Pioneers scored in the closing seconds.
Quarterback Matt Kinnick hit senior receiver Quinton Gray on scoring strikes of 27 and 8 yards and freshman Calil Wilkins punched one in from 2-yards out to account for the Jackets' points.
Gray came into the game needing 30 yards receiving to break the career record set by Mario Lewis in 1993. He had 49 by halftime.
"That guy just works so hard," Pennington said. "He has a great attitude and you like to see guys like that get rewarded."
Glenville took the opening kickoff of the second half and it looked like the WVSU defense had forced a three-and-out but a hitting the punter penalty allowed Glenville State to retain possession and drive 83 yards on 14 plays to tie the score at 21-21.
Things took an even worse turn for WVSU on the ensuing possession. On the second play from scrimmage Wilkins broke through the left side of the line and took the ball about 18 yards to the Yellow Jacket 43 but was stripped of the ball on the way down and a Glenville State player picked it up and returned it to the WVSU 1-yard line. The Pioneers ran it in on the next play to take their first lead of the contest at 28-21 with 8:22 remaining in the third quarter.
The Yellow Jackets showed the fighting attitude they have displayed all season though and went right to work.
"That was what was the most impressive, the mindset," Pennington said. "They didn't let it effect them, they just went out there and played ball."
After the teams traded punts Kinnick and Gray took over.
First a 17-yard hookup moved the ball into Glenville State territory. The Pioneers sent the rush on the next play but Kinnick rolled left and found Gray cutting from the middle of teh field to the far sideline and hit him in full stride for a 46-yard score to tie things up at 28-28.
But the day ended up belonging to the WVSU defense as it shut down the Pioneer ground game and did not allow them into the red zone over the final 23:22 of the game even though the Pioneers flipped the time off possession to their advantage holding the ball for almost 19 minutes of the final 30.
"They did a good job of taking the air out of the ball after they got the lead," Pennington said, using a basketball metaphor.
Not only did the Yellow Jacket defense keep the visitors out of the enzone a fumble recovery by senior linebacker Trent Williamson at the Glenville State 35-yard line set up what would prove to be the game-winning drive.
Gray took an end around handoff off the left side and advanced the ball 29 yards. Then Wilkins again proved to be unstoppable when he gets the ball close to the goal line going in to give WVSU the lead at 34-28 with 11:07 to play. The extra point was wide after a penalty moved the attempt back.
A last gasp throw by the Pioneers into the endzone with 58 seconds left fell harmlessly to the ground on 4th down and 11 from the WVSU 25. A pair of Kinnick kneel downs later the game was over.
"The offense didn't play great," Pennington said. "But when the defense turned it over they took advantage."
Glenville State came into the day averaging 413.5 yards a game of offense but were held to 358 by the WVSU defense. The Yellow Jackets came up especially big in pass defense where they held the visitors to only 163 yards compared to the Pioneers average of 288.8 per game.
"That was awesome, they have some great wide receivers," Pennington said. "It just shows the job Coach (George) Shehl has done with the defense."
Kinnick threw for 227 yards hitting 20-of-32 attempts. Gray hauled in nine of those for 112 yards while Tyrell Henderson caught five for 65 yards. Wilkins continued his streak of scoring in every college game he has played but was held to just 96 yards from scrimmage, 92 on the ground and four receiving, to see his streak of games with over 100 yards broken.
Williamson finished with eight tackles including two for a loss and a sack while Darius Goode paced the Jackets with 11 total tackles.
Next up WVSU travels to Frankfort to play Kentucky State Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
BOX SCORE
WEST VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY ATHLETICS MEDIA RELATIONS
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