BUCKHANNON, West Virginia -- This one was not slipping away.
A week after watching victory slip through their grasp in the final minutes the members of the WVSU football collectively said "Not this time" Saturday afternoon in winning 45-28 at West Virginia Wesleyan.
The defense made big plays when they were needed most and the offense not only put points on the board early but provided the knockout punch when it had the chance.
"We challenged them Thursday," WVSU Head Coach John Pennington said. "Is this going to be the typical 'old' state and blow it or the 'new' state."
It all added up to the Yellow Jackets finishing with a 5-5 conference record and overall mark of 6-5, the program's first winning season since 2008 and only the third since 1992.
The elephant in the room was not only addressed but sent packing.
The victory and final record means a group of 15 outgoing seniors finished the job of turning around a program that was in bad shape when they arrived, six of them five years ago.
"That was what was really special about today," Pennington said. "We treated it like a championship game."
WVSU won just six football games after that 7-3 finish in 2008 until this year's senior group first took the field as freshmen. That includes an 0-11 mark in 2013, when the six fifth-year seniors were watching as redshirts.
This group finishes with 16 wins highlighted now by a winning season.
"We wanted to be the most improved team and today we are teh most improved team in the (Mountain East Conference)," Pennington said. "It's a great feeling and great validation for our seniors."
Saturday the Yellow Jackets took little time in showing they meant business. They scored on their first two possessions, marching 65 and 59 yards respectively, to take a 14-0 lead.
The lead was 24-14 at halftime.
Still, Pennington thought the Jackets could do better.
"We went in at halftime and I was as mad as have ever been at the team," said Pennington. "Then we had a couple of seniors step up and talk."
WVSU never let the Bobcats catch up but the hosts did pull to within three at 24-21 after scoring when they took the second half kickoff and went 90-yards in just five plays.
Wesleyan forced the Yellow Jackets to punt on their next possession and it looked like momentum might be swinging in the Bobcats' direction.
But this week the WVSU defense stepped up and made a play when it was badly needed.
Junior defensive back Moises Valcarcel knocked the ball out of the Wesleyan ball carrier's grasp and freshman Henry Forson made the recovery at the Wesleyan 44.
"That turned the whole momentum," Pennington said.
The Yellow Jackets needed just six plays to get the ball into the endzone with senior Matt Kinnick hitting freshman Calil Wilkins from 19-yards out to finish the drive and widen the margin to 31-21.
The WVSU defense came up with another tremendous effort on the ensuing Bobcat possession.
Wesleyan took the kickoff and marched 82 yards to the WVSU 1-yard line but the Yellow Jackets stopped three straight running attempts forcing the Bobcats to attempt a field goal.
Valcarcel and sophomore Kyle Alexander broke through the blockers and blocked the kick with Alexander falling on the ball in the endzone for a touchback.
After the squads traded punts the Yellow Jackets put together another scoring drive, this one going for 78-yards in 10 plays with Kinnick hitting senior Quinton Gray from 2-yards out to run the score to 38-21.
Wesleyan continued to fight though grinding out 30 yard on 11 plays to the WVSU 30 before the Jacket defensive unit put together three big plays in a row.
First Malik Treadwell sacked the Bobcat quarterback for an 8-yard loss then Robert Branch sacked him for a seven yard loss to force a fourth down and 25 to go attempt.
Valcarcel stepped in front of the pass at the Jackets 25 and returned it all the way to the Wesleyan 45.
"Moises had the worst first half of his career," Pennington said. "I jumped on him at halftime and he said he would change and he did, he came out and got three turnovers."
The Bobcats made one last run at getting back into the game with a quick strike for a 48-yard score to pull within 38-28 with 4:16 to play after the Yellow Jackets failed to pick up a first down on a fame punt.
WVSU fell on the Wesleyan onside kick attempt at the Bobcats 44-yard line.
Instead of being content to just try and run some time off of the clock with running plays the Yellow Jackets came out in full attack mode.
Kinnick hit Jamal Brown for 10 yard on the first play and then ran for a couple.
After faking a quick handoff Kinnick then hit A.J. Barrette out of play action streaking down the left side. Barrette hauled the ball in around the 20 and sprinted to the flag to push the margin to the final 45-28 and seal the victory.
"We were all in, we weren't going to hang back and let things happen," Pennington said. "We were going to take our shots and keep our fate in our hands."
Valcarcel picked off his second pas of the day on teh Bobcats' next possession and the Jackets ran out the final 2:16.
Kinnick hit 21-of-29 passes for 269 yards and four touchdowns with no interceptions.
Freshman Dylan Lucas had another big day in his second start carrying the ball 13 times for 100 yards and a touchdown. Red-shirt freshman Calil Wilkins returned after missing three weeks with and ankle injury and picked up 93 yards on 15 carries and catching two passes for 29.
Sophomore Jamal Brown had six catches for 95 yards, Barrette five for 82 and Gray five for 49.
Valcarcel finished with 13 solo tackles and forced two fumbles which he also recovered and had two interceptions.
WEST VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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