INSTITUTE, West Virginia -- The West Virginia State University defense struggled and Shepherd University's dominance of the series between the Mountain East Conference football combatants continued Saturday.Three-time defending conference champion Shepherd held the Yellow Jackets to 49 yards during a dominant first-half performance en route to a 27-7 victory at Dickerson Stadium at Lakin Field.
The Rams (2-1, 2-1 MEC) held a 20-0 halftime lead, and had a touchdown called back on a penalty in its 38th consecutive victory over State dating to 1980. That season, coach Oree Banks' Yellow Jackets (1-3, 1-3) posted a 12-7 win toward a 6-5 season in the now-defunct West Virginia Intercollegiate Athletic Conference.
State coach John Pennington cited a lack of energy from his team, which will try to bounce back this week when it visits Glenville State for a noon game on Saturday.
"That's what I talked to the team about," Pennington said. "It's a big game we should've been up for. At the end of the day, it's hard to get excited when you're not doing anything on offense."
This marks the first time in four games this season that WVSU has not scored at least 31 points. On a more positive note, for the second time the Yellow Jackets have given up fewer than 30. The first time was in a 33-12 win over UVa-Wise. On Saturday, it was against the league's second-best scoring team.
However, the Yellow Jackets' inability to sustain drives cost it in the first half when its first five possessions combined for 22 plays and 60 yards.
The Rams, who are guided by first-year coach Ernie McCook, outgained WVSU 297-49 in the first half, but still mustered just 20 points. Shepherd had to settle for field goals following drives of 90 and 36 yards.
State's defense bent, but seldom broke, giving up 528 yards – 210 rushing and 318 passing. When WVSU quarterback Faustino Saucedo connected with Zach Pate on a 46-yard touchdown pass with 1:11 left in the third, energy returned to the Yellow Jackets and the crowd.
Shepherd gained 3 yards on its next possession, but a holding penalty on State the next time it had the ball, stalled a drive.
The Rams reached the WVSU 23 during an 11-play drive, but an incomplete pass on fourth down ended the threat.
Given another chance, the Yellow Jackets had an 18-yard pass play from Saucedo and Pate to almost reach midfield, but an interception two plays later negated the threat.5288
"The players, the coaches, all have to do better," Pennington said. "Every play on there is designed to score. There was a penalty, there was a guy missing a play here or there – it wasn't the same guy every time – we just couldn't get a collective 11 guys doing what they were supposed to be doing and that starts with the coordinator, and that's me."
Saucedo completed 16-of-25 passes for 244 yards with a touchdown but was sacked three times. He is playing for the injured Austin Hensley, who was lost for the season.
Running back Calil Watkins, who was third in the MEC in rushing entering the game, had 75 yards on 19 carries. Pate (4-85) and A.J. Barrette (4-80) combined for 160 yards receiving on eight catches for an average of 20 yards per reception.
The WVSU defense was busy against the normally pass-heavy offense of the Rams. Shepherd passes the ball more than 62 percent of the time, but almost flipped the script on the Yellow Jackets, running the ball 38 times compared to 40 pass attempts. The Yellow Jackets knocked down 12 of Bagent's passes. Bagent was 23-of-40 for 318 yards and a pair of scores.
Zyan Sturdivant ran for 110 yards on 22 carries for the Rams, after he had only 134 yards rushing in the first two games of the season combined.
Following State's visit to Glenville next week, the Yellow Jackets return to Institute for a 1:30 p.m. Homecoming meeting against Kentucky State University.
By RICH STEVENS
WEST VIRGINIA STATE UNIVERSITY SPORTS INFORMATION
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