GLENVILLE - The Pioneers from Glenville State College will have a lot more to be worried about come 1 p.m. Saturday at Cebe Ross Field aside from playing their only game of the year on natural grass when the G-men invade host West Virginia Wesleyan for the Bobcats' homecoming game.
Following a 29-12 home victory last Saturday against W.Va. State where Pioneer tailbacks Rahmann Lee and Quin Thornton combined for 20 carries, 193 yards rushing and three touchdowns, GSC is set up to try and have its first winning streak of the year.
Glenville State, now 3-4 overall and 3-1 in West Virginia Conference action, is expected to once again be without starting signal-caller Darold Hughes. Last week, Justin Feagin filled in nicely as he rushed for 60 yards and passed for 159 more.
However, head coach Jonas Jackson's Bobcats (2-5, 1-3) are coming off consecutive losses since losing starting quarterback Nate Montana via injury in late September during their last victory, a 33-21 home triumph versus Urbana.
"He's supposed to be back this week so I expect to see both of them," Glenville State coach David Hutchison said of Montana and Jeremy Musselman, who has been filling in. Musselman had 256 yards passing and three touchdowns during last week's 49-32 road loss at Fairmont State, which rallied from a 21-9 halftime deficit.
Wideout Lavaughn Hughes had two of the TD catches and hauled in 11 passes for 127 yards for the Bobcats, who were tripped up 37-6 two weeks ago at Shepherd.
Fact Box
Matchup
Glenville State
(3-4, 3-1 WVIAC)
at W.Va. Wesleyan
(2-5, 1-3 WVIAC)
Game time: 1 p.m.
Saturday at Cebe
Ross Field
"We are really going to have to do a great job up front trying to control the line of scrimmage," Hutchison added. "With their packages, they send a lot of pressure with their linebackers and we have to try and eliminate the negative plays."
Without question, the GSC offensive line will be tested all afternoon as the Bobcats rank No. 2 nationally in both sacks and tackles for loss.
"You combine their top two defensive ends and they equal our whole team's sacks," Hutchison said. "The 29 sacks and 75 tackles for loss are really mind-boggling stats."
Senior Jonas Celian is fifth in all of Division II in sacks per game while teammates Brian Vukela and Jesse Robertson are tied for seventh in the country in tackles for loss.
Coach Hutchison, who was pleased with the play of both Feagin and fellow quarterback Tony Guidugli, expects them each to take snaps. He also noted Thornton is the healthiest he's been all season, which is a good thing as the G-men once again likely will try to lean on the ground game some.
"Wesleyan will be jacked up, ready to go and play their best game of the year," added the coach. "They got athletes all over the field. It will be a four quarter game and we had better be ready to play."
