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G-men looks to bounce back at West Lib

By Jay W. Bennett 4 min read

PARKERSBURG -- Glenville State is hoping to do to West Liberty what Wheeling did last weekend to the Pioneers.

Entering Hall of Fame weekend last Saturday, the G-men had a chance for a 2-1 record inside Morris Stadium, but the Cardinals had other ideas during a 27-10 Mountain East Conference triumph.

Come 1 p.m. Saturday at West Family Stadium, it's Hall of Fame weekend for the Hilltoppers (2-2, 2-1) of head man Roger Waialae, who are coming off a 31-0 road shutout of West Virginia Wesleyan.

"It's depression week all week at Glenville. We felt like we let one get away that we could've won," admitted GSC head man Mike Kellar, whose squad couldn't overcome five turnovers.

"For sure, Wheeling's got a good club. We felt that going into the game. We made so many mistakes and that's kind of been our M.O. We just need to fix us. If we could just fix us I think we could be an alright ball club."

GSC (1-2, 1-2) did get its running game going in the setback as Alfred Menjor had season-highs of 27 carries and 116 yards.

However, quarterbacks Timothy Heltzel and Corbin Pierson didn't have their best days.

"I don't know what I'm going to do at quarterback yet. It's kind of going to be a game time decision," Kellar said of who will start. "We're not getting the play we need the kids are capable of and the play the team deserves.

"We put a lot of pressure on them during the week with a lot of reps and put them in tough situational football and see who responds to it and who is best in practice will get the majority of the reps. We'll see how it goes in the game.'

West Liberty boasts a pair of former Parkersburg Big Reds in redshirt freshmen offensive lineman Ryan Creech and tailback Tyler Moler, who hasn't found the end zone yet but leads the team with 65 rushes for 337 yards.

Hilltopper signal-caller Jack Allison hit 16 of 23 attempts for 229 yards and two touchdowns last week. Both scoring strikes went to Isaiah Robinson.

The G-men trailed 10-3 at halftime as the only offense came via a Josh Jones 32-yard field goal. Kyree Wallace also had a 3-yard TD grab from Heltzel.

Coach Kellar, who was the associate head coach and offensive coordinator for Waialae in 2018, knows things won't be easy this weekend.

"They are pretty hard to beat up there. That goes back to when I was at Fairmont and Concord," Kellar admitted. "I remember us talking about how tough it was to go up there and play them up on that hill.

"They got a good fan base and their kids believe what they are doing and all of those are concerns. At the end of the day it's about kids executing ball plays. If we execute we'll be fine."

Brian Hill, the Pioneers' defensive coordinator, spent the last three seasons at WLU as the D-line coach.

He's watched Jonathan St. Jacque record five sacks thus far while Ellis Lilly and Abu Kaikai have two apiece. Parkersburg South grad Brandon Penn leads the G-men with two interceptions. Braxton County's Seth Arnold paces the Pioneer defense with 31 tackles and is followed by Shaun Sterling (21).

"It's killed us," admitted coach Kellar, who has watched Javon Butler haul in 18 receptions for 302 yards, of the turnovers. "Three games for us. If you really look at it. Our second drive of the year we drove to the 1 and turned the ball over. I think about all the times we've done that. It's probably cost us a couple touchdowns a game."

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com

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