Glenville St. looks to avoid 0-2 start at Lock Haven
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GLENVILLE -- In order to avoid an 0-2 start to the campaign Glenville State University head coach Mike Kellar's Pioneers will have to find a way to get past Lock Haven come 6 p.m. Saturday inside Hubert Jack Stadium.
The Bald Eagles of first-year head coach Joe Battaglia are having a blackout for community night.
The G-men had a pair of turnovers during last week's 45-17 setback in their "home" opener versus Emory & Henry at Herbert Hoover Stadium.
"We got beat by a very good football team," admitted coach Kellar, whose program lost 31-9 a year ago to the Bald Eagles, during his weekly show. "I thought a year ago we went down there they were a much bigger more physically opposing football team than we were.
"This year here, the scoreboard doesn't really show it, but I think from a physicality standpoint, execution standpoint, I thought we closed that gap a little bit on them, which makes me proud of the work we did over the winter with recruiting and how hard our guys lifted, and how the summer went. At the end of the day it's a zero sum game and you either win or you lose, and we didn't get it done that week. That falls on my shoulders."
Harlon Hill Award finalist Jackson Ostrowsky is back to lead the offense in the season opener after throwing for 3,203 yards with 27 touchdowns and a dozen interceptions.
However, he lost his top five receivers, but will have Concord transfer Jake Roberts as a target.
This will mark the third meeting in the series as Glenville State left Lock Haven with a 30-0 victory in 2008.
Lock Haven, which returns second leading rusher Damir Green (99-442), also has linebacker Rocco Daugherty back. He had a team-high four picks and was second on the squad with 71 tackles. Rhys McDonald also returns after registering 3.5 sacks in 2024.
Glenville State signal-caller Anthony Garrett threw for 210 yards along with a pair of touchdowns and two interceptions last week.
Running back Zavione Wood suffered an injury in the first quarter as Jeremiah King (20-44) led the ground game. King hauled in one of Garrett's TD strikes while Tariq Miller (5-64) had the other.
The Pioneer defense, which was led by Brandon Penn's nine tackles along with Tank Gant's eight stops including 1.5 for loss, allowed 293 yards rushing on 43 carries last week. GSU linebackers Sean Scott and Braden Boggs had six stops apiece.
"Unfortunately they've seen us play Emory & Henry. We won't have a chance to see them," said coach Kellar. "They are a very formidable foe. They are a PSAC team. They were much improved a year ago. This is going to be a very good football team.
"Big running back. The quarterback is returning. Big O-line. You look at the two-deep, they are all 6-3, 6-4, 6-6, 6-5. They are a big offensive line and a really big tight end. Their head coach was the offensive coordinator a year ago."
Coach Kellar knows his team needs to fine tune the little things, execute better and not "shoot ourselves in the foot. It's going to be a challenge for us. What we really got to do is our team has played a game.
"They've got to see 'OK, this is what a game feels like and we're a little sore from it and this is what it takes to win a game or sustain it for four quarters.' That's been our main focus for this week."
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com