Glenville State University and Parkersburg South graduate Brandon Penn, who is tied for fourth in Division II in solo tackles and tied for 22nd in total tackles, will celebrate senior day on Saturday at Erickson All-Sports Facility. (Photo by Jay W. Bennett)

GLENVILLE — It’s a battle of third place Mountain East Conference programs come 1 p.m. Saturday at Parkersburg South’s Erickson All-Sports Facility when Wheeling University invades for senior day against host Glenville State University.

The Pioneers (5-4, 4-2) of head coach Mike Kellar watched their four-game winning streak get snapped following last week’s 52-28 setback at West Virginia State.

“Very disheartening,” admitted the coach on his weekly show. “Talked to a few of the players and asked them if their bodies were sore and they said that their hearts were sore. It was a bad day to have a bad day is what I’ve been telling everyone. I got to take my hat off to West Virginia State. I thought they played a really clean ballgame. They were very physical and it just wasn’t our day.

“I think that if we play them 10 times, we win more than our share, but it’s hard to say when you get beat like that. I think everyone had in their mind that we were going for the conference and all those different things and you really got to keep your focus on what’s important and that’s just basically beating the guy in front of you.”

The Cardinals (5-4, 4-2) of head man Zac Bruney, who are 3-1 on the road, won 24-20 at W.Va. State three weeks ago before falling at home, 31-13, a week ago Saturday to Frostburg State.

Wheeling got back on the winning track thanks to a 26-21 senior day victory versus Concord, which fell behind 13-0, scored the next 14 points and added the final six-pointer with 15 seconds remaining.

Cardinal kicker Connor Fitzpatrick drilled four field goals in a win that featured a Tazion McQueen scoop-and-score.

Steven Mitchell, who leads the ground attack with 512 rushing yards, is averaging 4.1 yards per carry and scored his fifth touchdown on the ground last week.

“They are a good football team. Really good defensive football team. They got a veteran quarterback (Ade Olanegan),” added coach Kellar. “It seems like he’s been their quarterback every year I’ve been here. They’ve played two kids this year. He got hurt. The backup (Landon Lutz) came in and did a really good job for them and now they got the starter back.

“They run the ball well. They are really well coached on both sides of the ball. It’s going to be a tough task. I think they got three of the top six leading tackles in the league on their defense. I’m sure they got a little life seeing us lose to West Virginia State, but really none of that matters. It’s about our kids coming out and doing what they need to do.”

Coach Kellar said the most difficult aspect of dealing with Olanegan is his acumen.

“He keeps plays alive. He’s a veteran guy. He knows what they want to do offensively,” Kellar said. “When things break down he can move around a little bit and he always seems to be able to find a back or find a tight end or a receiver uncovered. Just got a lot of poise out there.”

Saturday’s game will mark the return of former Patriot Brandon Penn, who played on natural grass at the EASF when he was named the JR House Award winner and Class AAA all-state first team captain in 2019.

Penn currently ranks fourth in solo tackles for Division II and is tied for 22nd with 85 total stops, but Wheeling linebacker Jefferson Bretanys-Desca leads the MEC in total tackles with 91, which puts the Cardinal in a tie for 13th nationally. Penn is also tied for first in the country with four blocked kicks.

“I want those seniors to go out with a win,” Kellar said. “It’s been a good group. A couple of them came before COVID. I was teasing one of them yesterday (Tuesday). I said ‘no one had ever heard of the term COVID while we recruited you’ so it’s an important day for those guys. We’ve got to come off the bus. We got to be a physical, we’ve been a physical football team all year long.

“We got to continue to do that. West Virginia State, you know, really tested us with that a little bit, but we got to get off the mat. I tell them it feels bad with the loss and how we played, and everyone in the program is hurting, but that can’t lead to this week. We celebrate the wins for 24 hours. We sulk in our sorrows for 24 hours.”

After falling behind last week the Pioneers were forced to shift from the rushing attack led by Jeremiah King to the passing game with signal-caller Anthony Garrett.

“We can’t afford to be one dimensional whether it’s all run or all pass,” added the coach. “Our balance is what gives us a decent chance of moving the football.”

Following the tough loss, which Kellar admitted the Jackets had a few breaks along the way, it’s on to the next one for the G-men.

“You got to respect football. You got to finish the season strong,” Kellar stressed. “Obviously you are goal oriented and you want to win the league and you want to go to the playoffs and we want to do all those things, but at the end of the day it really is a one week season.

“Coaches say those things all the time for a reason. We don’t get to be like basketball and baseball. We don’t get to practice once then play two or three games and then practice once. We practice year around for 11 Saturdays so we got to treat each one of those Saturdays as its own entity.”

Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com