Glenville State falls to Charleston, 27-7
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CHARLESTON – Three-time defending Mountain East Conference champion Charleston dominated the time of possession and limited Glenville State to just four first-half first downs en route to turning a 13-7 intermission advantage into a 27-7 victory here Saturday afternoon at Laidley Field.
First-year GSU head coach Jake Casteel’s defense had a pair of goal-line stands in the opening quarter as UC pushed ahead 6-0 on a pair of Zachary Alvarez field goals from 23 and 39 yards out.
Glenville State, which ran nine plays in the first and possessed the ball for just 8:24 of the opening half, used a 61-yard interception return by Omar Diallo on a Camden Reese throw to set up shop at the UC 10. After gains of 6 and 3 yards, Jamir Fox punched it in from the 1 and it was 7-6 G-men at the 11:46 mark following Brody Layman’s extra point.
Mike Tesch’s Golden Eagles immediately responded to take the lead for good. Reese hooked up with Devin Hobbs for a 44-yard completion to get the ball into the red zone at the 4. Zachariah Williams bulled in from the 1 on third down after two previous carries to make it 13-7 with 7:15 left in the half.
The Pioneers (1-3, 0-1) were unable to answer despite having it first-and-10 at the UC 40 after Bowers hit Caden Harris for 11 yards and Joziah Gonzalez for 12 yards along with getting a pass interference flag.
A Dashawn Webster sack of Reese forced the Golden Eagles to punt on their ensuing possession near the end of the half.
Charleston (2-3, 2-0) extended its lead to 20-7 after taking the second half kickoff to paydirt. Reese ripped off a 65-yard run and then hit Williams for a 7-yard scoring strike.
The Golden Eagles capped the scoring at 8:15 of the fourth via a Jaylen Butera 9-yard run.
Following the six-pointer, Bowers hooked up with Nathan Lhotsky on four consecutive pass plays covering 2, 8, 19 and 38 yards, respectively, to get the G-men into the red zone, but four straight rushes by Zavione Wood from the 16 resulted in a turnover on downs after Andrew Chamblee tackled the Pioneer following a yard gain on a fourth-and-2 snap from the 7.
UC, which held a near 38-22 minute advantage in time of possession, ran 62 times for 213 yards while limiting GSU to 36 yards on 28 attempts.
Reese finished with a game-high 111 yards rushing and hit 9 of 16 for 142 yards.
Bowers, a Morgantown High grad who was making his first start, completed 12 of 27 passes for 148 yards and was picked off by Nesta Owens.
Charleston now has a week off before welcoming in Wheeling for a noon kick on Saturday, Oct. 10.
The Pioneers, who got eight tackles apiece from Knowel Smith and Maddox Gillespie, now head out for a 2 p.m. showdown next Saturday with rival Fairmont State at Duvall-Rosier Field in the Battle For The Bit.
At UC Stadium/Laidley Field
Charleston 27, Glenville St. 7
GSU (1-3, 0-1 MEC) 0 7 0 0 – 7
UC (2-3, 2-0 MEC) 6 7 7 7 – 27
UC: Zachary Alvarez 23 field goal 5:55, 1st
UC: Alvarez 39 field goal 1:34, 1st
GSU: Jamir Fox 1 run (Brody Layman kick) 11:46, 2nd
UC: Zachariah Williams 1 run (Alvarez kick) 7:15, 2nd
UC: Williams 7 pass from Camden Reese (Alvarez kick) 12:44, 3rd
UC: Jaylen Butera 9 run (Alvarez kick) 8:15, 4th
Team stats
GSU: First downs: 12; Rushes-yards: 28-36; Passing yards: 148; Total yards: 184; Passing: 12-27-1; Punts-average: 8-32.6; Fumbles-lost: 0-0; Penalties-yards: 6-51
UC: First downs: 20; Rushes-yards: 62-213; Passing yards: 142; Total yards: 355; Passing: 9-16-1; Punts-average: 6-34.2; Fumbles-lost: 0-0; Penalties-yards: 9-74
Individual stats
GSU: Rushing: Jamir Fox 13-19, Zavione Wood 8-17, Grayland Holland 2-4, Amir Simmons 3-3, Maddox Bowers 1-1, Caden Harris 1-(-5); Passing: Bowers 12-27-1, 148 yards; Receiving: Harris 2-23, Landon Frey 1-14, Kyree Bunny 1-13, Joziah Gonzalez 1-12, Nathan Lhotsky 4-67, Wood 2-6, Simmons 1-13
UC: Rushing: Jamal Wallace 17-43, Camden Reese 13-111, Kalen Washington 11-25, Zachariah Williams 11-20, Joshua Donald 5-16, Jaylen Butera 4-0, Caleb Barringer 1-(-2); Passing: Reese 9-16-1, 142 yards; Receiving: Devin Hobbs 2-49, Barringer 3-37, Justice Williams 1-36, Cory Johnson 1-15, Z. Williams 1-7, Wesley Sweeney 1-(-2)
Next games: Glenville State at Fairmont State, 2 p.m. Saturday; Wheeling at Charleston, noon on Saturday, Oct. 10.