Glenville State looks to snap six-game losing streak
Trending
GLENVILLE -- The Yellow Jackets of West Virginia State head coach John Pennington will look to send Glenville State to a seventh straight loss when the two Mountain East Conference members collide at 1 p.m. Saturday inside Morris Stadium.
WVSU (3-5, 1-4), winners of two straight, will try and keep what’s been a negative game script season for first-year Pioneers (1-7, 0-5) head man Jake Casteel going.
JD Sherrod has surpassed 300 yards passing each of the past two weeks, which included going 26 of 47 for 323 stripes with three touchdowns during last Saturday’s 44-22 homecoming setback to West Liberty.
“It’s hard to win games when you can’t run the ball and then we have not done a good enough job stopping the run defensively like we did early in the year,” admitted Casteel, who watched Jamir Fox return last week for 10 carries and 39 yards, on his weekly GoMart coaches show.
“It would be huge to get that going early and I think that would be a huge lift to our team, our coaching staff, just to OK ‘let’s enforce our will a little bit, get the run game going’ because we do have talented backs. Our O-line plays really, really hard. We just haven’t really found our footing consistently. Defensively, we got to be able to start it early.”
WVSU has been led in the backfield by Devin Cox, who has seven touchdowns and more than 600 ground yards.
Although the Jackets have used a trio of quarterbacks, Joe Dailey has completed 57 of 112 attempts for 856 yards with 14 touchdowns and four picks. Malik Baker (38-606-10) and Amare Ary (21-368-4) have been the top targets.
“We’ve continued to throw the ball well over the last three, four games, and that’s a credit to JD,” Casteel said. “JD played really, really tough. Took some hits.
“We’re using him in the run game. He keeps getting back up, even though sometimes I’m worried he may not. He keeps fighting, keeps playing and he’s done a really good job.”
A year ago, W.Va. State turned a 14-7 halftime lead into a 52-28 victory.
“Offensively, Matt Cavallaro, who I’ve known for a long time, when he was at West Virginia I was a GA, so I’ve known him for years now,” Casteel added. “He’s a good guy and does a really, really good job on offense. They’re explosive. They’ve recruited really well and coach Pennington’s got his hand in that.
“Really, really good running back, talented receiver core and they’re creative with what they do to get those guys the ball. All three quarterbacks have played at points and I think some guys have gotten banged up, but they can all run. They used them in the run game. They’re hard to prepare for.”
Despite the tough season to date, Casteel has been impressed with the resolve of his roster and their continued fight.
“We do show flashes at times and it just hasn’t been consistent enough to finish a game, to put somebody to bed,” said the coach. “Just finding a way to continue to fight, finish. We’re a young team and we’re banged up right now. We got a lot of guys playing for the first time that to be totally honest we probably didn’t expect to play this year.
“There’s only one option and that’s to keep going and keep playing your tail off, coaching your tail off on Saturdays and throughout the week. I’m not going to sit here and lie and say it’s a lot of fun. It’s not fun at all. We’ve just got to find a way to pull a win out. We just go to come out faster and play better early and not spot teams, you know, 23 points in a quarter.”
Contact Jay Bennett at jbennett@newsandsentinel.com