WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. - The Glenville State Football team fell to West Liberty this afternoon 48-40 on the road. There was over 900 yards of total offense between the Pioneers and Hilltoppers in today's MEC clash.
1st Quarter
The Hilltoppers wasted no time going into their bag of tricks, calling a double pass that allowed receiver Chris Charles to find Rashawn Harvey for an 82-yard touchdown connection on the first play from scrimmage. GSU went three and out on their first drive of the game, followed up by another West Liberty score on a 39-yard touchdown pass from Rudy Garcia to Chris Charles down the sideline.
After another drive that ended in a punt for the Pioneers, the defense forced WLU to punt for the first time. A few drives later, the Hilltoppers found the back of the endzone once again, making it a 21-0 game. Prior to the quarter ending, GSU put together a strong drive but couldn't punch it in, settling for a field goal.
2nd Quarter
In West Liberty's first drive of the new quarter, they extended the lead to 28-3 on a 37-yard touchdown pass from Garcia to Charles. On the ensuing drive, the Pioneers punt would be blocked and almost returned for a touchdown, stopping it at the three-yard line. Three plays later, WLU powered it past the goal line, extending their lead to 35-3.
The Pioneers were finally able to score a touchdown of their own when Anthony Garrett found Tariq Miller down the seam for 48 yards. West Lib took a chunk of clock off on the next possession, ending the drive with a field goal. Another Hilltopper field goal before the end of the half made it a 41-10 game going into the locker room.
Stats At The Half
WLU had 344 yards of total offense in the opening half compared to the Pioneers 161 yards. In the first quarter alone, the Hilltoppers had 199 passing yards.
3rd Quarter
The 3rd Quarter saw slow starts by both teams with two punts by each team. Glenville State scored the first points of the 2nd Half as Saeed Galloway manned the goal line offense with a two-yard TD run. GSU would fail the two-point attempt. At the end of the quarter, the Pioneers trailed 41-16.
4th Quarter
In the final quarter, WLU opened up with a touchdown to make it 48-16 with just 11:29 remaining. On the following drive, Alfred Menjor had back-to-back solid runs with the second run ending in the endzone. Brody Layman recovered his own onside kick on the kickoff to give the Pioneers the ball back. On the first play of the drive, Garrett found Zion Barnette for a 54-yard touchdown, trimming the deficit to 48-30.
Knocking on the door of another touchdown, West Liberty stuffed the Pioneers at the goal line and retook possession with around three minutes left. The Hilltoppers almost gave GSU those points back on a fumble in the endzone but Rudy Garcia was able to fall back on the ball after fumbling, only costing the team two points on the safety. A Saeed Galloway one-yard TD run and two-point conversion trimmed it to a one-score game at 48-40. West Liberty was able to finish the game off on their next drive after converting a third down.
The Final Stats
Anthony Garrett completed 23 passes for 351 yards, two touchdowns and one interception. On the ground, Alfred Menjor had 82 rushing yards and a touchdown on 13 carries. Saeed Galloway had three rushes, scoring on two of those three rushes. The Pioneers had two 100+ yard receivers and almost a third as Orion Bonner led the team with 106 yards on five receptions. Zion Barnette had six catches for 104 yards and one TD. Tariq Miller added 94 receiving yards on six catches while also having a touchdown.
Seth Arnold racked up 15 tackles and 1.5 TFL to lead the defense. Brogan Brown and Steve Bradshaw finished with eight tackles each. De Vante Roberson recorded four tackles and had an interception.
Rudy Garcia threw for 245 yards with three touchdowns and one interception. Khadeem Richards led the rushing attack with 93 yards and one touchdown on 20 carries. Rashawn Harvey (5 REC, 116 YDS and 1 TD), Ben Turner (4 REC, 90 YDS and 1 TD) and Chris Charles (5 REC, 89 YDS and 2 TD) all had good days for the receiving core. Nolan Shimp was active all day for the defense, totaling 15 tackles, 2.0 TFL and one pass breakup.
Up Next For The Pioneers
The Pioneers host Wheeling next Saturday inside Morris Stadium for homecoming at 1:30 p.m.
