BUCKHANNON – The West Virginia Wesleyan offense piled up 574 yards as they dominated UVa.-Wise by a 47-21 score today on 'Senior Day" at Ross Field in a Mountain East Conference contest.
Wesleyan raced out to a 34-0 lead before putting Uva.-Wise away by 26 points.
Quarterback Luke Casey threw for 317 yards and five touchdowns without an interception and also ran the ball 11 times for 65 yards and a score.
Tailback Michael Anderson added 146 yards on the ground and a score on 27 attempts.
Following a Caleb Baisden interception that gave Wesleyan the ball at the Uva.-Wise 28-yard line, it took one play for Casey to find a wide open Zach Schademan for a 28-yard touchdown pass.
Nick Banta's kick failed, but Wesleyan was up 6-0 with 5:43 remaining in the first quarter.
Casey found Schademan for a 13-yard scoring pass that capped a 95-yard, 13-play drive with 11:41 remaining in the second quarter.
Banta's kick was good as Wesleyan took a 13-0 lead.
Casey threw his third touchdown pass as he hit Jamale Myrick for a 38-yard score with 7:41 showing on the second-quarter clock.
Banta's kick was true as it gave Wesleyan a 20-0 lead.
With one second remaining on the first-half clock, Casey rolled to his right and found Ross Kim (pictured) open in the end zone for a one-yard scoring play. Banta's kick was good as Wesleyan went into the half up 27-0.
It took Wesleyan just 54 seconds to score in the third quarter when Anderson broke free over the left sideline and scampered 40 yards for the touchdown.
Banta was again good on his kick to treat Wesleyan to a 34-0 advantage.
UVa.-Wise scored the next 21 points to close the gap to 34-21 with 11:13 remaining in the game.
Wesleyan put an end to the UVa.-Wise momentum quickly as it took just two plays to respond the Cavaliers' scoring play as Stephen Rogalski hauled in a 67-yard pass as Wesleyan extended their lead to 20 at 41-21 following Banta's kick.
Casey capped off the scoring with a four-yard run with 6:32 left in the final quarter.
Casey found eight different receivers as Anthony Okray led all receivers with six catches for 62 yards.
Wesleyan held a huge advantage in time of possession as they owned the ball for 40:54 minutes to UVa.-Wise's 19:06 minutes.
Wesleyan improved to 2-7 overall and 2-7 in the MEC.
The eight seniors honored were Kim, Mike Derasmo, Correll Mack, Casey Sanders, Mike Savage, Dawson Shreiner, Desmond Sivels and Cody Warner.
They will wrap up their regular season next Saturday as they travel to Notre Dame for a noon-kick-off.
(Photo courtesy of Peter Galarneau Jr.)
