BUCKHANNON – The 2015 debut of the West Virginia Wesleyan football team was spoiled by the Shepherd Rams Saturday afternoon at Ross Field as Shepherd shutout the Bobcats by a 43-0 score.
Wesleyan had trouble moving the ball against a big and quick Shepherd defense, being limited to just 81 yards of total offense.
The rushing game mustered just 24 yards and the quarterback combination of Luke Casey and Tyler Bolen completed just seven of 23 passes for 57 yards.
"We were dominated up front," remarked Wesleyan head coach George Shehl. "Pretty much from the start of the game. I will have to watch the film to see what changes need to be made on the offensive side of the ball."
Wesleyan did score on a 62-yard catch-and-run when Bolen connected with Eric Lewis early in the fourth-quarter, but the play was wiped out due to a holding call against the Bobcats.
Wesleyan trailed late in the first half by only a 10-0 score, but Shepherd's Angelo Jean-Louis made a spectacular catch in the back of the end zone from quarterback Jeff Ziemba with 16 seconds remaining in the second quarter.
That gave Shepherd a 17-0 lead and the momentum for the rest of the game.
The Rams scored five times in the second half putting together three touchdowns and two field goals.
"The result is the same as the last two years but this one had a different feel to it," Shehl remarked. "Defensively, we went toe-to-toe with them for two quarters, but they simply wore us down in the second half. But we were holding our own in the first half."
Correll Mack paced the Wesleyan defense with eight tackles while Cody Goode made five tackles including recording the lone sack for the Bobcats.
"There are some positives to take from the game," Shehl concluded. "I thought we played a disciplined game for the opener. Now we have just a few days to get ready for our next opponent."
Wesleyan will travel to Glenville State this Thursday for a 7 p.m. contest with the Pioneers.
Glenville State defeated Urbana on the road today by a 49-0 score.
Photo: Kevin Pharaon puts a punishing hit on Shepherd quarterback Jeff Ziemba.
