Glenville, WV -- West Virginia Wesleyan Football struggled on both sides of the ball on Saturday in Glenville, losing 42-7. The Pioneers were able to even up the historic series between these two rivals, it now sits at 34-34-2. It was a sunny Saturday afternoon in the Mountain State, and Glenville State's offense looked just as bright throughout the game. They took an 18-0 lead into the half, and then followed that up with a 24-7 advantage in the final 30 minutes.

This is the third loss in a row for Wesleyan, and it will be more difficult to handle because it was a rival Glenville State squad that handed it to them. The Bobcats fall to 1-5 in the Mountain East Conference, and sit in ninth place in front of Concord and Wheeling. 

Saturday brought an important victory for Glenville State, they are back to .500 in MEC play and sit in a tie for 6th place with Charleston. Additionally, they move to 4-3 on the season, which is one win away from their total last year. This is shaping up to be the best season for the Pioneers since their 7-win campaign in 2015. 

The bright spot on offense for the Bobcats on Saturday was Redshirt Freshman RB Kord Jenkins. After missing last weeks game against Frostburg, Jenkins came out and put up 74 yards on the Pioneers and averaged almost 5 yards a carry. This was his second highest rushing total of the season, and he also added 2 catches for 23 yards in the passing game. Freshman WR Chelo Teneval made the most of his 2 catches on Saturday, hauling in the lone Bobcats TD of the day on a 4-yarder from QB Jarrett Northrop early in the 3rd Quarter. Sophomore S John Merica is the leader on defense, and he came into the game tops in the MEC in solo tackles. He wrestled down six Pioneers by himself Saturday, and was the assisting tackler on six more, giving him a total of 12 tackles on the day. Sophomore DB Deontre Logan also had a day in his own right, collecting a career-high 10 tackles, and forcing a fumble that he recovered himself. 

There were a lot of offensive stars for Glenville State in this one, none brighter than Sophomore QB Tim Heltzel. He put together one of his best games in 2019, orchestrating the offense to the tune of 301 yards and 2 TD's. Of those touchdowns was the game's most exciting play, an 80 yard TD pass to Junior Javon Butler. Butler was one of two Pioneer receivers to total over 100 yards on the day, the other being Senior WR and Glenville native Austin Ratcliff, who had season high totals with 9 receptions, and 139 yards, also adding a TD as well. Senior RB Mario Pender was the game's leading rusher on Saturday, putting together 107 yards and a TD on just 13 carries. Defensively, Junior D' Andre Brown added 2.5 sacks from a secondary position, and the Pioneers got interceptions from Samuel Thomas, Dom Cizauskus, Hardee Pace, and Austin Storey.

The Bobcats return home next Saturday for a game against 3rd place West Virginia State, who suffered a tough last-second loss to Urbana on Saturday. Next Saturday will also be Military Appreciation Day at Cebe Ross Field in Buckhannon.

Next on the docket for the Pioneers is a road battle with Charleston. They will travel down I-79 to take on a Charleston team that fell flat in the MEC Thursday Night Game against at Frostburg this week. Both teams will be tied for 6th place in the conference, this game can determine which direction both team's seasons go from here.