Heading into Saturday's game, West Virginia State knew how dangerous a weapon it would be facing in West Virginia Wesleyan running back Michael Anderson.
And it didn't take long for Anderson to show just why, as the senior ran for 155 yards and accounted for four of the Bobcats' five touchdowns in a 35-14 win over the Yellow Jackets Saturday afternoon at Lakin Field in Institute.
"What impressed me about him is we couldn't get a square shot on him," West Virginia State coach Jon Anderson said. "He always finds a way to get those tough yards and not letting people get him. I think he's one of the best in the league and he showed it."
The win was the first for West Virginia Wesleyan (1-2) under first-year head coach Del Smith, who believes the victory could be a sign of more positive things to come for the Bobcats after falling in a close contest against Glenville State a week ago.
He was encouraged with the way his team was able to rally and bounce back with a strong showing on Saturday.
"It's big for us as a program to get a win early in the year," Smith said. "We've got guys who are believing what we've told them for the last seven months and it's great to play like this today."
Michael Anderson, who entered the game as the leading rusher in the Mountain East Conference, came out strong in the first half as he helped the Bobcats get out to a 14-0 lead with two touchdown runs.
But it wasn't just Anderson who was forcing the Yellow Jackets (1-2) to struggle at times - some of the issues came from self-inflicted mistakes that came back to haunt West Virginia State early in the game.
Wesleyan successfully converted two fourth-down conversions that led to touchdowns, including a fourth-and-12 conversion that allowed the drive to continue and set up a 4-yard touchdown pass from Ryan Deal to Zach Schademan that extended the lead to 21-7.
"Obviously today it was pretty tough to bounce back from," Jon Anderson said. "Those kind of things added up to us being in a hole and being in the situation we were in. We've got to be better, I've got to coach the guys better so we can get off the field on fourth down or not fumble in the red zone or have a bad snap. That's basic football."
The Bobcats wasted no time added to their lead just three plays into the second half when Michael Anderson patiently waited for his blockers to open up a hole and took off 41 yards through the West Virginia State defense for his third rushing TD of the game. The senior added a receiving touchdown at the end of the quarter.
Austin Hensley was able to get West Virginia State on the scoreboard one more time early in the fourth quarter. The redshirt sophomore, who threw for 265 yards and a pair of scores last week in place of the injured Matt Kinnick, connected with Trevond Reese for a 6-yard touchdown to cut it to 35-14 to cap the scoring.
Reese led WVSU with 114 yards on six catches while Akil Washington had nine catches for 82 yards and a touchdown.
Deal finished with 170 passing yards on 11-of-16 passing with two scores. Defensively, Wesleyan was able to make several plays that halted West Virginia State's momentum. The Bobcats sacked Hensley four times, recovered a fumble and defensive back Jabari Weems had two interceptions - one of which came as the Yellow Jackets were driving down the field late in the first half.
West Virginia State won't have much time to dwell on the loss, as it will take on the University of Charleston on Thursday night.
"The things we did today are correctable, but we need to get it fixed," Jon Anderson said. "Our players will be ready to move on and ready for the next game because it's coming in a hurry."
Contact Michael Carvelli at 304-348-4810 or michael.carvelli@wvgazettemail.com. Follow him on Twitter @carvelli3.