CHARLESTON, W.Va. -- A second half surge by Fairmont State to erase a 24-point margin fell just short on Saturday afternoon at Laidley Field, as the Golden Eagles used a defensive stand late in the game to wrap up the 38-31 victory.
 
The win is Charleston's seventh in a row at home as the Golden Eagles improve to 6-1 both overall and in the Mountain East Conference. Fairmont's three-game winning-streak was halted as the Falcons slip to 3-3 both overall and in the league.
 
Fairmont State racked up 519 yards of total offense and held nearly a six-minute advantage in time of possession in the game. FSU was also 9-of-17 on third downs and scored 17 points off three Charleston turnovers. UC racked up 467 yards of total offense.
 
After Charleston built a 31-7 lead following a touchdown on its opening possession of the second half, the Falcons scored 17 points in the span of 13:19 to cut the UC advantage to just seven early in the fourth.
 
The first FSU score of the third quarter came at the 6:23 mark when Cooper Hibbs found Brandon Boyd for the 18-yard touchdown strike.
 
With UC still leading 31-14 at the start of the fourth Hibbs found Fabian Guerra from 13 yards away to cap a seven-play, 87-yard drive. The drive took just 1:53 for the Falcons to move the ball 87 yards. On the FSU kickoff following the score, Chaleston coughed up the ball and Fairmont's DC Banks recovered at the UC 18 to give the Falcons the ball inside the red-zone.
 
The drive ended with a 32-yard field goal by Johnny Dearstine to cut the Charleston margin to just seven with 13:43 to play. However, the Golden Eagles responded just two and a half minutes later with a 25-yard touchdown pass from Mason Olszewski to Rashawn Dickerson.
 
Austin White scored his second receiving touchdown of the game on a 13-yard pass from Hibbs to cap a five-play, 76-yard drive and cut the Charleston lead back to seven, 38-31, with 9:05 remaining in the game. White also scored the first touchdown of the game for the Falcons in the opening quarter when he caught a seven-yard screen pass from Hibbs to get FSU on the board.
 
After the teams traded punts and FSU held Charleston for a second time late in the fourth quarter, the Falcons were able to drive down inside the UC red zone late in the game. On a 1^st-and-10 play for FSU from the UC 17, James King came up with a timely sack of Hibbs to force FSU into a loss of 11 yards. Following the sack, UC forced three incompletions to get the game-winning stop that wrapped up the 38-31 victory.
 
The Falcons were led by a season-high passing performance from Hibbs, completing 27-of-44 passes for 378 yards and four touchdowns. This marks the third-career four touchdown game for Hibbs and first of the 2015 season. FSU had a pair of 100-yard receivers in the game, led by LaChristopher Lee with nine catches for 163 yards. Guerra also recorded 109 yard on nine catches and a score through the air for FSU. In addition, Brandon Boyd racked up 61 yard receiving on three catches and scored a touchdown for the Falcon passing attack. White led FSU with 76 yards on 16 rushing attempts in the win.
 
Defensively, the Falcons were led by Marcus Porter with nine total tackles, including eight solo and a pair of interceptions. Quincy Redmon also chipped in six total tackles, including 3.5 for a loss.
 
Charleston's starting quarterback, Jeremy Johnson, missed the game this afternoon and forced Mason Olszewski into action at QB for the Golden Eagles. Olszewski completed 14-of-23 passes for 263 yards and a touchdown. He also threw a pair of interceptions.
 
Joey Augustin led all UC receivers with four catches for 79 yards on the afternoon. Dickerson chipped in 67 yards on five receptions and hauled in a score. Marvin Elam led the UC ground attack with 106 yards on 14 carries and scored two touchdowns.

Defensively, Johnathan Pruden tallied 10 solo tackles to lead Charleston in the victory.
 
FSU will host UVa-Wise for homecoming next Saturday starting at 2 p.m. at Duvall-Rosier Field.