FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- Cooper Hibbs found Brandon Boyd for a 20-yard touchdown midway through the fourth quarter to lift Fairmont State past West Virginia Wesleyan, 31-27, on Thursday night at Duvall-Rosier Field to give the Falcons their third-straight victory.
 
The teams combined for 1,059 yards of total offense, including 849 yards passing on the night. WVWC held a 555-504 advantage in total offense in the game. The teams also combined for 45 first downs and neither team committed a turnover.
 
After Fairmont State scored on its first four possessions and opened up a 24-7 lead after just one quarter of play, Wesleyan scored 20 unanswered-points and held a 27-24 lead heading into the fourth quarter.
 
After Johnny Dearstine connected on a 35-yard field goal on the opening drive of the game, Devon Garnett hauled in a 70-yard touchdown on the second FSU possession to put the Falcons ahead 10-0 just over six minutes into the game.
 
Less than two minutes later, Cooper Hibbs took-off on a keeper play and crossed the goal-line to extend the FSU lead to 17-0 midway through the first quarter.
 
The Bobcats finally stopped the bleeding late in the opening quarter when Ryan Deal found Marcus Smith in the end zone for the one-yard touchdown pass. However, it didn't take the Falcons long to respond as Fabian Guerra hauled in a 33-yard strike from Hibbs with just 13 ticks left in the open quarter.
 
Wesleyan then scored three unanswered touchdowns from 75, 85 and 27 yards, respectively, to give the 'Cats a three-point advantage before Boyd came up with the game-winning touchdown in the fourth.
 
Hibbs led the Falcons, going 20-of-31 for 376 yards and a trio of touchdown passes through the air. Guerra was on the receiving end of nine passes for 168 yards and a score. Devon Garnett (75) and Boyd (71) also had big days in the receiving game for FSU. Running back Austin White just missed the century-mark with 94 yards on 21 carries to lead the Falcon rushing attack.
 
Deal recorded the second-best passing performance in Mountain East Conference history on Thursday night with 473 yards on 29-of-48 passing in the narrow loss. Deal also threw four touchdown passes and had a team-best 38 yards on the ground for the Bobcats.
 
Wesleyan also had a pair of 100-yard receiver in the game, led by Mike Anderson with seven catches for 169 yards and a score. De'Shawn Burgess tallied six catches for 117 yards and a touchdown. The Bobcats had four different players catch a touchdown pass.
 
Defensively, the Falcons were led by Jacob Jean-Charles and Quincy Redmon with seven tackles apiece. Redmon also added a sack and pass break-up in the victory. The Wesleyan defense was led by Mike Savage with seven tackles (four solo).
 
The Falcons (3-2, 3-2 MEC) will now travel to the University of Charleston next Saturday for a 1 p.m. kickoff at UC Stadium.