GLENVILLE, W.Va. -- Fairmont State used a school record six field goals off the foot of senior placekicker Sam Keil to pick up a hard-fought 18-15 overtime victory over Glenville State in the 2017 version of the "Battle for the Bit," on Saturday afternoon at Morris Field in Glenville.
 
The victory snaps a two-game skid and allows Fairmont State to improve to 5-3 overall, including 5-2 in Mountain East Conference play. Glenville State falls to 3-5 overall (2-5 MEC).
 
Keil finished the afternoon going 6-for-7 on field goal attempts, including a career-long 46-yarder at the 6:09 mark of the second quarter.
 
Coming into the game, the school record for field goals in a single-game was four by Nathan White against Shepherd back in 2000. Keil hit his school record fifth field goal of the game at the 13:33 mark of the fourth quarter to give the Falcons a 15-9 advantage.
 
Glenville State kicker Kelvin Flores added a pair of fourth-quarter field goals from 21- and 34-yards away to knot the score and send the game into overtime, the first overtime game for Fairmont State since 2013.
 
Fairmont State, who had lost its last seven overtime games, won the toss in overtime and elected to play defense first. The FSU defense allowed Glenville to gain just one yard on a three-and-out possession to open overtime – leaving the Pioneers to settle for a 41-yard field goal attempt by Flores. However, the kick fell short and FSU took over needing just one more field goal to pick up the win.
 
Following three rushing attempts to get the ball down to the GSC 17-yard line; Keil drilled his sixth field goal of the day, from 34-yards out, to allow Fairmont State to retain the 'bit' for the fourth-consecutive year.
 
Takwan Crews-Naylor turned in a solid performance in his first start of the season, completing 19-of-33 pass attempts for 178 yards in the victory. Laurence King was on the receiving end of six of those passes – for 61 yards.
 
The FSU ground attack struggled on the afternoon, totaling just 71 yards on 39 carries.
 
Marcus Porter and Naiquan Thomas racked up seven tackles apiece to lead the Fairmont State defense on the afternoon.  Stephen Turner also chipped in six stops and Fairmont's only forced turnover of the day – a 17-yard interception return in the third quarter.
 
Abu Kai Kai and John Nesbit each recording sacks for the FSU defense.
 
Glenville State quarterback Jaylen McNair finished the afternoon completing 16-of-30 pass attempts for 202 yards and an interception. Austin Ratliff led all GSC receivers with five catches for 67 yards.
 
Glenville's Dominique Gibson scored the only touchdown of the day for either team, plowing into the end zone from four yards out early in the second quarter.
 
Andre Dalton led the Pioneer defense with 12 solo stops on the afternoon.
 
Glenville State held a slight edge in total offense (306-249), despite Fairmont State possessing the ball for over 34 minutes.
 
The Falcons will return home next Saturday for a 4 p.m. MEC matchup with West Virginia State at Duvall-Rosier Field.