FAIRMONT, W.Va. -- Fairmont State rolled up 377 rushing yards and scored five rushing touchdowns in a 53-10 blowout victory over Wheeling University on Thursday night during the 2019 home opener at Duvall-Rosier Field.
The Falcons jumped out to a quick 14-0 lead early in the first quarter, led 28-7 at the end of the first quarter, and built their advantage to 45-10 by halftime and never looked back.
With the victory, Fairmont State moves to 1-1 both overall and in the Mountain East Conference. Wheeling Jesuit falls to 0-2 in its first season as a Division II program.
Fairmont State had a triple-threat at the running back position on Thursday night, led by
Tyree Randolph with 166 yards on 10 carries to go with a pair of rushing TDs.
Timothy Smith also added 101 yards on four carries while
Khalik Hamlin notched 74 yards on the ground. Both recorded a touchdown in the win.
Rakeem Darden added 23 yards on the ground and a score. In all four Fairmont State running backs crossed the goal line in the win.
Takwan Crews-Naylor completed seven passes for 185 yards and two touchdowns through the air.
Andre Hall caught two passes for 105 yards with one score, while
Javon Hayes added two receptions for 48 yards and one touchdown in the win. As a team, Fairmont State completed 10-of-15 pass attempts for 213 yards and two scores to complement their rushing attack.
Trevon Shorts had a team-high seven stops for Fairmont State. Senior
Chris White also had a big day at linebacker for the Falcons with seven stops to go with an interception and a pass break-up.
Ronnell Dennis Jr. and
Brandon Ruffin also picked off passes for the Fairmont State defense, and
D.J. Adediwura and
Randy Robinson each recovered fumbles.
Fairmont State won the turnover battled 5-2 on the evening.
Wheeling's Tucker Strachan finished the game 14-of-31 for 118 yards passing to go with one touchdown in the setback. Ryan LaFollette tallied eight catches for 68 yards while Sy Alli notched 64 yards on 11 carries to lead the ground game. Brandon Munoz had seven tackles (four solo, three assisted) and a sack to lead the Wheeling defense.
Fairmont State piled up 590 yards of total offense in the win, while holding Wheeling to 239 on the night. Just two weeks into the 2019 season the Falcons have 1,170 yards of total offense (averaging 585.0 per game).
The Falcons took a 7-0 lead on their second offensive snap when Crews-Naylor hooked up with
Javon Hayes on a 46-yard TD strike just 41 seconds into the game. Just over two minutes later Hamlin blasted over the goal line from the one-yard line to cap a 4-play, 66-yard drive.
Strachan connected with Jaquaun Davidson on a seven-yard TD pass to score the only touchdown of the game for the Cardinals at the 8:30 mark of the first. Just under three minutes later, Crews-Naylor found
Andre Hall down field for a 47-yard TD to put the Falcons in front 21-7.
After another stop for the Fairmont State defense, Tim Smith took a handoff from Crews-Naylor at the FSU 10-yard line and ended up in the endzone for a 90-yard TD run – a run that is tied for the fifth-longest in school history.
The teams traded field goals to open the second quarter, making Fairmont State's lead 31-10 at the 8:38 mark of the second. Late in the second,
Rakeem Darden scored on a five-year TD run, and Randolph scored from 22-yards out to give the Falcons a commanding 45-10 halftime advantage.
Randolph scored his second TD of the game at the midway point of the third quarter to provide the only score of the second half for either team.
Jeff Iweh ran in the two-point conversion to make the Fairmont State lead 53-10 – which later became the final.
Fairmont State will now have nine days to prepare for a marquee Mountain East Conference matchup at fourth-ranked Notre Dame College next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 12 p.m.
Note: Fairmont State kicker
Colin Harvath broke the Mountain East Conference record for consecutive made PATs after improving to 66-of-66 for his career after tonight's performance. The previous MEC record was held by Shepherd's Zach Wise (62) in 2017.
