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Braves roll to Wheeling, looking to build off Frostburg win

chris stiles, the robesonian, lumberton, n.c.
·4 min read

Oct. 8—WHEELING, W.Va. — Last week's 10-9 win over Frostburg State gave The University of North Carolina at Pembroke football program something to build on.

The Braves will now look to get back to .500 overall, and earn a winning record in conference play, as they travel to West Virginia to face Wheeling at noon Saturday.

"This week we've talked a lot about momentum, and to be able to win a game like we did last week gives us great confidence to know that we can play against good teams, and know that if we go in there and play our best we can get a good result," UNCP coach Shane Richardson said.

Wheeling (4-1, 3-1 Mountain East Conference), in its fifth season as a program, is tied for the MEC lead with Concord and Notre Dame (Ohio), which gave the Cardinals their only loss on Sept. 10. Wheeling won 37-0 last week at last-place West Virginia Wesleyan.

"They're very consistent, they play with a consistent style and they know what they want to do. I think they're very solid in all three phases of the game," Richardson said. "They like to run the ball; I think they're leading the league in rushing right now, and so we've got to definitely be ready for that and I think that's definitely going to be a key to the game for sure."

After struggling to run the ball in three of its first four games this season, UNCP (2-3, 1-3 MEC) outrushed Frostburg State 193-84 in last Thursday's game, having success with both its rush offense and rush defense. Now the Braves face another strong defense; Wheeling has the third-best rush defense nationally in Division II, holding opponents to 57.8 yards per game.

"I think what it did last week was it gave us confidence to know that we can get back to (that)," Richardson said. "Obviously against West Virginia Wesleyan we were able to do a lot of really good things with the run game, and then we kind of hit a little bit of a wall. Getting back to that against a really good defense gave us a lot of confidence up front."

Wheeling, though, ranks second-worst in the MEC in pass defense (238.6 yards per game), perhaps giving senior quarterback Josh Jones (930 passing yards, five touchdowns, four interceptions) a chance to shine.

"What we've got to do is we've got to continue to protect the quarterback, and we've done a better job of that here in the last couple of weeks," Richardson said. "We've got to make sure we balance the offense so that we're not too one-dimensional in the pass game."

Linebackers Jayvon Johnson (25 tackles) and Jason Simon (23 tackles, one interception), defensive end Caleb Grant (18 tackles, 5.0 tackles for loss, 3.0 sacks) and defensive back Kelvin Bazemore (three interceptions) will be players to watch on the Cardinals defense.

Offensively, Wheeling rushes for an MEC-best 224.6 yards per game, the 16th most nationally, led by backs Sy Alli IV (528 rushing/ yards, seven touchdowns) and Elijah Young (483 rushing yards, four touchdowns). The receiving corps is led by Lowell Patron (372 receiving yards, two touchdowns) and Chris Canaday (136 receiving yards, three touchdowns), as it catches passes from quarterback Javon Davis (941 passing yards, seven touchdowns, six interceptions).

"I think we've got to be really sound up front. They've got a pretty stout offensive line," Richardson said. "I think their quarterback is really savvy and quick and he can do some things with his legs and with his arm, and just creating plays, he does a really good job of that. And their running backs, they've got everything they need for a complete rushing game there, and they're going to throw the deep pass on occasion and try to sneak one up on you, and they're going to make sure that they're keeping you honest."

The Braves intercepted the Cardinals four times in last year's 34-28 win in Pembroke, the only previous meeting between the programs.

UNCP is 2-0 this season at home and 0-3 on the road, and will look to change that trend as it faces the Cardinals Saturday.

"One of our themes is good teams are able to go in and win in a different environment and take the challenge of traveling, and you've got to put all the distractions behind you to win the game," Richardson said. "That's what we have not been able to do this year so we've got to prove that this week."

Chris Stiles can be reached at 910-816-1977 or by email at cstiles@robesonian.com. You can follow him on Twitter at @StilesOnSports.