All Professional Pictures/Dale Sparks
15
0-1 , 0-0
38
Winner
1-0 , 0-0
0-1 , 0-0
15
38
Winner
| Workforce |
1st |
2nd |
third |
4th |
F |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
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0 | 7 | 0 | 8 | 15 |
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7 | 7 | 7 | 17 | 38 |
Sport Recap: Soccer | | John Antonik
Freshman Drew Allar handed for 325 yards and three touchdowns to steer seventh-ranked Penn State to a 38-15 victory over West Virginia tonight at sold-out Beaver Stadium.
A crowd of 110,747, fourth-largest in Beaver Stadium historical past, watched Allar full 21 of his 29 cross makes an attempt, 4 of these going to KeAndre Lambert-Smith for 123 yards and two touchdowns.
“We got here into tonight’s sport desirous to make Allar play effectively – and he did,” West Virginia coach Neal Brown mentioned afterward.
Penn State (1-0) outgained West Virginia 478-to-310, transformed 27 first downs to West Virginia’s 17 and averaged 7.4 yards per play in comparison with West Virginia’s 4.6. The Mountaineers outrushed the Lions 148 to 146 however had been simply 4 of 14 on their third-down conversions.
Whole performs (67 to 65) and time of possession (31:16 to twenty-eight:44) had been additionally within the Mountaineers’ favor.
“We got here into the sport desirous to be aggressive, go for it on third and fourth down and win time of possession, and if we transformed some extra of these, we add a pair extra minutes of possession time,” Brown mentioned.
After a West Virginia punt on the sport’s opening possession backed Penn State as much as its 5-yard line, PSU drew first blood on its fourth play when Allar flipped a cross down subject within the course of KeAndre Lambert-Smith. West Virginia security Aubrey Burks misplayed the ball, Lambert-Smith caught it and raced untouched into the top zone. The play lined 72 yards.
West Virginia (0-1) answered two possessions later.
Garrett Greene started the drive with an 11-yard run to the 42, moved the sticks on fourth and brief with a 1-yard keeper to the PSU 48, after which discovered a wide-open Devin Carter down the far sideline for 37 yards to the Nittany Lion 11.
From there, it was all CJ Donaldson Jr., together with the scoring jaunt from the 1.
It took Penn State 10 performs and 4:59 of sport time to untie it as Allar went to work on West Virginia’s secondary once more. The freshman accomplished all 5 of his throws on the drive, together with a 30-yard hookup to Lambert-Smith to the WVU 16.
An Allar 9-yard cross to Malik McClain and an Allar 5-yard run arrange Nick Singleton’s 2-yard landing. Sander Sahaydak’s conversion kick gave Penn State a 14-7 lead with 9:10 left within the second quarter.
Nonetheless, Sahaydak’s subsequent two kicks had been unsuccessful. His first miss from the WVU 21 got here with 2:05 left within the half and his second from the 17 got here with 22 seconds left.
In between, West Virginia’s offense was unable to transform a fourth and 5 from the Penn State 43 with 5:01 left after which missed a 3rd and 6 from its personal 25 with 1:24 remaining.
So, as a substitute of doubtless being down 28-7, West Virginia acquired into the locker room at halftime trailing by only a landing.
After the 2 groups exchanged possessions to start the third quarter, the Nits acquired the ball again at their 44 and marched 56 yards in seven performs. Allar accomplished passes of 8 and 14 yards and Singleton ran thrice for 19 yards earlier than Allar discovered a wide-open Lambert-Smith behind the top zone for a 12-yard landing.
Columbia switch Alex Felkins changed Sahaydek and hit the conversion.
West Virginia’s try and reply ended on downs on the Penn State 27. Twice, Greene tried to get the ball to sophomore extensive receiver Preston Fox, as soon as ultimately zone and once more on the 14, however each passes fell incomplete.
“We had been going to put it on the road. They made some explosive performs,” Brown mentioned. “We we had some alternatives; we did not make the performs and so they made them.”
Penn State tacked on three extra to start the fourth quarter when Felkins punched by a 26-yard subject purpose. The Lions had three cracks from the West Virginia 7, however two Allar passes had been dropped and Kaytron Allen was thrown for a 1-yard loss by Beanie Bishop and Davoan Hawkins.
After West Virginia’s third unsuccessful fourth-down conversion strive, this time on its aspect of the 50, Penn State prolonged its result in 31-7 and wanted to journey simply 42 yards, the remaining 25 approaching Allar’s 25-yard cross to Malik McClain, who weaved his method by the Mountaineer secondary.
Right here, West Virginia had its greatest offensive possession of the sport. Greene accomplished passes of seven yards to Traylon Ray and 22 yards to Devin Carter to the Penn State 46. One other Greene cross down the center to Carter moved the ball to the 29, after which a Greene run on fourth-and-short gave WVU a brand new set of downs on the 11.
Donaldson carried the ball to the 1 earlier than Greene completed the drive one play later. WVU’s two-point conversion play, starting with a merry-go-round formation, ended with Greene shoveling a cross to Donaldson, who carried the ball throughout the purpose line.
After West Virginia’s unsuccessful onside kick, Penn State marched the ball to 17 and transformed a fourth and a couple of to the Mountaineer 5 with lower than a minute remaining. Right here, the Lions may have taken a knee and run out the clock, however as a substitute opted to run one other play, and backup quarterback Beau Pribula squeezed into the top zone for the sport’s ultimate rating.
Greene completed the evening finishing 16 of his 27 cross makes an attempt for 162 yards, six of these going to Carter for 90 yards.
“I believe they’re a extremely proficient protection, nevertheless it comes right down to me not making sufficient performs,” Greene mentioned.
Donaldson led all rushers with 81 yards on 18 makes an attempt. Singleton led Penn State with 70 yards on simply 13 makes an attempt. West Virginia linebacker Lee Kpogba was the sport’s high tackler with 13 stops.
Penn State was penalized simply as soon as for five yards whereas West Virginia was flagged 5 instances for 55 yards.
Tonight’s attendance was the biggest crowd to look at a West Virginia soccer sport, exceeding the 101,851 that noticed the Mountaineers defeat 11th-ranked Texas 48-45 in Austin, Texas, in 2012. This was the Mountaineers’ first journey to Beaver Stadium since 1991.
West Virginia opens the house portion of its schedule subsequent Saturday towards Duquesne after which follows with the Yard Brawl.
“We should be considerably higher in two weeks, however I do know we’re a great soccer workforce,” Brown concluded.