CHARLESTON, W.Va. - It was at this point last season that West Virginia Wesleyan came to Charleston to try to play spoiler against a two-loss Golden Eagles team that still had aspirations of a NCAA Division II playoff berth. Charleston went on to thump Wesleyan 57-25 in both teams' season finale, but didn't receive a postseason invite.
Fast forward a year and the roles have reversed as the Golden Eagles invade Buckhannon at 1 p.m. today with a possible postseason berth and second place in the West Virginia Conference hanging in the balance for Wesleyan.
UC coach Tony DeMeo, however, refuses to look at the situation as anything but business as usual.
"That role really doesn't appeal to me," DeMeo said. "We're just taking it as a football game against a good football team, but we think we're a pretty good football team, too."
Both teams are coming off blowout road wins - Wesleyan (8-2 overall, 5-2 WVC) handled West Virginia State 50-28 in Institute and the Golden Eagles (6-4, 4-3) took a 44-16 win at Glenville State. For UC, it may have been the best performance all season as the Eagles rolled up 514 total yards while limiting the Pioneers to 316.
"We played a really good game up there, we ran the ball pretty well and had pretty good balance," said DeMeo. "I thought the defense played the best game of the year for them. I think we put it all together and picked up a pretty good win."
Leading the charge again for UC was quarterback Maurice Leak, who threw for 228 yards and a pair of scores and ran for another 143 yards. Leak amassed the passing total on just five completions, averaging a whopping 45.6 yards per completion. DeMeo said his quarterback continues to impress.
"He has really been coming on," said DeMeo. "He's got great speed, he's throwing the ball better every day and he's really grasped the offense. It's amazing he's only a true freshman."
Leak is No. 5 in the conference in rushing with 652 yards and eighth in the league in passing with 1,063 yards. He also has 11 total touchdowns.
As for Wesleyan, quarterback Adam Neugebauer is averaging 257.5 yards and has thrown 26 touchdowns. Running backs Trey Massey and Julien Valentin are No. 6 and No. 7 in the conference in rushing with 650 and 606 yards, respectively.
Above all, DeMeo said he is proud of the group of seniors that will take the field for the last time today.
"This group has won more games than any other group in UC history, they've already won 30 games, which is the most," said DeMeo. "And over the six years we've been here, we've won more games than any six-year period in school history. So I am proud of this group."
