The UC Golden Eagles football team defeated West Virginia Wesleyan 34-29 after a 29-point second-half comeback was cut short by the Charleston defense with less than two minutes remaining in the game.
 
JUST THE BASICS

SCORE- Charleston 34, Wesleyan 29
LOCATION- Charleston, W. Va.
TEAM RECORDS- Charleston (2-1, 2-1 MEC), Wesleyan (0-3, 0-2 MEC)
 
Charleston was led by Senior Quarterback Brant Grisel who tossed for 442 yards on 24-of-43 passing with three touchdowns. Grisel, who set the UC single game passing record with 367 yards two weeks ago against Fairmont State, surpassed the mark by 75 yards against the Bobcat defense.
 
On the defensive side of the ball, Charleston put pressure on Wesleyan QB Jarrett Northrop as they combined for total of five sacks. Kal-El Williams notched seven tackles (six solo), whileKenny Randall tallied eight tackles and 2.0 sacks. 
 
HOW IT HAPPENED
 
After a scoreless first quarter, UC opened the scoring in the second as Grisel found Mike Strachan for a 64-yard touchdown to cap off a three play, 74-yard drive. After a 3-yard run from Jay Palmer with 5:29 remaining in the half made it 14-0, a long Charleston punt return with just 22 seconds left followed by a pair of nice throws from Grisel allowed for Freshman kicker Tim McCutchen to give UC a 17-0 lead as time expired. Palmer carried the ball 13 times, good enough for 42 yards and a touchdown. 
 
It didn't take Golden Eagles long to add to their lead in the second half as Grisel found Strachan just a minute and a half into the third quarter for second touchdown of the game, this time for 60 yards. Strachan finished with eight receptions and 180 yards to go along with two touchdowns. With Charleston leading 24-0, Wesleyan began to move the ball as a pair of touchdowns cut the UC lead to 27-15. Charleston added to their lead after Grisel tossed a 74-yard bomb to Tremaine Ross in the third quarter for the Golden Eagles to make it 34-15.
 
Wesleyan would score another pair of touchdowns on passes from Northrop to bring the score to 34-29 but a stop on defense with less than two minutes remaining allowed the Golden Eagles to halt the Bobcat comeback.
 
For Wesleyan, Devin Taylor hauled in seven catches for 81 yards and a touchdown, while Derek Drapen notched seven catches for 87 yards. Northrop was 19-of-46 with two touchdowns for 251 yards. John Merica had a game-high 10 tackles (five solo) for WVWC. 
 
Charleston will hit the road to Brown Field this week to face Division-I FCS opponent Valparaiso (0-3) who come off a 38-7 loss to the Bulldogs of Truman State. Kickoff on Saturday is scheduled for 2:00 p.m.