Charleston, W. Va. – For the second consecutive week, the Golden Eagles would host another Mountain East Conference matchup at home. It would be the Wheeling Cardinals making the trip to the Capital City to face the 14th ranked team in the country. The last matchup between these two teams ended with a Charleston victory in the Northern Panhandle back in 2022.

The Basics
Location: University of Charleston Stadium
Score: UC 42, WU 23
Records: UC 6-0 (4-0 MEC), WU 2-4 (1-3 MEC)

How it Happened
Charleston opened up the scoring on their opening possession with a 15-play drive that ended with a short Chavon Wright rushing score, giving the Golden Eagles an early 7-0 lead. Charleston, after forcing a punt from the Cardinals on their first possession, found the endzone once again after Wright's second rushing score from three yards out for the 14-0 advantage. In the second quarter, Wheeling found their first points of the day after Dawaun Green punched his way into the endzone from a yard out to cut the lead in half. Both sides exchanged punts on their next possessions and Charleston would disrupt the punt-off with Wright's third rushing touchdown of the day, giving him his 17th of the season. After taking the 21-7 lead, Dekavis Preston made an incredible play on the other side of the ball when he disrupted a short pass on a 4th and 4 from Charleston's 30-yard line with 4:05 left in the half. The Golden Eagles found their last score of the half with the legs of quarterback Ean Hamric as he marched his offense downfield and finished an 11-play drive with a five-yard run into the endzone for the 28-7 lead going into the half.

Wheeling started with the ball in the second half and turned their first possession into points with another rushing score from Dawaun Green to cut the lead in half once more at 28-14. Charleston would match the Wheeling touchdown with one of their own as Chavon Wright found the endzone on the ground for the fourth time to move the lead to 35-14. Wright scored his fifth and final touchdown of the day on Charleston's last drive of the quarter to extend the lead at 42-14.

The Cardinals found nine points in the fourth quarter, but never found the momentum early enough to close the gap between them and the home team, giving Charleston the 42-23 victory for their sixth consecutive win of the year.

The Golden Eagles finished the day with 460 yards of total offense and limiting the Cardinals to 309 on the day. Wright finished with 170 rushing yards on 29 carries for five touchdowns, one short of his career-high from last season. Marquan Herron ended his Saturday with four receptions for 70 yards through the air. Defensively, Charleston had three players finish with five solo tackles with Cashawn Beasley, Ra'Shaad Morris, and Louikenzy Jules.

Up Next
Charleston will hit the road this upcoming Saturday to face the #24 Frostburg State Bobcats for their homecoming. The last time these two teams played, the Golden Eagles defeated the Bobcats for the first time in program history with a 28-25 victory at home. Kickoff is set for 1:00 PM on October 19th at Bobcat Stadium in Frostburg, MD.