Charleston, W. Va. – The Golden Eagles hosted the Fairmont State Falcons on Friday night for their sixth Mountain East Conference matchup of the season. In their previous 8-3 campaign, Fairmont State was the only team in the 2023 regular season to defeat Charleston. This was the first time since 2021 that the Falcons had been to Charleston, as the Golden Eagles had made the trip up to Fairmont, WV back-to-back years.

The Basics
Location: UC Stadium
Score: UC 50, FSU 30
Records: UC 8-0 (6-0 MEC), FSU 4-4 (3-3 MEC)

How it Happened
Fairmont State came to play on Friday night, putting up 477 yards of total offense with 380 of those yards being found through the air by freshman quarterback Nino Marzullo. Charleston's offense, after scoring 48 points against previously ranked Frostburg State, continued to roll as the Golden Eagles would rush for 344 yards and total 586 yards of offense.

The first half proved to be a hard-fought contest from both teams. The Falcons would put up the first points of the night on a 10-yard pass from Nino Marzullo to Kobe Harris for the 7-0 lead. The score would be matched by Chavon Wright as he darted into the endzone through multiple defenders from 23 yards away to knot the game at 7-7. Fairmont State took the lead back in the second quarter with a 43-yard field goal from Emmanuel Richardson, but Charleston regained the lead with Wright's second rushing score of the night from five yards away. The Golden Eagles would not let the lead slip out of their grasp, but it was a hard-earned advantage as the two sides went shot for shot to round out the second quarter. Ean Hamric and Shamarr Wright extended Charleston's lead with a 56-yard rushing score from Hamric and a 71-yard pitch and catch from Hamric to Wright, but the Falcons rattled off two passing touchdowns to match Charleston's scores, sending the teams into the locker room with the Golden Eagles holding onto a 28-24 lead.

Charleston came out of the halftime break and dominated on the defensive side of the ball, not allowing a touchdown for the entirety of the third quarter. Meanwhile, the offense continued to put up points as Wright and Hamric would each earn rushing touchdowns to put Charleston ahead 43-24 heading into the fourth quarter of play. Wright ended Charleston's scoring in the fourth quarter with a 13-yard run at the 13:47 mark to put the Golden Eagles on top 50-24.

Fairmont State found one more score through the air from Marzullo to Gage Michael with 11:59 left to go, but the Golden Eagles used up too much of the clock for the Falcons to have a chance in the end. Charleston took the 50-30 win for their eighth consecutive victory of the campaign.

Up Next
Charleston hits the road for just the fourth time this weekend as they'll head up to the Northern Panhandle with a contest with the West Liberty Hilltoppers on November 2nd at 2:00 PM. The last time the Golden Eagles went to West Liberty, Charleston took a 34-26 victory on the Hilltoppers' Senior Day back in 2019.