[2024] #17 WVU Rides Balanced Attack to Take Down Mercer

[smackemz]

Dzanan Reid looks downfield against Mercer

 

(Morgantown, WV) The West Virginia Mountaineers had never been ranked, so there were questions how the team would handle their lofty preseason ranking coming into the season.  It's only the first game of the season, but WVU showed a glimpse of what could be with a 52-15 victory over the visiting Mercer Bears.  The starters for WVU would play 2 and a half quarters and would build up a 42 - 3 lead before the backups would come in to finish out the contest.  The Mountaineers would lean on their balance in order to build up such a commanding lead - "we kept our playbook pretty vanilla since it was the first game.  We'll continue to add in additional wrinkles as the season progresses, but generally I was pretty happy with our execution." is what coach Smackemz said after the game.  The team will continue to look for ways to strengthen itself along the offensive line, and look to shore up its run defense.  

Sophomore signal caller Dzanan Reid would play very well in his 2 and a half quarters tallying 302 yards on 16 completions with 5 touchdowns on the day.  His only mistake came on a poorly executed screen play that was read and picked off by the defensive line.  Reports all through spring were that Reid had taken a big leap, and when you compare today's performance to the 2023 opener that improvement is clearly visible.  In the 2023 opener against the Citadel - Reid would go 7/14 for 92 yards and a touchdown, so Saturday's performance was a big step for the young quarterback.  Receivers Chad Dolis and Kevin Purcell would show their potential as a dynamic duo combining for 4 touchdowns on the day from Reid and Santisteban.  Craig Guzman and Michael March-Lillard would combine for 137 yards on the ground in a fairly efficient day for the duo.  

Defensively the starting group would hold Mercer to 3 points before they would be subbed out for their second and third string counterparts.  Senior linebacker Bradley Castillo would impress in his first outing as a true starting linebacker with 8 tackles, 3 TFL and a sack in his 3 quarters of play.  Sophomore sensation Riley Jennings would also contribute 2 TFL on the day.  Not to be outdone by Mercer's defensive line pick, junior defensive end KhaDarel Gonzalez would snag his own interception on a broken screen play, which fired up the Mountaineer sidelines.  Freshman Carl Wheeler, seeing his first action for the old gold and blue would come away with an interception of his own.  Malik Redmon and Kareem Sierra would combine for a late game sack to round out the standout defensive plays.  Overall the starting defensive unit looked solid, but will have a much bigger test next week as the squad travels to face Indiana.  

Week 2 gives us a competitive matchup with an interesting Indiana squad.  The Hoosiers are starting a freshman quarterback, which is an experience that Mountaineer fans have from the prior season.  IU is coming off a comeback 28-14 victory over Appalachian State, and will look to carry that momentum into their home opener against #13 West Virginia.  The Hoosiers will present a tough challenge, so fans should expect to get a closer look at how both the offense and defense will perform for an entire game against P5 competition.