FROSTBURG — For the second time this season, Frostburg State put up over 500 yards of total offense.
And for the first time in three years, the Bobcats have opened the season 5-0, cruising to a 49-16 win over West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday at Bobcat Stadium.
“Started out fast, and we’ve been trying to start out fast for a while,” FSU head coach Eric Wagoner said. “We’ve done it the last couple weeks. I’m extremely excited about that.”
After the opening kickoff sailed out of bounds, the Bobcats (5-0, 3-0 Mountain East Conference) only needed five plays for the game’s first points.
On the first play from scrimmage, Myles Fulton connected with Jordan Marcucci for 17 yards inside Wesleyan (0-4, 0-3 MEC) territory.
It set up Owen Doyle for a score from two yards out.
On Frostburg’s next drive, the Bobcats faced a fourth-and-one on its own 31.
Needing a yard, Sean Aaron got two to move the chains.
“We just talked about starting fast and wanting to be able to score points,” Wagoner said. “Just tell our guys we’re gonna be aggressive all the time.”
Four plays later, Cruiz Paul-Umstead was wide open over the middle, and Fulton hit him in stride for a 32-yard touchdown.
Late in the first quarter, Fulton threw a go-ball down the left sideline and was intercepted by Kevin Nelson.
Backed up on its own 15, a pair of sacks from Yasir Holmes and Marquise Allsup forced a punt from the punter’s own endline.
After taking over at Wesleyan’s 20, Frostburg added another score on the opening play of the second quarter.
From the 15, Fulton broke a pair of tackles and scored on a keeper.
Fulton finished 15 of 23 for 249 yards, three touchdowns and one interception.
Midway through the quarter, Wesleyan took over near midfield and only needed three plays to put up its first points.
Nathan Payne hit Immanuel Scott on a slant for a 26-yard touchdown.
Wylan Harich blocked the extra point to keep the score 21-6.
Harich has blocked a kick in back-to-back weeks, and the Bobcats have blocked a kick in four of five games this season.
“Just keep scheming them up,” Wagoner said. “Scheming it up and people aren’t working on it as hard as they need to. So if they’re gonna work, we’re gonna take advantage of it.”
Frostburg took over and Fulton found Amari N’namdi-Hall on a crossing route for 28 yards to the Wesleyan 10.
N’namdi-Hall led the Bobcats with six catches for 81 yards.
Doyle stretched for the goal line and broke the plane on the next play.
He finished with 120 yards on nine carries and two scores.
“He runs hard, and good luck to anyone trying to tackle him,” Fulton said. “It’s lovely, you know you got a physical guy you gotta look across. And knowing that one of those guys has to tackle your guy every single time, it’s a great feeling.”
Leading 28-6 at halftime, the story was the dominance of Frostburg’s defense.
In the first quarter, the Bobcats held Wesleyan to negative 18 rushing yards and minus seven total.
At halftime, Wesleyan had negative 11 rushing yards and 77 total yards.
Frostburg combined for five sacks in the first half and finished with six.
“I’ve been going against it every single year I’ve been here,” Fulton said of the defense. “Our defense is the best in the freaking nation, they’re really good and I expect that from them, every time.”
Wesleyan was held to 235 total yards in the game.
The Bobcat defense was led by Jaylen Boyd’s 10 tackles, three tackles for loss and 1.5 sacks.
Yasir Holmes recorded six tackles with two for loss and 2.5 sacks.
“It’s wonderful, it gets the quarterback’s clock spinning,” Boyd said of the frequent pressure. “When you get that pressure, it’s nothing like it.”
In the third quarter, each team added a score.
Sean Aaron caught an eight-yard pass from Fulton on fourth-and-six.
Wesleyan’s Cam Ceccotti kicked a 22-yard field goal.
In the fourth quarter, Jeremiah Gibson caught a wide open pass from Fulton and took off for a 77-yard touchdown.
KJ Smothers added a 13-yard score midway through for Frostburg’s final points.
Nathan Payne scored on a quarterback sneak on fourth-and-inches for Wesleyan in the final three minutes.
Frostburg combined for 525 yards of offense, marking the second time this season it went over 500 yards after recording 510 at West Liberty.
Both teams were heavily penalized, especially in the second half.
The Bobcats finished with 17 for 144 yards while Wesleyan was charged with 11 penalties for 104 yards.
Raphael Manning led Wesleyan with 16 carries for 80 yards, while Riley Slaughter and Keyishaun Robinson tied for a team-best seven tackles.
Frostburg begins a stretch of games against the MEC’s best to end the season.
In the final six weeks, the Bobcats, currently No. 2 in the conference, will play the other top three teams.
It begins with a trip to Glenville State (2-3, 2-1 MEC) on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.
“We got a lot of veteran guys that have been here before,” Boyd said. “We’re ready to tackle the schedule head on. Bobcat football is all about winning, about dominating. So we’re not scared of nobody, we know we wanna be the best in the conference. We know we’re the best in the conference, and we’re ready to prove it.”