The Glenville State football team celebrates after Thursday’s 17-14 win against Fairmont State. (Photo Provided by Jagger Furr)

FAIRMONT – Trailing 14-0 at halftime here Thursday night against rival Fairmont State at Duvall-Rosier Field and facing an 0-3 start to the campaign, Glenville State rallied with 17 unanswered after the break to retain the “Battle for the Bit” in what was the Mountain East Conference opener for both Division II squads.

Fairmont State, which fell at home 38-36 when the two rivals last met in 2022, used a fake punt by Ethan Vargo-Thomas and then a Will Adkins 37-yard touchdown pass to Winston Page to get the scoring opened up late in the first as the hosts capped a 90-yard drive.

The Fighting Falcons (1-2, 0-1) pushed in front 14-0 after Adkins hit tight end Carter Giacomo on a 9-yard scoring strike in the back of the end zone with 3:56 remaining. Emmanuel Richardson’s extra point once again was true.

Glenville State, which didn’t have a turnover and was flagged just four times for 25 yards, had the game even with 2:08 remaining in the third. Tariq Miller, who caught a 4-yard touchdown pass from Anthony Garrett at the 7:56 mark, did it again with a 33-yard grab.

GSU (1-2, 1-0), which welcomes in UNC Pembroke for a 1 p.m. tilt next Saturday at Morris Stadium, turned to kicker Brody Layman and he drilled what turned out to be the game-winning 35-yard field goal with 6:57 to play.

Jamair Diaz added two sacks to his season total for the G-men, which also had a sack apiece from Sean Scott Brogan Brown and Jayleem Santos.

Shaun Sterling Jr., who joined Diaz with seven total tackles, had both of the Pioneers’ interceptions. GSU’s Jaiden McClendon-Parker forced a fumble that Scott recovered.

Mark Rucker toted 27 times for 90 yards with Zay Wood (9-48) also adding to the GSU rushing attack. Garrett was 10 of 24 for 129 yards with Miller (3-42) and Naseem Pacheco (5-32) leading the way.

Fairmont State hurt itself with three turnovers as well as nine flags that resulted in 110 penalty yards.

Elijah Tidwell (10-6) and Dereik Crosby II (12-48) led the FSU ground game. The ex-Pioneer Adkins hit half of his 26 attempts for 163 yards. Page (2-55) and Gage MIchael (5-55) were the top targets.

FSU, which held a 335-288 advantage in total yards, will look to rebound at 1 p.m. next Saturday at Wheeling University.