Wheeling, W. Va. – It's the final week of the 2025 Mountain East Conference (MEC) Football season and the Wheeling University Football team (6-4, 5-2) will be battling for a share of the conference championship. Wheeling heads to the hilltop on Saturday afternoon as they take on West Liberty at noon in the annual "The Battle for Wheeling." The Cardinals have the chance to claim their first MEC Championship in program history with a win and losses by both The University of Charleston and Frostburg State where all three programs would be announced as Co-MEC Champions.
Last time out, the Cardinals traveled down to Parkersburg, West Virginia where they matched up with Glenville State. The Cardinal's offense would shine early, scoring the first 28 points of the game over the first quarter and a half. The defense would hold strong during the run, keeping the Pioneers off the scoreboard and Wheeling was staked to a 28-0 lead with six minutes to go before the half. Glenville State would pick up a key score before halftime, and the teams headed into the locker room with the score sitting at 28-7. Glenville State would hit their stride in the second half, starting the third quarter with another score before putting up 21 fourth quarter points. A special teams touchdown for the Cardinals helped them keep pace, and a Pioneer touchdown with 30 seconds to go tied things at 35-35. Wheeling would get a strong kick-off return and got to the Pioneer six yard line with two seconds to go before kicking through the game-winning field goal to take a 38-35 victory.
The defense held strong throughout the first half and was led by the efforts of Leonard Sherrod III. He would reach the double digit tackle mark for the second time this season as he finished with 10 tackles, eight solo and two assisted. He would cause the only Cardinal turnover of the day, intercepting a pass in the first quarter. It would be one for the record books as Sherrod broke the single-season interception record with his fifth of the season. Sherrod currently sits second on the team with 88.0 total tackles this season, while leading the way with 11 total passes defended. He currently sits tied for fourth in the conference in passes defended, while tying for the conference lead with five interceptions on the season. He will look to continue playing his part on the defensive side of the ball and help the Cardinals end the season with a bang.
When the Cardinals have needed a big target in the redzone, they have turned to tight end Alex Godavitarne. He would pull in two catches for 22 yards for the Cardinals, while receiving two of the team's three touchdowns on the day. With the effort, Godavitarne has three receiving touchdowns in his past three games, and has finished with at least 20 yards receiving in each of those efforts. However, when the team needed him most, they turned to Conor Fitzpatrick in the game's final seconds. Fitzpatrick would line-up for a 22-yard field goal with two seconds remaining on the clock, and he would sail the kick through to give the Cardinals the 38-35 win. Fitzpatrick has made five of his last six field goal attempts, and improved his average to 9-16 (56.3%) for the season.
As they head into the final week of the regular season, the Cardinals will be competing for their first-ever MEC Championship. With three teams all within a game of each other, a three-way tie would result in a co-championship for all programs due to there being no MEC Championship game. The Cardinals would be named one of three MEC Co-Champions with a win over West Liberty, as well as losses by Frostburg State to Fairmont State and Charleston to West Liberty. During the 2021 COVID-shortened Spring season, the Cardinals battled Notre Dame College for the MEC Championship, but fell to end their season. It would be the team's first conference championship since joining the MEC in 2019, but Head Coach Zac Bruney and his team are just looking to handle their business on Saturday.
The Match-up
The Cardinals and Hilltoppers are meeting for the seventh time in program history, with Wheeling leading the all-time series at 4-2. They have equal record when playing at Bishop Schmitt Field or on the Hilltop, with the Cardinals holding a 2-1 record in both locations. Wheeling is averaging 30.5 points per game in the all-time series, and has scored 40+ points in two of the past three games.
The last meeting between the two teams came on November 16th, 2024, in a game the Cardinals won 40-16. It was a big day for Landon Lutz and the Cardinal offense, with Lutz finishing 14-25, throwing for 265 yards and four touchdowns. Steven Mitchell would lead the ground game, carrying the ball 23 times for 106 yards and a touchdown, while former Cardinal Dasyn Hores pulled in a team-high five catches for 121 yards and a touchdown. Former Cardinal Jack Parry led the defensive effort with six tackles, two solo and four assisted, to go along with 0.5 tackle for loss and 0.5 sack.
The Details
Kick-off for Saturday's game is scheduled for noon inside West Family Stadium on the campus of West Liberty University. You can watch the game live by clicking HERE or follow along with Live Stats by clicking HERE.
