🏈 Jayhawks Win in Overtime at West Virginia, Move to 2-0

MORGANTOWN, W. Va. – Kansas Soccer claimed a dramatic extra time victory at West Virginia on Saturday night, overcoming a 14-point first-half deficit to earn a 55-42 victory at Milan Puskar Stadium.

The win is the Jayhawks’ first-ever win over the Mountaineers in Morgantown. Kansas trailed by 14 thrice within the first half, together with 14-0 on the finish of the primary quarter.

After WVU tied the sport with 35 seconds to play, the Jayhawks obtained the ball first in extra time. Kansas obtained a contemporary set of downs from the 10-yard line following a roughing the passer name on WVU. KU cashed in on its set of downs when Jalon Daniels discovered Quentin Skinner in the long run zone for his first profession landing reception, a four-yard catch that put KU up 49-42.

KU would shut out the sport with an interception from Cobee Bryant, who jumped a WVU route for a pick-six, the Jayhawks’ second takeaway of the sport, to make the ultimate rating 55-42. 

Kansas strikes to 2-0 on the 12 months for the primary time since 2011 and picks up a win within the Large 12 opener for the primary time since 2009. That is additionally KU’s first win in a Large 12 convention opener on the highway since 2008. 

“It’s a giant win and I’m so pleased with our guys. We obtained off to a sluggish begin. Penalties harm us early and harm us late. We stated it was going to be a four-quarter recreation, however we didn’t know it might go plus. I’m so pleased with their resilience and the way they’ve gone about it. It is a good win to construct off of.”

Head Coach Lance Leipold

The Jayhawks first rating got here on a nine-play drive that spanned 79 yards and took 5:01 off the clock. It was punctuated by a 10-yard landing go from Daniels to tight finish Mason Fairchild on the primary play of the second quarter, marking the second straight recreation Daniels and Fairchild connected for a landing after a 2-yard rating within the opener towards Tennessee Tech. 

After one other landing drive from the Mountaineers to go up 21-7, the Kansas offense once more responded. This time, Daniels orchestrated an 11-play, 75-yard drive that took 4:49 and ended with a six-yard landing rush from Devin Neal, his first of three whole touchdowns on the night time. 

West Virginia answered, scoring a five-yard landing go to make it 28-14 with 3:11 to play till halftime. The Jayhawks completely executed its last drive, going 75 yards in 10 performs, taking on 2:42 of recreation time to attain and make it 28-21 with simply 29 seconds to play within the half. WVU ran out the clock and went into intermission with that rating.

KU obtained the ball first within the second half and wanted simply eight performs to go 75 yards, as a 40-yard strike from Daniels to Skinner arrange the game-tying landing, a three-yard plunge from Daniel Hishaw. The landing, Hishaw’s second in as many video games, knotted the rating at 28-28 with 11:32 to play within the third.

Momentum remained with the Jayhawks as KU pressured West Virginia to punt on its subsequent drive. Though Kansas was additionally pressured to punt, the Jayhawks’ Torry Locklin recovered a muffed punt from WVU, which put KU in place to take its first lead of the night time. The Jayhawks would just do that six performs later, as Neal discovered the tip zone for the third time on the night time, a two-yard landing run to place KU up 35-28 with 4:00 to play within the third.

West Virginia would get a discipline objective on its ensuing drive, chopping the Jayhawks result in 35-31 with 12:58 to play. It will solely take KU 4 performs to increase its lead because the Jayhawks marched 65 yards in 1:56, capped off when Hishaw broke away for a 30-yard landing –  his second on the night time and third of the 12 months. That rating would give Kansas its first two-score lead of the day at 42-31 with 10:59 to play. 

WVU drove 64 yards in 14 performs on its subsequent drive, however the Jayhawks held the Mountaineers to 3 factors and maintained a full rating lead of 42-34 with 4:04 to play.

Kansas would punt the ball again to West Virginia with 2:17 to play and the Mountaineers used a 12-play, 85-yard drive to attain a landing and tie the sport with 35 seconds to play after a profitable two-point conversion.

Subsequent up for the Jayhawks is a visit to Houston on Saturday, Sept. 17, to face a future Large 12 Convention foe, the Houston Cougars, in a non-conference matchup. Kickoff of that recreation is slated for 3:00 p.m. CT on ESPNU from TDECU Stadium.