CARROLLTON, Ga. – Trailing by six in the fourth-quarter, the West Georgia Wolves offense engineered a 12-play, 90-yard scoring drive to take a lead, and the defense did the rest as #18 West Georgia defeated #22 Delta State at home in the Gulf South Conference opener.
 
Playing through the rain, West Georgia (3-0, 1-0 GSC) went down 26-20 after a pick six from Delta State and a missed PAT. But the Wolves didn't hang their heads, driving nearly the length of the field, completing a 21-yard pass from junior Harrison Frost to Trevon Lambert to tie the game, and Omar Cervantes' extra-point put West Georgia up.
 
"The only thing I did was turn around and say, 'Look, we've been in this situation before, we're going to come back, we just have to execute,'" said head coach David Dean. "I challenged our offense, in the first half we drove it 99 yards, so let's take this one 90 yards and take the lead, and that's exactly what we did."
 
On Delta State's ensuing drive, the Wolves stopped Statesmen quarterback Patrick Shegog short of the line to gain on fourth down, and the Wolves ran out the clock to stay perfect and begin GSC play with the win.
 
The 99-yard scoring drive Dean mentioned came in the first half, as the Wolves went 99 yards in 15 plays that was finished off by a three-yard TD pass from Frost to Miranda.
 
Dean's bunch rallied back from two deficits after leading 17-6 at the half. The Statesmen scored the first 14 points of the second half, first on a 11-yard Deion Dampier rush, then on a one-yard score from Kory Gainwell, to go up 20-17 with 5:18 left in the third.
 
Cervantes had two field goals on the night, one in the first half that accompanied touchdowns by Tyray Devezin and Isaiah Miranda, and one in the second half that tied things up 20-20 with just 20 ticks left in the third quarter.
 
Frost went 29-for-50 on the night with two interceptions, but he hung 292 yards on the Statesmen defense and threw for two scores including the game-winner to Lambert.
 
Ronnie Blackmon was Frost's top target, catching eight passes for 90 yards while Mechane Slade hauled in six catches for a game-high 95.
 
After rushing for just 28 yards in the first half, West Georgia rushed for 74 yards in the second half to finish with 102 yards on the ground. Of those 74 second half rushing yards, 69 came on the final two drives of the game.
 
Saturday's win was the sixth consecutive home win over Delta State, and the first win at home over a ranked opponent since a 2018 triumph over West Florida in Pensacola. Two of the three wins this season have been against teams ranked in the top-25. 
 
West Georgia will now take their 3-0 record on the road again, heading north next week to Shorter. Kickoff from Barron Stadium in Rome is set for Saturday, September 25 at 1 p.m.