CHARLESTON, W.Va. — Frostburg State bounced back from a double-overtime loss last week to Glenville State in a big way on Saturday, stunning Charleston 32-30 in triple overtime.
The Bobcats (6-1, 4-1 Mountain East Conference) snapped the Golden Eagles (4-3, 3-1 MEC) streak of 15 consecutive wins in conference play.
“I’m extremely proud of this win,” Frostburg head coach Eric Wagoner said to Christopher Wade of the Charleston Gazette-Mail. “We lost an overtime thriller last week that we could have won the game at the end. I don’t know if we’ve ever played Charleston and it’s not been a big game.”
Charleston struck first with 5:07 left in the first quarter on an eight-yard run by Justin McDuffie.
Frostburg answered with a 21-yard pass from Jordan Brooks to Jevonn Gilyard with 32 seconds left in the first.
With 4:34 before halftime, Gryffin Mitstifer hit a 22-yard field goal to put the Golden Eagles ahead 10-7.
“This loss sucks,” Charleston head coach Mike Tesch said. “Now they have the tiebreaker over us. We gave it to them. We had a lead in the fourth quarter. All three of our losses we had the lead in the fourth quarter. It just keeps happening.”
The Bobcats took the lead with 10:16 left in the third quarter on a 70-yard touchdown pass from Brooks to Tra’Shaun Timmons.
Ean Hamric scored with 6:20 in the third to retake the lead for Charleston.
Mountain Ridge graduate Tyler Cook made his first collegiate field goal on a 21-yard kick seven seconds into the fourth quarter to tie it at 17-all.
Cook made all three of his extra points while going 1 for 3 on field goals.
Jaylen Butera scored from 10 yards out about five minutes later to put the Golden Eagles ahead 24-17.
Ray Adames answered on a 31-yard pass from Brooks with 3:20 left, tying the score and eventually sending the game to overtime.
In double overtime, Brooks lobbed a fade in the right corner and Timmons made the catch to put Frostburg ahead 30-24.
The two-point conversion failed, and Charleston answered with a 14-yard touchdown pass from Hamric to Devin Hobbs.
The Golden Eagles also failed on the conversion, sending the game to triple overtime.
Charleston’s triple overtime two-point conversion was denied on an incomplete pass.
Brooks found Doyle wide open on the next play to win the game for the Bobcats.
Frostburg combined for 491 yards with 389 through the air and 102 on the ground.
Brooks finished 24 of 35 for 389 yards, four touchdowns and one interception.
“When we got to that point of the game, we knew we were going to put the ball in his hands,” Wagoner said of Brooks. “It was awesome, and he played a great game. Our offense played wonderful today. Every time they had to answer a call they did.”
KJ Smothers led the Bobcats with seven carries for 57 yards and a score while Doyle had 16 carries for 55 yards.
Timmons caught eight passes for 152 yards and two touchdowns while Gilyard caught seven for 121 and a score.
Kurt Thomas led FSU with 10 tackles while Rainer Haveland recorded nine stops and a pair of sacks.
Hamric led Charleston with 26 carries for 100 yards and a score.
The Bobcats head to Wheeling, W.Va., on Saturday at 1 p.m.