Jim Mashek

GLENN FINDS WKU TEAMMATE JYZAIAH ROCKWELL IN BACK OF END ZONE FOR DRAMATIC VICTORY; TOPS KEEP BOWL GAME HOPES ALIVE

It’s been a tough football season on The Hill, no doubt about it.

Saddled with three decisive defeats, all on the road, to get things going in September, Western Kentucky University’s proud squad has struggled to keep its head above water in Conference USA play.

Now the Hilltoppers have dunked on one the league’s top-flight teams, when a loss would have tanked the season once and for all.

The Tops refused to let that happen.

Junior redshirt quarterback Brock Glenn, who split time at his position with second-year starter Rodney Tisdale, Jr., took over in the second half to deliver one of the Hilltoppers’ most memorable victories in years.

Trailing Jacksonville State for the all but a handful of seconds of the second half — after a back-and-forth affair in the first two quarters — Glenn and the WKU offense took possession at the Hilltoppers’ 40-yard line with under five minutes remaining on a sun-splashed Homecoming weekend at Houchens-Smith Stadium.

Glenn, a hard-nosed transfer from Florida State, often does the bulk of his damage with his legs, and Jax State’s defense poses plenty of challenges in that regard. But Glenn and the Tops put together a deliberate last-gasp drive, before the WKU quarterback made it happen in dramatic fashion.

The Gamecocks were nursing a four-point lead in the final seconds when Glenn took the snap from the WKU 10-yard line, and the JSU defense brought a blitz that forced the Hilltoppers to improvise.

Glenn slipped outside the Jax State pass rush toward the right sideline before finding senior transfer receiver Jyziah Rockwell in the back of the end zone. The clock was winding down toward all zeroes — as in 0:00 — when Glenn fired a 2-yard touchdown pass to Rockwell to put the Hilltoppers in front, 31-24.

After the PAT, the Tops added a cosmetic touchdown — much like Middle Tennessee State did against WKU last week in Murfreesboro — on a failed “Stanford Band play,” with the Hilltoppers’ David Gerard scoring on a 2-yard fumble return. The TD punctuated a wild 34-24 victory over the Conference USA leading Gamecocks before a paid crowd of 10,122 at Houchens-Smith Stadium.

It sounded like a packed house when Brock Glenn got the ball to Rockwell, a former Prairie View A&M wideout, with the game on the line. Western Kentucky improved to 4-6 overall and 3-3 in Conference USA play, keeping its hopes alive of claiming an eighth consecutive bowl game appearance. Jacksonville State, in turn, lost for the first time in seven conference games while falling to 7-3 overall and 5-1 in C-USA.

“We called a naked (bootleg), and we were looking for the flat, first,” Glenn said when it was over. “That wasn’t there, and we obviously had a little pressure in the backfield, so I was able to get away from that. Then I looked downfield and saw ‘my guy,’ sitting there, open.”

His guy being Jyziak Rockwell, who has played only sparingly in his final year of college football.

“I gave (Rockwell) a chance, and he made a play,” Glenn said with a smile. “Playmakers make plays. He’s a playmaker.”

The victory brought a wide smile to eighth-year WKU head coach Tyson Helton, who was quick to understand the Hilltoppers were playing with fire in the final seconds. WKU still had a timeout, but officials wouldn’t put the ball in play until Jax State made a handful of defensive substitutions.

Glenn made the play to send the Gamecocks back to Alabama with a stunning defeat.

“It was just a great night, with it being homecoming,” Helton said. “We had a lot of former (WKU) players on the sideline, and there were a lot of positive vibes that just carried over to the game. Our guys kept fighting, and fighting. It was not pretty, by any means, but our guys competed and came up with a big win.

“Brock made it happen … just happy to stay alive and get to fight another day.”

There were five lead changes in the first half, but both teams’ defenses buckled down in the final 30 minutes.

Jax State failed to capitalize on a trip to the red zone in the opening moments of the second half, The Hilltoppers had a 15-minute advantage, in time of possession, against JSU quarterback Caden Creel and the Gamecocks’ explosive offense. Western Kentucky allowed just 212 yards in total offense, while recording three sacks against Creel, much to the chagrin of second-year Jax State coach Charles Kelly.

“We didn’t deserve to win that football game,” he said.

It was tough sledding, for both squads, on the ground. WKU’s Brock Glenn carried the ball for a game-high 71 yards on 13 carries, often on quarterback draws or keepers to the outside. WKU running back Ajay Allen opened the scoring with a 6-yard touchdown run early in the first quarter, but Jax State capitalized on two miscues to account for the first lead change of the game.

The Gamecocks’ Garrison Rippa drilled a 50-yard field goal with 7:17 left in the first quarter, and moments later, a fumbled exchange between Allen and WKU quarterback Rodney Tisdale, Jr., resulted in a scoop-and-score. Jax State linebacker Jacob Cruz scored on a 12-yard fumble return, putting the Gamecocks in front 10-7.

“We spotted ’em 10 points, which says a lot about our defense,” WKU coach Tyson Helton said.

WKU quarterback Brock Glenn had two rushing touchdowns in the first half, but the Hilltoppers couldn’t convert on senior defensive back Jaylen Lewis’ interception in the final two minutes. Likewise, the Gamecocks couldn’t capitalize on Tisdale’s third-quarter fumble, before WKU’s special-teams group foiled a fake field-goal attempt before the fourth quarter.

“We knew (JSU’s Caleb Creel) was a dynamic quarterback, coming into the game, so we were really focused on keeping him in the pocket,” WKU defensive end LaTrevion Thompson said. “We wanted to make sure he didn’t have any escape lanes, or anything like that.”

Now the Hilltoppers will try to pull off a couple more magic tricks to close the season with a three-game winning streak. They’ll be on the road on Saturday for a high-profile game with Liberty University in Lynchburg, Virginia. The Flames are 9-1 overall and 6-0 in Conference USA play. Then WKU will close the regular season at home, during Thanksgiving weekend, against defending C-USA champion Kennesaw State (4-6, 3-3).

“That’s just who we are here, at Western … (the players) understand winning is important,” WKU coach Tyson Helton said. “Competing is extremely important … we know we’re a good football team. We just have to put our head to it.”

They’ll be talking about Brock Glenn’s amazing touchdown pass to Jyziah Rockwell for years — former Greenwood High School star Lofton Howard, a junior tight end, had a critical 22-yard reception on that last drive — but Randy Lee, “The Voice of the Hilltoppers,” compared it to Joe Montana’s last-gasp, fourth-down TD pass to the late Dwight Clark that lifted the San Francisco 49ers past Dallas, 28-24, in the 1981 NFC championship game.

“To me, it was Montana to Clark all over again,” he said.

The Tops might need a little more of that magic on Saturday in Virginia.