By Mary Rominger
The final game in Jack Trice Stadium for the 2015-16 season took place Saturday evening in a battle between the West Virginia Mountaineers (9-2) and the Iowa State Cyclones (3-9).
Iowa State’s season concluded with a 49-19 loss with Jacob Park as the starting quarterback.
In the first 15 minutes of play, Iowa State got on the board first with a field goal after shutting down West Virginia’s offense in their first possession.
It didn’t take long for the West Virginia offense, led by quarterback Skyler Howard, to break through as Ka’Raun White capitalized on a 34-yard touchdown pass from Howard. Mike Molina’s kick attempt was good and the Mountaineers took a early 7-3 lead.
West Virginia would seize the next opportunity as Kennedy McKoy rushed for the touchdown with 5:10 to go to take a 14-3 lead.
The Cyclones found a spark in their offense for the remainder of the quarter.
Molina’s kickoff would be returned 97-yards by Kene Nwangwu for a touchdown at 4:56. Cole Netten’s kick was good and the Cyclones decreased the West Virginia lead 14-10.
Iowa State’s defense kept the Cyclones in the game to close out the scoring for the first quarter with a successful field goal attempt by Netten.
Heading in the second quarter, West Virginia answered first with a stellar 48-yard pass from Howard to Marcus Simms at 9:47. Molinia’s kick was good and the Mountaineers took a 21-13 lead over Iowa State.
Amidst the second quarter, Allen Lazard reached a milestone obtaining more than 1,000 receiving yards on the season and became the fourth Iowa State player to do so.
Neither team was able to markup the scoreboard following the good field goal attempt by Netten at 6:12 to bring the Cyclones within seven at halftime.
To start the third quarter, Howard threw a 71-yard pass to Gibson for a touchdown at 12:06 to give the Mountaineers a 28-16 lead.
Iowa State slowly seemed to run out of gas and couldn’t hold off the West Virginia offense and the Cyclones only answer was field goals.
Netten executed a 31-yard field goal with 8:50 remaining in the third quarter.
With 2:32 remaining, Martell Pettaway rushed for another West Virginia touchdown and extended the Mountaineers lead 35-19.
In the final quarter, Iowa State let another one go as West Virginia’s Howard threw to Gibson for a 40-yard touchdown pass. Molina’s kick was good once again and the Mountaineers would take an early 42-19 lead.
Trevon Wesco would close out the scoring for West Virginia with a 6-yard touchdown pass with 10:23 remaining.
The Cyclones dropped the final game of the season at home against the Mountaineers 49-19 and finished their season (3-9).
