Football | 9/11/2010 4:39:36 PM
BOX SCORE
GAME PHOTOS
NEW HAVEN, Conn. – Senior tailback Kevon Calhoun ran for a career-high 241 yards and the West Liberty defense came up big when it had to as the No. 20 Hilltoppers outgunned perennial Northeast-10 power Southern Connecticut State, 49-35, on a sunny Saturday afternoon at Jess Dow Stadium.
West Liberty (1-1) led wire-to-wire after Calhoun opened the game with touchdown runs of 11 and 3 yards and it was Calhoun who delivered the knockout punch after the Owls (0-2) had closed to within a touchdown at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Hilltoppers had just preserved a 35-27 lead with a dramatic goal line stand to stuff the hosts inside the WLU 1-yard-line. Calhoun wedged the ball out to the 5 to give the visitors a little breathing room on the final snap of the third quarter but there was plenty more where that came from when play resumed.
Taking a handoff from quarterback Zach Amedro, the shifty tailback slipped through a seam and burst all the way to the SCSU 40 before being hauled down. A personal foul penalty on the tackle moved the ball to the 25.
Four snaps later, Calhoun darted into the end zone for his third touchdown of the day, pushing the score to 42-27 with just 12:23 to play.
The West Liberty defense got the ball right back for the Hilltoppers when Leonidas Redding's crushing hit knocked the ball away from Owl QB Kevin Lynch and Ryan Mirich recovered at midfield.
Aided by a roughing-the-kicker penalty on a missed 41-yard field goal, the WLU offense scrubbed more than 6 minutes off the clock in a game-clinching drive which ended with Amedro's 2-yard scoring toss to a leaping David Carter.
Amedro's third TD pass of the day put the game safely out of reach, 49-27, with just over 5 minutes remaining. Southern Connecticut tacked on a late TD and 2-point conversion to conclude the scoring.
Calhoun, whose previous career rushing high was 173 yards in last year's 84-63 NCAA Division II playoff victory against Edinboro, rushed for more than 100 yards in each half on Saturday and also pulled in 4 passes for 42 receiving yards.
Senior tight end Ryan Travis had 100 receiving yards on 10 catches to become the school's all-time leader with 175 career pass receptions. A returning All-American whose sure hands extended several Hilltopper drives on Saturday, Travis has 53 catches for 506 yards in his last five games.
Amedro had his NCAA Division II record streaks of consecutive 300-yard passing and total offense games snapped at 14 but still completed 21-of-40 passes for 242 yards and 3 TDs to move into the top 10 on the NCAA Division II career passing charts. He is now No. 9 in NCAA Division II history with 11,247 career yards.
Lynch completed 30-of-46 passes – both SCSU school records – for 376 yards and 3 TDs to keep the hosts in the game but the WLU defense shut down the Owls' rushing attack while racking up 6 sacks an 10 tackles-for-loss.
The Hilltopper special teams even got on the board when freshman safety Alec Wood hauled in a punt at his own 31 and sprinted 69 yards down the left sideline for West Liberty's first punt return touchdown since Darren Banks' 56-yard runback at Kentucky Wesleyan on Sept. 8, 2007.
The Hilltoppers have a week off before kicking off their West Virginia Conference schedule at home against West Virginia Wesleyan on Sept. 25. Kickoff for Hall of Fame Day at Russek Field is set for 1 p.m.
No. 20 West Liberty 49, So. Connecticut 35
West Liberty 14 14 7 14 – 49
So. Connecticut 7 10 10 8 – 35
First Quarter
WL-Calhoun 11 run (Blewett kick), 12:01
WL-Calhoun 3 run (Blewett kick), 4:11
SC-Epps 51 pass from Lynch (Hazelton kick), 1:34
Second Quarter
WL-Wood 69 punt return (Blewett kick), 5:51
SC-Slowley 6 run (Hazelton kick), 3:08
WL-Carter 19 pass from Amedro (Blewett kick), :20
SC-FG Hazelton 26, :00
Third Quarter
SC-Epps 32 pass from Lynch (Mandich pass from Lynch), 12:56
WL-Ferguson 33 pass from Amedro (Blewett kick), 9:52
SC-Safety, Calhoun tackled in end zone, 3:20
Fourth Quarter
WL-Calhoun 4 run (Blewett kick), 12:42
WL-Carter 2 pass from Amedro (Blewett kick), 5:37
SC-Epps 59 pass from Lynch (Slowley pass from Lynch)
A-2,846
Game Statistics
RUSHING: West Liberty 38-259; Calhoun 26-241, Bell 10-27, Travis 1-1, Amedro 1-(-10). So. Connecticut 28-38; Slowley 12-73, Wiechman 8-22, Lynch 8-(-57)
PASSING: West Liberty 21-41-242-3td-1x; Amedro 21-40-242-3td-1x, Travis 0-1-0-0-0. So. Connecticut 30-46-376-3td-0x (all by Lynch)
RECEIVING: West Liberty 21-242; Travis 10-100, Calhoun 4-42, Ferguson 3-61, Carter 3-28, Walker 1-11. So. Connecticut 30-376; Privott 7-100, Epps 4-151, Wiechman 4-19, Slowley 4-18, Mandich 3-26, Holt 2-14, Donnelly 2-13
First downs: West Liberty 27, So. Connecticut 21
Fumbles: West Liberty 1-1, So. Connecticut 2-2
Penalties: West Liberty 9-89, So. Connecticut 9-105
Time of Possession: West Liberty 30:57, So. Connecticut 29:03
