Football | 9/4/2010 5:17:39 PM
BOX SCORE
GAME PHOTOS
WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – A pair of missed extra-points proved crucial Saturday afternoon as No. 7 West Liberty was stunned, 20-19, by Edinboro in a mutual season opener at Russek Field.
The Hilltoppers had a potential game-winning drive snuffed out with just 1:35 remaining when Fighting Scots defensive back James Jackson made a leaping interception at the Edinboro 5. The visitors kneeled on the ball twice to kill the clock and close out the early-season shocker.
“Give Edinboro credit. They're a very well-coached team and they outperformed us today,” said West Liberty head coach Roger Waialae. “We were a little out of synch at times and we didn't do a very good job of playing together.
“It's never as good as it seems when you win or as bad as it seems when you lose. We're a better football team than we showed today. Now we have to come back and prove it.”
In the end, Saturday's game bore no resemblance to the most recent meeting between the two teams. West Liberty had pounded Edinboro, 84-63, in an NCAA Division II second-round playoff game that saw the teams light up the Russek Field turf for nearly 1,400 yards of total offense.
A pair of returning All-Americans got the Hilltoppers off to a good start when quarterback Zach Amedro hit tight end Ryan Travis with a 14-yard touchdown pass midway through the opening quarter.
Edinboro knotted the score at 7 on a 1-yard dive by redshirt freshman quarterback Cody Harris at the 2:07 mark of the opening quarter but the West Liberty offense dominated the second quarter.
Amedro led back-to-back touchdown drives of 9 plays for 79 yards and 11 plays for 81 yards as the Hilltoppers had the ball for nearly 10 minutes during the stanza.
Kevon Calhoun danced into the end zone from a yard out with 8:11 on the second-quarter clock and DeVaughn Gordon slammed across from the 1 on 4th-and-goal with 38 seconds left in the half to cap the two drives but poor snaps led to both PATs being blocked, forcing the hosts to settle for a 19-7 lead at intermission.
Those missed PATs would come back to haunt West Liberty as the high-powered Hilltoppers never scored again.
After racking up three touchdowns and 288 yards of total offense in the first half, West Liberty managed just 98 yards of total offense and 6 first downs over the final 30 minutes.
“Instead of really attacking us on defense like they did last year, Edinboro just sat back and kept everything in front of them,” Waialae said. “Their safeties were 20-25 yards off the ball so they didn't have to worry about giving up the big play. We may have gotten a little impatient instead of just taking what they were giving us and we hurt ourselves with some bad penalties, as well.”
Harris helped cut the lead to 19-14 midway through the third quarter when he faked a handoff and scampered 55 yards through the Hilltopper defense to set up a 1-yard Drew Herrell touchdown dive.
The teams traded punts into the fourth quarter when Harris led the Fighting Scots on a 12-play, 80-yard scoring drive.
The freshman signalcaller completed 6-of-8 passes during the march. Three of his completions were clutch third-down connections, two of which kept the drive alive and the final one of 7 yards to D'Mar Jeter for the touchdown and a 20-19 lead with 7:16 left in the game.
After an exchange of punts, the West Liberty offense took over at its own 23 with no timeouts and just 2:54 remaining.
Despite working into a stiff headwind, Amedro quickly got the Hilltoppers on the move. Two passes to Calhoun picked up a first down at the 42 and Travis scampered out of bounds at the Edinboro 49 with a 9-yard catch.
Willie Walker then got open down the middle for a 17-yard grab to the 32. After an incompletion, Amedro fired a deep out to Pauly Ferguson but the ball hung up in the wind long enough for Edinboro's Jackson to make the interception and lock up the win.
Amedro completed 35-of-52 passes for 330 yards – his NCAA Division II record 14th consecutive 300-yard passing game – and moved into second place all-time on the WVIAC passing list with 11,005 passing yards. Harris completed 13-of-19 passes for 144 yards and added 37 rushing yards on 11 carries despite being sacked 6 times.
The Hilltoppers travel to New Haven, Conn. this week to take on perennial Northeast 10 power Southern Connecticut State. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Saturday.
“There are a lot of similarities to last year when we lost our first game and bounced back,” Waialae said. “We need to look at the tape, correct our mistakes and get ready to go on the road and play a very good football team again next Saturday. After today, it's just like last year. Every week is a playoff week from here on out.”
Edinboro 20, West Liberty 19
Edinboro 7 0 7 6 – 20
West Liberty 7 12 0 0 – 19
First Quarter
WL-Travis 14 pass from Amedro (Blewett kick), 8:29
Ed-Harris 1 run (Romanias kick), 2:07
Second Quarter
WL-Calhoun 1 run (kick blocked), 8:11
WL-Gordon 1 run (kick blocked), :38
Third Quarter
Ed-Herrell 1 run (Romanias kick), 6:57
Fourth Quarter
Ed-D.Jeter 7 pass from Harris (Romanias kick), 7:16
A-2,765
Game Statistics
RUSHING: Edinboro 40-107, Herrell 19-71, Harris 11-37, Battles 7-3, Team 3-(-4). West Liberty 21-56, Calhoun 14-47, Amedro 6-8, Gordon 1-1.
PASSING: Edinboro 13-19-144-1td-0x (all by Harris). West Liberty 35-52-330-1td-2x (all by Amedro).
RECEIVING: Edinboro 13-144, Brown 4-52, Nolen 3-25, D.Jeter 2-27, Bostic 2-26, Walker 1-8, Marino 1-6. West Liberty 35-330, Travis 12-76, Carter 7-80, Calhoun 7-76, Walker 6-57, Ferguson 2-34, Schroeder 1-7.
First downs: Edinboro 9, West Liberty 20
Fumbles: Edinboro 1-0, West Liberty 0-0
Penalties: Edinboro 11-74, West Liberty 9-79
Time of Possession: Edinboro 27:10, West Liberty 32:50
