Football | 9/23/2011 8:29:00 AM

WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – One of the West Liberty University football team's oldest rivals will be catching the Hilltoppers on the rebound Saturday afternoon.

    Fairmont State (2-1, 0-1) invades Russek Field for a 1 p.m. kickoff against a West Liberty (0-3, 0-1) team that is still smarting from last week's 43-8 loss at West Virginia Wesleyan.

    “That was the most disappointing performance I've seen from any of my teams,” Hilltopper head coach Roger Waialae said. “We've won a lot of games by playing good hard football with high effort and high intensity for the entire 60 minutes. That didn't happen at Wesleyan.”

    Off to the first 0-3 start of his coaching career, Waialae made some changes in West Liberty's game preparation this week. Starting times for practices were pushed back and segments were restructured to include more live hitting – a rarity for the Hilltoppers in recent years.

    While the true test of the changes won't come until Saturday afternoon, Waialae was pleased with the team's response.

    “It's my responsibility as a coach to help the players understand the intensity and effort you have to bring in order to compete at this level,” Waialae said. “After we made the changes, our first two days of practice this week might have been the best energy we've had all year.

    “One of the things we found as coaches when we looked at what we were doing in preparation was that out of 6 hours of practice during game week, we only had our starting offensive line practicing together for a total of 75 minutes due to late classes. We needed to get our offensive line more time to work together and build some continuity so that's why we're starting practice later and staying later.”

    Wesleyan's high-pressure defensive scheme forced six West Liberty turnovers while coming up with 6 quarterback sacks and 10 tackles-for-loss. The Hilltoppers fell behind 23-0 in the first quarter and never recovered, finishing the day with Waialae-era lows of 151 total yards and minus-14 net rushing yards.

    Under constant pressure from the Bobcat pass rush, WLU quarterback L.D. Crow completed 17-of-36 passes for 99 yards while throwing an interception and losing a pair of fumbles. Backup QB Chris Kiedaisch completed 2-of-8 passes for 66 yards with a TD and an interception in the fourth quarter.

    The passing numbers are down significantly from previous seasons but, as is often the case, the problems aren't limited to one or two individuals.

    “L.D. is still our starting quarterback,” Waialae said. “He's made some mistakes but it's hard for me to blame the quarterback when we run a play with a 5-step drop and he gets tackled before he gets one step away from center. We have to do a better job of consistency and execution across the board.

    “If we get a chance this week, I'd like to get (true freshman) Ben Rogers a few snaps at quarterback. He's been working right alongside Chris Kiedaisch and had some really good practices this week. Chris got a little game experience last week so we'd like to get Ben a little playing time, as well.”

    Fairmont State comes into Saturday's game off a 36-30 triple-overtime loss to Glenville State. Freshman TB Daniel Monroe, a Florida State transfer, leads the WVIAC in rushing at 123.3 yards per game while sophomore QB Logan Moore directs a Falcon attack that averages 35.3 points per game.

    “Fairmont has built off their success from a year ago,” Waialae said. “Moore has really benefitted from the experience he got last season and they're better at several of the skill positions.

    “They're always strong defensively because they're the only team in the league that runs the (3-3-5) stack. It's a tough defense to prepare for in three days and they're very solid in it. Fairmont's a pretty good team so we'll definitely have to play well to come away with a win.”

GAME NOTES

    X The WLU Hall of Fame's Class of 2011 will be introduced to the crowd at halftime. Kelly Brown, Phil Comer, Tiffany Martin-Bailey, Mark Stacy and Dan Warner will be presented with their commemorative Hall of Fame plaques by West Liberty President Robin Capehart

    X The first 500 ticket-holders through the Russek Field gates will receive a souvenir WLU sun visor

    X Fairmont holds a 37-35-5 lead in the series but West Liberty has won the last six meetings

    X The teams have met every season since 1949

    X The Hilltoppers go back on the road next week with a Saturday afternoon game at Glenville State