With the regular season rapidly drawing to a close, the West Liberty University football team looks to keep its post-season hopes alive Thursday night when Coach Roger Waialae's resurgent Hilltoppers invade UC Stadium for a 7 p.m. kickoff against the University of Charleston.

West Liberty (5-3, 5-2) has reeled off three straight wins to move into a third-place tie with Notre Dame in the Mountain East Conference standings. The recent surge has also propelled the Black and Gold into the NCAA Division II playoff picture as the Hilltoppers checked in at No. 10 this week when the first Atlantic Region rankings were released.

It's the first time West Liberty has cracked the regional rankings since the end of the 2009 season but Waialae isn't looking any farther ahead than Thursday night's Capital City showdown with a dangerous Charleston (5-3, 4-3) squad.

"Charleston is a very good football team that has played pretty much the same tough schedule we have and come out of it with a couple of tough losses," Waialae said. "Even so, they held Notre Dame to 14 points and kept Shepherd and Concord both in the 20s. Those are the three top scoring teams in the league and UC held all three 20 points below their season scoring average. We're going to have to be ready to play as soon as we step off the bus."

The Golden Eagles will be facing a Hilltopper team that has rebounded from early losses to nationally-ranked Concord and Shepherd and has been clicking on all cylinders over the past three weeks.

West Liberty picked up its third straight win – its longest win streak in five years – last week with a dominating 24-3 victory against W.Va. Wesleyan under the lights at West Family Stadium. Fast starts have been the hallmark of WLU's recent surge. After racing out to a 10-0 halftime lead against Wesleyan, West Liberty has outscored its last three foes by a whopping 67-3 margin in the first half.

Sophomore QB Dakota Conwell has emerged as a true dual-threat signalcaller. During the Hilltoppers' winning streak, Conwell has completed 40-of-66 passes for 659 yards and 10 TDs while rushing for 115 yards on 39 carries.

The West Liberty running game took center stage against the Bobcats. Isiah Moody carried 26 times for 153 yards, Conwell added 81 yards on the ground and R.J. Thomas had 45 yards on just 6 attempts as West Liberty rushed for nearly 300 yards.

"I was pretty determined to get the run game going last week," Waialae said, "and we were pretty efficient with Isiah, Dakota and R.J. all averaging more than 5 yards a carry. When you can run the ball like that, it's going to create some opportunities in the passing game and Dakota took advantage of that with some big throws."

Waialae says the Charleston defense is a different sort of animal.

"They are so physical up front," Waialae said. "The key to the game will be whether we can match up with them physically and create some gaps for our backs. It will be hard to win down there if we can't. They don't have many weaknesses. They have a lot of talent in the secondary; they get good pressure on the passer and they tackle very well."

The Golden Eagles have won the last three meetings with West Liberty, due in large part to their ability to control the ball on the ground. Charleston has rushed for more than 200 yards in each of the last seven years against WLU and had more than 200 rushing yards a week ago in a heartbreaking 24-20 loss at No. 15 Concord.

The UC running game is a three-headed monster featuring tag-team TBs Marvin Elam and Josef Hinnant, who have combined for nearly 1,000 rushing yards this season, and elusive QB Jermaine Kelly, who averages nearly 6 yards per carry and broke off a 60-yard touchdown run in last week's upset bid in Athens. 

Three quarterbacks – Kelly, Jordan Paul and John Knox – have combined to complete 105-of-202 passes for 1,170 yards and 9 TDs with 6 interceptions. Knox moved to wide receiver a few games back while Paul, the more accomplished passer of the trio, has battled injuries. WR Joey Augustin is the primary target with 31 catches for 507 yards and 6 TDs.

"They're throwing the ball a little more this year than they have in the past but they're still on pace to run it about 500 times," Waialae said. "With Kelly being such a dangerous running threat, he's been pretty effective through the air. I think he completed 17 passes against Concord last week to go along with his 60-yard touchdown run. He and the tailbacks are working behind a big, physical offensive line, they take good care of the football and make very few mistakes. We have to find a way to take away the run and put them in obvious passing situations."

GAME NOTES

X West Liberty is 4-2 in night games under Waialae but has won the last three on the road – all at Fairmont State

X The Hilltoppers have forced 12 turnovers and posted a plus-7 turnover margin during their 3-game winning streak

X Golden Eagle DB Torie Wagner is the only NCAA Division II player with 3 kick return touchdowns (2 punt, 1 kickoff) this season

X Wagner leads the MEC in punt returns (18.7 ypr.) and kickoff returns (29.7 ypr.). He ranks No. 5 nationally in punt returns and No. 12 in kickoff returns