Football | 11/7/2014 5:49:00 AM
WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – A total of 21 seniors will jog onto the West Family Stadium turf for the final time Saturday afternoon when the West Liberty University football team hosts UVA-Wise.
Kickoff for the Senior Day showdown is set for 1 p.m.
Last week's loss to Charleston knocked the Hilltoppers (5-4, 5-3) out of the regional rankings but head coach Roger Waialae says his team won't lack for motivation when they line up against the visiting Cavaliers (1-8, 1-7). "This group of seniors has worked very hard to put themselves in position to have a winning season," Waialae said. "A winning record can always be traced back to good senior leadership. This is the last game these guys will play on this field and their teammates want to make sure that memory is a happy one."
Virginia-Wise has only 3 wins to show for its two seasons in the MEC but Waialae is taking nothing for granted despite UVA-Wise's underwhelming track record.
"They haven't won a lot of games," Waialae said, "but they play hard on both sides of the ball. They had a nice win at (W.Va.) State a couple of weeks ago and they gave Concord fits last Saturday so they're getting better. If we don't come out ready to play, it could be a long afternoon."
The Hilltoppers are looking to put last Thursday's 42-13 loss at Charleston behind them. After trading touchdowns with the Golden Eagles in the opening quarter, the West Liberty offense ground to a halt. Charleston went on to rush for more than 300 yards and reeled off 35 unanswered points to put the game away.
"The disappointing thing for me was that our offensive line actually did a pretty good job of picking up all their stunts and blitzes," Waialae said. "We were able to create some gaps but our backs missed them. You can't do that against good football teams and not expect to pay a price. We rely on our skill kids to make plays for us and that didn't happen at Charleston."
The extra few days of rest coming off a Thursday game came in handy for a Hilltopper squad that brings its shares of bumps and bruises into the 10th game of the season. Starting guard Corey Ernest went down with a knee injury at Charleston and QB Dakota Conwell had to play through an ankle injury. Look for the Hilltoppers to focus on establishing the running game against UVA-Wise. West Liberty is averaging nearly 200 rushing yards a game in its 5 wins but has been held under 90 yards a game during its four losses. That would also create opportunities through the air where Conwell's 18 TD passes are the most by a WLU signalcaller since current quarterbacks coach Zach Amedro fired 38 touchdown strikes in 2010. "So much of our running game is based on Dakota's running ability that it really affected us when he got hurt at UC last week," Waialae said. "We have to run to be successful; that's what opens up our passing game. We need to be more of a play-action pass team than a drop-back pass team."
By contrast, UVA-Wise hasn't been much of a passing team at all. The Cavaliers have thrown only 3 touchdown passes all year, the fewest of any NCAA Division II squad, and also rank last in the nation in passing efficiency.
After struggling on offense for most of the year, the Virginia squad has put up some quality rushing numbers over the past two weeks. Freshman TB Carlton Griffith had his first 100-yard rushing game two weeks ago in a win at West Virginia State and followed that up with another 100-yard effort against No. 13 Concord last week.
"They're not an easy team to figure out," Waialae said. "It looks like they've found something with the running game but even though they don't have great passing numbers, they'll still throw it up and give their receivers a chance to make a play. That's what happened to us down there last year. We took a lead into the fourth quarter but their guys made a couple of big plays and we lost. We can't give up those kind of opportunities on Saturday."
GAME NOTES
X A total of 21 seniors will be recognized in a brief pre-game ceremony on Saturday: OL Eric Amidei, OL Eric Burhop, OL Jordan Gibson, RB Isiah Moody, WR Roosevelt Morisset, WR Jovan Murphy, WR Dylan Potts, WR Kordarius Rice, WR Ben Rogers, WR Brandon Schroeder, RB RJ Thomas, RB Lukas Turley, FS Pierre Blake, DL Josh Quinn, WS Marco Ricchetti, DL Sam Robinson, SS Tanner Stocker, DB Josh White, LB Alec Wood, PK Josh Wilson and P Griffin Yocum X West Liberty's 3 MEC losses have all come at the hands of regionally-ranked teams – No. 2 Concord, No. 7 Shepherd and No. 10 Charleston
X While the Hilltoppers hope to lock up their 8th winning season in Waialae's 10 years at the helm, UVA-Wise is in the midst of its sixth straight sub-.500 campaign
