Football | 9/5/2015 6:12:00 PM
Box Score WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Freshman kicker Christian Morris drilled a 33-yard field goal with 16 seconds remaining here Saturday afternoon to lift West Liberty past No. 9-ranked Concord, 29-28, in a thrilling Mountain East Conference opener at West Family Stadium. "Our guys believed from the start of camp that we can play with anybody," Hilltopper head coach Roger Waialae said. "I've been doing this long enough to know when you're telling a story or when you truly believe something and you saw what happened today. I'm really proud of the way they hung together and kept playing hard. Even when Concord took the lead in the fourth quarter, the guys never flinched and never stopped believing." Waialae's Hilltoppers had led for most of the afternoon only to see the Mountain Lions grab their only lead of the second half on a 41-yard touchdown pass from QB Brian Novak to WR Jermeil Douse, putting the visitors on top, 28-24, with 11:16 left in regulation.
The West Liberty offense went 3-and-out on the ensuing possession but freshman DB Charles Thigpen gave them new life with a diving interception of a tipped pass near midfield with a little more than 10 minutes remaining. The Hilltoppers ground more than 6 ½ minutes off the clock with a methodical 16-play drive only to see senior TE Daree Goodwin brought down 6 inches short of the goal line on 4th-and-goal from the 9 with 2:42 on the clock.
After a false start by Concord, the West Family Stadium crowd erupted when the shotgun snap sailed over Novak's head and out of the end zone for a safety. That cut the lead to 28-26 and forced CU to give the ball back to the hosts with 2:37 to play.
Two quick passes gave West Liberty a first down at its own 41 before redshirt freshman WR Osman Kargbo outdueled Concord DB Jeremiah Johnson to haul in a rainbow from QB Dakota Conwell down the right sideline. The 47-yard completion – the longest pass play of the game – gave the Hilltoppers a first down at the Mountain Lion 12. "We had to make a decision as a coaching staff right then whether to go for the touchdown or put it on our freshman kicker," Waialae said. "I have a rule that nobody's allowed to talk to the kicker, not even me, but it didn't matter. He was cool as a cucumber."
Two running plays lost 4 yards but kept the clock moving. After an incompletion in the end zone, Waialae sent Morris onto the field to attempt the 33-yard game-winner. The snap and hold were true and Morris hammered home a kick that would have been good from 53 yards.
It was a happy ending to a game that the Hilltoppers had pretty much dominated from the opening kickoff. Although the Mountain Lions returned the bulk of their roster from last year's team that led the MEC in scoring and total offense while rolling to a berth in the NCAA Division II national semifinals, it was West Liberty putting up the offensive numbers.
The Hilltoppers ran off 98 plays, nearly doubling Concord in time of possession (39:11 to 20:49) and first downs (27 to 13). The Mountain Lions' 4 touchdowns all came on plays of 25 yards or more but the visitors never took a snap in the West Liberty red zone and only three of their 18 possessions lasted longer than three snaps.
"We ran the ball and controlled the clock," Waialae said. "That was our game plan coming in and we executed pretty well. Our defense played great and so did our special teams. We had a great effort in all three phases of the game."
West Liberty opened the scoring midway through the first quarter when Marcus Schumacher broke through to block a punt and Garrett Vulcano recovered in the end zone. Novak answered with a 26-yard TD pass to Tiko Henderson at the start of the second quarter. Morris put WLU back on top, 10-7, with a 40-yard field goal before Calvinaugh Jones raced 53 yards untouched for a 14-10 Concord lead.
Jones, a first-team NCAA Division II All-American who ran for more than 1,700 yards last fall, was held to just 14 yards on his other 9 carries by the WLU defense.
A Miles Young interception at midfield got the ball back for West Liberty with 90 seconds left in the half and Jeremiah Ortiz capped a 10-play, 49-yard march with a punishing 5-yard TD run just 16 seconds before the end of the half. The Hilltoppers opened the second half with a 13-play, 75-yard scoring drive that lasted more than 6 minutes. Goodwin did the scoring honors with a twisting, leaping catch of a 10-yard fade route from Conwell in the right corner of the end zone for a 24-14 West Liberty lead.
Concord refused to fold. A 25-yard TD pass from Novak to Douse cut the lead to 24-21 with 1:23 left in the third quarter, setting the stage for Douse's go-ahead TD at the start of the fourth quarter.
Conwell completed 31-of-55 passes for 288 yards – all career-highs – with Goodwin's career-high 9 catches and 111 yards pacing the receiving corps. Ortiz and Tyler Peterson combined for 107 rushing yards on 32 carries. Novak completed 23-of-32 passes for 262 yards and 3 TDs but was picked off three times. TJ Smith led the Mountain Lion receivers with 8 catches for 96 yards as Concord had just 51 offensive snaps for 346 yards of total offense.
"This was a great win against a very good football team but it's just one game," Waialae said. "We're going to put this behind us tomorrow and start getting ready for McKendree."
West Liberty hosts McKendree (Ill.) in the annual Hall of Fame Game next Saturday. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. at West Family Stadium. The newest members of the WLU Hall of Fame will be introduced to the crowd at halftime.
West Liberty 29
No. 9 Concord 28
Concord 0 14 7 7 – 28
West Liberty 7 10 7 5 – 29
First Quarter
WLU: Vulcano 0 recovered blocked punt in end zone (Morris kick), 6:32
CU: Henderson 26 pass from Novak (Ellington kick), 11:04
Second Quarter
WLU: FG Morris 40, 5:10
CU: Jones 53 run (Ellington kick), 4:24
WLU: Ortiz 5 run (Morris kick), :16
Third Quarter
WLU: Goodwin 10 pass from Conwell (Morris kick), 8:39
CU: Douse 25 pass from Novak (Ellington kick), 1:23
Fourth Quarter
CU: Douse 41 pass from Novak (Ellington kick), 11:16
WLU: Safety, ball snapped out of end zone, 2:37
WLU: FG Morris 32, :16
Game Statistics
RUSHING: Concord 19-84; Jones 10-67; Zachary 4-19; Workinger 1-7; Novak 4-(-9). West Liberty 43-134; Peterson 13-54; Ortiz 19-53; Conwell 9-25; Penick 1-2; Kelly 1-0
PASSING: Concord 23-32-262-3td-3x (all by Novak). West Liberty 31-55-320-1td-3x (Conwell 30-53-288-1td-3x; McCallum 1-1-32-0-0; LaGarde 0-1-0-0-0).
RECEIVING: Concord 23-262; Smith 8-96; Douse 3-72; Henderson 3-37; Stewart 3-12; Jones 2-7; Bryant 2-7; Pulver 1-30; Zachary 1-1. West Liberty 31-320; Goodwin 9-111; Kelly 7-65; McCallum 4-35; Lowe 4-24; Kargbo 1-47; Hardesty 1-19; Harris 1-8; Kapron 1-6; Peterson 1-3; Mayo 1-2; Ortiz 1-0.
First downs: Concord 13, West Liberty 27
Fumbles: Concord 1-1, West Liberty 1-0
Penalties: Concord 9-93, West Liberty 10-82
Time of Possession: Concord 20:49, West Liberty 39:11
