Football | 10/21/2017 5:53:00 PM

Box Score
    INSTITUTE, W.Va. – The West Liberty University football team opened up a two-touchdown lead in the fourth quarter here Saturday but couldn't hang on as West Virginia State rallied to a 39-33 overtime win in a Mountain East Conference thriller at Lakin Field.
    It was a frustrating setback for Coach Roger Waialae's hard-luck Hilltoppers (2-6, 2-6), who had overcome an early double-digit deficit to go up 33-19 with less than 13 minutes to play only to see the high-powered Yellow Jackets (5-3, 4-3) come storming back to claim their fourth straight win.
    With just 4:25 left in regulation and West Liberty still nursing a 33-26 lead, Aaron Farmer pinned West Virginia State deep in its own territory with a clutch punt that rolled dead at the WVSU 14 but senior QB Matt Kinnick led the Yellow Jackets on a brisk 86-yard, 11-play scoring march to force overtime.
    Kinnick completed all six of his passes during the drive, including a game-tying 11-yard scoring strike to WR Quinton Gray with only 58 seconds left on the clock.
    The Hilltoppers missed a 28-yard field goal on the first possession of overtime and Yellow Jacket TB Juawan Etheredge completed the WVSU rally with a 25-yard sprint to the end zone on the Yellow Jackets' first snap of overtime.
     State got off to a fast start with Aaron Ball kicking the first of his four field goals and Dionta Brown adding an 11-yard TD run to take a 10-0 lead into the second quarter but that's when the West Liberty offense rumbled to life.
    With the tag-team TB tandem of Jeremiah Ortiz and Savion Johnson punishing the interior of the West Virginia State defensive line, Hilltopper QB Lukas O'Connor caught the WVSU secondary napping with a 36-yard play-action TD strike to WR Teddy Mayo at 13:04 of the second quarter.
    Ball added another short field goal to make it 13-6 but West Liberty tied the game on a 20-yard Johnson run – WLU's first rushing TD of the season – and O'Connor gave the visitors a 19-13 halftime lead with an 8-yard scoring toss to HB Ridge Durbin just 29 seconds before intermission.
    The Black and Gold picked up where it had left off when play resumed with Ortiz capping another lengthy possession with a 25-yard touchdown run to make it 26-13.
    State drove deep into WLU territory on back-to-back possessions but had to settle for two more Ball field goals, cutting the gap to 26-19, but O'Connor opened the fourth quarter with his third TD pass of the day – a 32-yarder to WR Quinton Jones – and the Hilltoppers were up, 33-19, with 12:55 on the fourth quarter clock.
    Etheredge muscled his way for the final 5 yards of a 63-yard, 10-play drive to pull the Yellow Jackets within striking distance, 33-26, with 9:04 to go and WLU got the ball at midfield when State failed to recover a short kickoff.
    The Hilltoppers picked up one first down and Ortiz appeared to have picked up another inside the West Virginia State 30 only to have the run called back by a holding penalty. The penalty forced West Liberty to punt the ball away and left just enough time for the hosts to send the game into overtime.
    Ortiz ran for 179 yards on 30 carries while Johnson added a career-high 90 yards on 16 attempts. O'Connor completed 11-of-23 passes for 164 yards and 3 TDs with no interceptions. Freshman WR Isaiah Robinson led the WLU receivers with 5 catches for 70 yards. On the defensive side of the ball, DB Logan Deri had a season-high 14 tackles.
    Kinnick completed 26-of-40 passes for 241 yards and a TD with no interceptions while adding 79 rushing yards on 8 carries. Etheredge and fellow TB Dionta Brown combined for 184 rushing yards on 33 attempts while Gray was the game's leading receiver with 10 catches for 98 yards.
    The Hilltoppers return home to host Concord in the annual Hall of Fame Game. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Saturday at West Family Stadium.
  West Liberty                        0  19  7    7  0 – 33
W.Va. State                       10    3  6  14  6 – 39      WVS: FG Ball 37, 11:00
     WVS: D.Brown 11 run (Ball kick), 6:23      WLU: Mayo 36 pass from O'Connor (kick blocked), 13:04
     WVS: FG Ball 21, 5:38
     WLU: Johnson 20 run (Morris kick), 2:37
     WLU: Durbin 8 pass from O'Connor (kick failed), :29      WLU: Ortiz 25 run (Morris kick), 9:47
     WVS: FG Ball 29, 3:49
     WVS: FG Ball 24, :10      WLU: Jones 32 pass from O'Connor (Morris kick), 12::55
     WVS: Etheredge 5 run (Ball kick), 9:04
     WVS: Gray 11 pass from Kinnick (Ball kick), :58      WVS: Etheredge 25 run
A: n/a      RUSHING: West Liberty 49-260; Ortiz 30-179; Johnson 16-90; Hardesty 1-18; O'Connor 1-(-7); Team 1-(-20). W.Va. State 40-263; Etheredge 14-111; Kinnick 8-79; D.Brown 19-73.
     PASSING: West Liberty 12-24-206-3td-0x (O'Connor 11-23-164-3td-0x, Farmer 1-1-42-0-0). W.Va. State 26-40-241-1td-0x (all by Kinnick).
     RECEIVING: West Liberty 13-195; Robinson 5-70; Mayo 3-56; John 1-32; Jenkins 1-22; Staffileno 1-18; Durbin 1-8. W.Va. State 26-241; Gray 10-98; Barrette 6-67; J.Brown 4-40; Henderson 2-9; Cox 1-8; Alexander 1-7; Etheredge 1-6; D.Brown 1-6.
     First downs: West Liberty 23, W.Va. State 28
     Fumbles: West Liberty 2-1, W.Va. State 1-1
     Penalties: West Liberty 12-101, W.Va. State 9-94
     Time of Possession: West Liberty 27:31, W.Va. State 32:29