WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University football team fought through several injuries and celebrated Homecoming in impressive fashion here Saturday with a crowd-pleasing 36-24 victory against West Virginia State at West Family Stadium.
    Junior QB Zach Phillips fired two touchdown passes and ran for more than 100 yards while senior LB Cliff Clark passed the 100-tackle milestone for the second straight season as Coach Roger Waialae's Hilltoppers (3-5, 3-5) snapped the Yellow Jackets' (4-4, 3-4) four-game winning streak.
    "The biggest thing for me was the 'next man up' attitude our guys showed today," Waialae said. "We had some guys go down early so we were forced to move people around, play some guys out of position and give repeated reps to guys who really didn't expect to get that many reps but they all rose to the occasion."
    The Hilltoppers scored on their first three possessions and never really looked back.
    Phllips, making his first start in a month due to injury, scrubbed more than 5 minutes off the clock on a workmanlike 11-play, 67-yard scoring march off the opening kickoff. Senior TB Charles Westbrook, one of the players who would later be sidelined by injury, darted in from 7 yards out for a 7-0 lead at 9:46 of the opening quarter.
    After the WLU defense forced a West Virginia State punt, Phillips and Westbrook teamed up for another lengthy drive capped by a 23-yard Owen Rozanc field goal, making it 10-0 West Liberty with 2:30 on the first quarter clock.
    Clark stuffed Yellow Jacket TB Calil Wilkins at the line of scrimmage when WVSU gambled on 4th-and-1 from its own 34 and Phillips made them pay with a 3-yard TD toss to senior WR Shane Phillips for a 16-0 Hilltopper lead with 13:01 left in the half.
    "It was great to get a win today in front of all the fans and alumni who came out for Homecoming," Phillips said, "and it was really great to do it the right way, executing on offense, defense and special teams. We didn't get our season off to the start we wanted but we can build on this to finish strong and get back to .500."
    West Virginia State got on the board with a 34-yard TD run from Carl Garmon and the teams traded field goals in the waning minutes of the second quarter, sending WLU into the locker room with a 19-10 lead.
    Rozanc added a 37-yard field goal to account for all the scoring in the third quarter and Phillips opened the fourth quarter with a 7-yard TD pass to Ridge Durbin, putting the hosts up, 29-10, with 12:38 remaining.
    State tried to get back in the game, trimming the deficit to 29-18 with a touchdown and 2-point conversion at the 4:01 mark but TB D.J. Frisby, who replaced the injured Westbrook in the WLU backfield, scampered into the end zone from 7 yards out for the clincher with 3:32 to play.
    Garmon closed out the scoring with a 57-yard touchdown catch but Christian Rita recovered the onside kick for West Liberty and the Yellow Jackets never threatened again.
    Phillips ran for 101 yards on 14 carries and added 128 passing yards on 11-of-19 completions. Frisby rushed for 95 yards and a score on 14 attempts while Westbrook had 61 yards on 13 carries before going down as West Liberty racked up 273 rushing yards on 49 carries.
    The Yellow Jackets' Wilkins, who entered the game as the No. 7-ranked rusher in the nation at just under 150 yards a game and 7.9 yards per carry, was limited to 74 yards and 4.9 yards per carry by Clark and the WLU defense.
    Clark posted his sixth straight double-figure tackle game with 12 stops – 11 of them solo tackles – to go along with two tackles-for-loss. With 101 tackles on the season, the returning All-American becomes the first Hilltopper with back-to-back 100-tackle seasons since Dave Peterson did it in 1994-95.
    "It's an honor to have something like that," Clark said, "but in all honesty, it wouldn't be possible without the other 10 guys on the field, especially the defensive line. They've been playing great all year and it makes my job a lot easier."
    West Liberty goes back on the road next week for a noon game at Concord.
    W.Va. State                            0  10  0  14 – 24
West Liberty                          10    9  3  14 – 36      WLU: Westbrook 13 run (Rozanc kick), 9:46
     WLU: FG Rozanc 23, 2:30      WLU: S.Phillips 3 pass from Z.Phillips (kick failed), 13:01
     WVS: Garmon 34 run (Ball kick), 12:35
     WLU: FG Rozanc 23, 7:27
     WVS: FG Ball 34, :02      WLU: FG Rozanc 37, 5:03      WLU: Durbin 7 pass from Z.Phillips (Rozanc kick), 12:38
     WVS: Garmon 3 run (Parsons pass from Saucedo), 4:01
     WLU: Frisby 7 run (Rozanc kick), 3:32
     WVS: Garmon 57 pass from Saucedo (run failed)
A: 2,856      RUSHING: W.Va. State 29-160, Wilkins 15-Garmon 3-50; Saucedo 4-19; Lucas 4-9; Pate 1-5; Jude 2-3. West Liberty 49-273, Z.Phillips 14-101; Frisby 14-95; Westbrook 13-61; Lykes 6-19; Durbin 1-2; O'Connor 1-(-5)
     PASSING: W.Va. State 21-36-281-1td-0x (all by Saucedo). West Liberty 12-21-139-2td-1x (Z.Phillips 11-19-128-2td-0x, Colabella 1-2-11-0td-1x)
     RECEIVING: W.Va. State 21-281, Henderson 6-80; Barrette 5-36; Pate 4-53; Parsons 3-26; Garmon 2-76; Wilkins 1-10. West Liberty 12-139, Mitchell 2-22; Durbin 2-10; S.Phillips 2-5; McLean 1-46; Frisby 1-34; Swart 1-11; Kargbo 1-8; N.Phillips 1-2; Jones 1-1.
     First downs: W.Va. State 22, West Liberty 25
     Fumbles: W.Va. State 0-0, West Liberty 00
     Penalties: W.Va. State 17-158, West Liberty 9-65
     Time of Possession: W.Va. State 25:10, West Liberty 34:50