WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Brenton Colabella put West Liberty ahead to stay with a 14-yard touchdown pass to Shane Phillips midway through the fourth quarter and a ball-hawking WLU defense slammed the door in the waning minutes of a 23-17 win against UVa-Wise Saturday afternoon at West Family Stadium.
    The Cavaliers (1-3, 1-3) saw their last chance at victory snatched away with just 1:07 remaining by Hilltopper junior cornerback Josh Ojo's toe-tapping interception – his second pick of the day – at the West Liberty 24.
    It was the fourth turnover of the afternoon for UVa-Wise, which had racked up more than 600 yards of total offense in last week's 35-20 win at Concord but was held to just 219 yards of total offense on Saturday and didn't score an offensive point over the final three quarters.
    "Our defense played with great effort and intensity, which can help you overcome any mistakes," Waialae said, "but the most important thing is they played as a unit. It was 11 guys playing as one."
    The Hilltoppers had to overcome some major adversity late in the first half.
    Players on both sides took a knee for several minutes as sophomore TB Savion Johnson was stretchered off the field after suffering an apparent leg injury on a gang tackle at the UVa-Wise 5.
    That helped set up a 21-yard field goal by Owen Rozanc, putting WLU ahead 13-10 with just 1:27 left on the second quarter clock but Rozanc's kick didn't end the scoring for the half.
    The Hilltoppers got the ball back at the Cavalier 48 with just six seconds remaining and tried to set up a "Hail Mary" to the end zone but junior QB Zach Phillips was flushed from the pocket and lost control of the ball. The visitors' Buster Henderson scooped it up and sprinted 52 yards to paydirt with no time on the clock, giving UVa-Wise a stunning 17-13 halftime lead.
    "I'm an aggressive coach and in a situation like that, I'm going to take a shot 100 times out of 100," Waialae said. "I pulled the team together when we got into the locker room and reminded them the game wasn't over. I give my team a lot of credit for the way they dealt with the end of the half. They were thinking more about Savion than about that play. They were focused on their teammate, what's really important, and all of them to a man said they were going to win this one for Savion."
    Colabella replaced Zach Phillips under center for the second half after Phillips, who had been injured in last week's game at Charleston, found his throwing mechanics being hampered by the lingering aftereffects.
    "Zach had been throwing without a problem in practice this week," Waialae said, "but it showed up during the game today where his knee affected his mechanics to the point he wasn't able to get the ball where he wanted. Brenton came in and did a great job for us."
    The second half was a defensive struggle but the Hilltoppers were able to close the gap late in the third quarter when Ojo picked off a Cavalier pass near midfield, setting up a 27-yard Rozanc field goal that trimmed the margin to 17-16 heading into the final 15 minutes.
    Osman Kargbo – who had put WLU on the board with a 33-yard TD catch from Phillips in the first quarter – came through with a 23-yard punt return to set the stage for what proved to be the winning touchdown midway through the fourth quarter.
    Kargbo's return put the Hilltoppers on the UVa-Wise 47. A 15-yard penalty on the Cavaliers followed by an 8-yard toss from Colabella to Isaiah Robinson and a pair of D.J. Frisby runs moved the ball inside the 20. On first-and-10 from the 14, Colabella lobbed a perfect fade route to the 6-5 Phillips in the right corner of the end zone for the go-ahead score with 8:33 to play.
    "We had a matchup we liked," Colabella said, "and Coach asked me if I wanted to throw that (fade) because he knows I like it. I knew if I got the ball anywhere near Shane he was going to come down with it. I can't say enough about how hard our guys played today. We really played with energy and focus and were rewarded with a great team win."
    The suspense wasn't over quite yet. The Cavaliers got the ball back for the final time with just under 4 minutes to go and drove from their own 35 to the WLU 31 before Ojo's game-sealing interception with just over a minute to play.
    "I give our defensive line all the credit in the world," Ojo said. "They were forcing the quarterback out of the pocket all day long. I believe we have the best secondary in the conference so when we play like that, picks will happen."
    Colabella and Zach Phillips combined to complete 9-of-29 passes for 187 yards and 2 TDs with no interceptions. Kargbo was the leading receiver with 2 catches for 71 yards while Charles Westbrook and Frisby combined for 81 rushing yards on 28 carries.
    Cavalier QBs Tanner Bernard and Brycen Lee combined to complete 22-of-36 passes for 172 yards with one TD and three interceptions. Kaian Duverger had 5 catches for 75 yards and a score while Jamorya Cousin finished with 63 rushing yards on 20 attempts.
    Senior LB Cliff Clark led the WLU defense with 13 tackles, 2 sacks, a forced fumble and 2 tackles-for-loss while junior DB Brandon Morrison had 6 solo tackles, an interception and a fumble recovery.
    The Hilltoppers head to South Euclid, Ohio next Saturday for a noon kickoff against Notre Dame.
  UVa-Wise                                  10  7  0  0 – 17
West Liberty                               7  6  3  7 – 23      UVW: Duverger 21 pass from Bernard (Owens kick), 6:06
     WLU: Kargbo 33 pass from Z.Phillips (Rozanc kick), 3:54
     UVW: FG Owens 48, :00      WLU: FG Rozanc 24, 12:03
     WLU: FG Rozanc 21, 1:27
     UVW: Henderson 52 fumble return (Owens kick), :00      WLU: FG Rozanc 27, :16      WLU: S.Phillips 14 pass from Colabella (Rozanc kick), 8:33
A: 1,920      RUSHING: UVa-Wise 32-47, Cousin 20-63, Lewis 2-14; Purvis 7-0; Bernard 3-(-30). West Liberty 42-84, Westbrook 21-45; Frisby 7-36; Z.Phillips 4-7; Colabella 3-6; Mosby 1-2; Johnson 3-0; Kargbo 2-(-5); Team 1-(-7)
     PASSING: UVa-Wise 22-36-172-1td-3x (Bernard 16-26-139-1td-2x, Lee 6-10-33-0td-1x). West Liberty 9-29-187-2td-0x; Z.Phillips 5-17-130-1td-0x; Colabella 4-12-57-1td-0x)
     RECEIVING: UVa-Wise 22-172; Duverger 5-75; Felton 4-25; Sharfi 3-18; Cousin 3-18; Brown 2-14; Purvis 2-13; Addison 2-3; Rowser 1-6. West Liberty 9-187; Kargbo 2-71; Robinson 2-39; S.Phillips 2-37; Rita 2-36; Durbin 1-4
     First downs: UVa-Wise 14, West Liberty 18
     Fumbles: UVa-Wise 4-3, West Liberty 2-1
     Penalties: UVa-Wise 10-94, West Liberty 3-10
     Time of Possession: UVa-Wise 28:48, West Liberty 31:12