WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – West Liberty raced out to a huge second-half lead and held off a late West Virginia Wesleyan surge here Thursday night to hand the Bobcats a 37-34 loss as the fog settled over West Family Stadium.
    Zach Phillips and Charles Westbrook each topped the 100-yard rushing mark and Josh Ojo had a key interception return for a touchdown as Coach Roger Waialae's Hilltoppers (1-1, 1-1) used a ground-and-pound approach to beat the Bobcats (0-2, 0-2) in the Mountain East Conference Game of the Week.
    "We want to run the football," Waialae said after seeing the Black and Gold rack up 267 rushing yards on 55 tries. "Having the threat of a running quarterback in Zach to go along with Charles gives us that added dimension but the best thing about this team is the way they feed off each other.
    "We have a veteran offensive line that's getting better and better but I thought our tight ends and H-backs – guys like Ridge Durbin, Kyle Ritz and Nate Swart – were the unsung heroes of the offense tonight. You won't see their names in the box score but they made plays tonight in the blocking game. I was very happy with how well we ran the ball tonight and they had a lot to do with it."
    It was a game of wild momentum swings, beginning at the 5:23 mark of the opening quarter when Bobcat DB Zechariah Johnson scooped up a WLU fumble and sprinted 48 yards to paydirt for the game's first score.
    The Hilltoppers responded by wrapping touchdown runs by Phillips and Westbrook around a pair of field goals by Wesleyan's Tyler Fischer to forge a 13-13 deadlock midway through the second quarter. Another Phillips TD run in the waning seconds of the first half put WLU on top, 20-13, at the break.
    West Liberty broke the game open with two quick scores midway through the third quarter. Owen Rozanc's 35-yard field goal pushed the count to 23-13 at 7:44 and two snaps later, Ojo stepped in front of a Luke Casey pass at the Bobcat 20 and darted untouched into the end zone to make it 30-13.
    "The coaches do a great job teaching us to read the quarterback," Ojo said, "and our defensive line was getting good pressure all night. That put me in good position to make the play. All I had to do was catch it."
    The Hilltopper defense wasn't finished. A big hit by junior DB Logan Deri forced a fumble on the ensuing possession and fellow junior DB Lherry Fontilisse recovered at the Wesleyan 32.
    That set up a 7-yard scoring toss from Phillips to redshirt freshman WR Quamaezius Mosby and West Liberty had its biggest lead of the night, 37-13, with just 1:25 remaining in the third quarter.
    The Bobcats didn't go away quietly. Casey fired TD passes of 19 and 16 yards to Kenny Lewis and Derek Drapen, respectively, on the next two possessions to pull the visitors within 10 points, 37-27, with 12:11 left.
    Casey put the final points on the board when Dewdney outleaped a WLU defender in the end zone to pull in a 40-yard touchdown toss with just 1:19 remaining but the Hilltoppers' Isaiah Robinson recovered the onside kick to finally slam the door.
    Phillips ran for 126 yards and 2 TDs on 15 carries while Westbrook muscled out 117 hard-earned yards and added another score on 30 carries. Phillips added 49 yards and another score through the air on 8-for-23 passing but it was all about the running game for the Hilltoppers.
    "Even though Wesleyan put a lot of guys in the box, we were still able to run the ball," Phillips said. "That says a lot for how well our guys played up front. Tt was good to get this win tonight and get a little momentum moving into next week at Charleston. It's another Thursday night game and I think we like those."
    Deri and junior defensive tackle Cody Rine put up some impressive numbers on defense. Deri was charted with 6 tackles including 3 tackles-for-loss, a forced fumble, a pass breakup and a quarterback sack of minus-16 yards. Rine also finished with 6 tackles, including 2.5 tackles-for-loss and 1.5 quarterback sacks.
    Casey completed 16-of-31 passes for 234 yards and 3 TDs with the interception to Ojo. Dewdney was the game's leading receiver with 3 catches for 82 yards.
  W.Va. Wesleyan                        10    3    8  13 – 34
West Liberty                                  7  13  17    0 – 37      WVW: Z.Johnson 48 fumble return (Fischer kick), 5:23
     WLU: Z.Phillips 27 run (Rozanc kick), 3:01
     WVW: FG Fischer 25, 1:49      WLU: Westbrook 2 run (kick blocked), 11:35
     WVW: FG Fischer 41, 9:04
     WLU: Z.Phillips 1 run (Rozanc kick), :18      WLU: FG Rozanc 35, 7:44
     WLU: Ojo 20 interception return (Rozanc kick), 7:06
     WLU: Mosby 7 pass from Z.Phillips (Rozanc kick), 1:25
     WVW: Lewis 19 pass from Casey (Dewdney pass from Casey), :35      WVW: Drapen 16 pass from Casey (pass failed), 12:11
     WVW: Dewdney 40 pass from Casey (Fischer kick), 1:19
A: 1,586      RUSHING: W.Va. Wesleyan 28-110, Montgomery 10-80, Freeman 5-36, Satcher 8-17, Casey 5-(-23). West Liberty 55-267, Z.Phillips 15-126, Westbrook 30-117, Kargbo 4-11, S.Johnson 3-11, Frisby 1-6, Team 2-(-4).
     PASSING: W.Va. Wesleyan 16-31-234-3td-1x (all by Casey), West Liberty 8-23-49-1td-0x (all by Z.Phillips)
     RECEIVING: W.Va. Wesleyan 16-234, Linzy 5-62, Dewdney 3-82, Drapen 2-44, Lewis 2-26, Freeman 2-13, Montgomery 2-7. West Liberty 8-49,  Durbin 3-18, McLean 2-13, Mosby 2-7, Rita 1-11
     First downs: W.Va. Wesleyan 16, West Liberty 19
     Fumbles: W.Va. Wesleyan 3-2, West Liberty 4-2
     Penalties: W.Va. Wesleyan 11-104, West Liberty 7-74
     Time of Possession: W.Va. Wesleyan 24:50, West Liberty 35:10