Football | 10/17/2019 12:00:00 PM

    WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Fresh off its most lop-sided victory in the Mountain East Conference era, the West Liberty University football team heads to Canton, Ohio on Saturday to take on Walsh University.
    Kickoff for WLU's only non-conference game of the season is set for 1 p.m. at Tom Benson Hall of Fame Stadium next door to the Pro Football Hall of Fame.
    Coach Roger Waialae's Hilltoppers (3-3) sent their Homecoming fans home happy on Saturday with a 47-6 blowout of Concord at West Family Stadium. It was the largest margin of victory for a WLU squad since an 82-36 thrashing of Seton Hill on Nov. 6, 2010.
    The Cavaliers (1-5), who hail from the Great Midwest Athletic Conference, appear to be righting their ship after a slow start. Walsh broke into the win column for the first time two weeks ago with a 21-6 win at Lake Erie (Ohio) and is coming off a strong defensive effort in last week's 19-10 setback against powerful Findlay.
    "Their defense has played pretty well overall," Waialae said. "They've done a good job keeping teams out of the end zone and their linebackers (sophomore Stephen Baugh and Leondre Crosby) could probably start for anybody we've played so far.
    "They had a lot of early injuries on offense so they've been forced to make adjustments and try a lot of things in search of an identity. We've seen wildcat sets, option sets, all kinds of different groupings and formations on tape so we have to be prepared for anything."
    The Hilltoppers played one of their most dominant halves of football in years on Saturday, holding Concord to just four first downs while forcing five turnovers and racking up more than 300 yards of total offense in racing out to a 30-0 halftime lead.
    "We made plays," Waialae said. "It's as simple as that. Even when something would break down during the course of a play, somebody was able to step up and turn what could have been a negative into a positive. We did that in all three phases of the game and you saw the result."
    Senior QB Zach Phillips threw for more than 300 yards and 3 touchdowns with no interceptions while TE Thomas Cole had 8 catches for 148 yards and fellow TE Ridge Durbin caught a pair of touchdown passes. Phillips has thrown for nearly 1,500 yards this season with 13 TDs and just three interceptions in 179 passes.
    The five turnovers were a season-high for the Hilltoppers, who have now forced 11 turnovers in their last three games, but Waialae was quick to point out the other side of the coin.
    "We put a lot of emphasis on our defense forcing turnovers," Waialae said, "but our offense hasn't turned the ball over that much, either, and I give our receivers a lot of credit. I want Zach to throw those 50-50 balls down the field because I think our receivers have a great chance to win those battles."
    As noted, Walsh has been struggling to move the football with any consistency, especially through the air.
    The Cavaliers rank dead last among all 167 NCAA Division II teams in scoring (7.67 ppg.), passing offense (83.8 ypg.) and total offense (178.5 ypg.). The quarterback tandem of freshman Tadas Tatarunas and Nick Gassman have combined to complete just 54-of-135 passes for 488 yards over the first six games. They've thrown one TD pass and 11 interceptions.
    The Hilltoppers and their coaching staff are taking nothing for granted.
    "It doesn't matter who you play nearly as much as how you play," Waialae said. "One thing we've pointed out to our players this week is that of all the teams they play this season, Walsh picked us for Homecoming. We were really locked in on Concord last week. We need to be just as focused on Walsh for Saturday."