WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Regionally ranked Urbana built a big early lead but had to fend off a strong second half comeback from West Liberty before handing the Black and Gold a 35-17 setback on a dark and stormy night at West Family Stadium.
    The Blue Knights (7-2, 7-2), ranked No. 7 in this week's NCAA Division II Super Region One rankings, used a combination of big plays and time-consuming drives to take a commanding 28-3 lead into the halftime locker room but the Hilltoppers (4-5, 3-5) responded to the challenge.
    After allowing more than 300 yards of total offense and 28 points in the first two quarters, the WLU defense held the high-powered visitors to just 31 yards of total offense on 17 snaps while pitching a third-quarter shutout.
    "It felt like we came out feeling sorry for ourselves having to play in all the wind and rain," WLU senior defensive tackle Cody Rine said, "but they (Urbana) had to play in it, too. We came out in the second half and were able to move their front and make things happen like we had talked about in practice all week."
    A West Liberty offense that had struggled in the first half against the No. 1-ranked defense in the Mountain East Conference also seemed to hit its stride after halftime.
    The Hilltoppers were on the move as the third quarter drew to a close and sophomore QB Erick Taylor capped the 9-play, 61-yard march with a 1-yard burst at 11:37 of the fourth quarter to close the gap to 28-10. Taylor had a key 13-yard run during the drive while tailbacks Savion Johnson and D.J. Frisby also carried their share of the load as the West Liberty running game rumbled to life.
    "We just kept drilling our technique all week," senior offensive lineman Chance Rucker said. "We didn't have a great game at Fairmont last week but I thought we were much more consistent tonight and were able to help our guys get some positive yards."
    A short Urbana punt into a stiff wind gave the ball back to the Hilltoppers at the Blue Knight 48 and the Black and Gold were back in business. A 19-yard completion to WR Wisdom Jenkins cashed in a third-and-nine call at the Urbana 13 and Taylor followed with another third-down strike, this one to Isaiah Robinson for a 10-yard touchdown with 6:07 remaining.
    That cut the lead to 28-17 but after the visitors picked up a pair of first downs, time became a significant factor. With the Hilltopper defense selling out against the run in hopes of creating a quick turnover, Blue Knight TB W.R. Sanders burst through the line and found nothing but green artificial turf and white stripes between him and a game-clinching 53-yard touchdown run with just 2:02 left to play.
    Urbana had been held to less than 100 yards of total offense in the second half before that score.
    "I thought we handled the physical challenge really well tonight against a very good football team that has a chance to make it to post-season play," head coach Roger Waialae said. "We got better up front but we need our skill guys to make plays when called upon. That's two weeks in a row we've dropped passes early in the game we don't normally drop and it's put us in a hole.
    "This is a resilient group and I'm proud of the way they responded after halftime. We talked about going back out and winning the second half and we did that but we need to put two good halves together and win the game."
    Taylor completed 10-of-28 passes for 113 yards and one touchdown with one interception. Quincy Wimbish ran for 72 yards on 17 carries and Robinson was the team's leading receiver with 41 yards on 3 catches. Safeties Koty Hudson and Ty Holmes each finished with a season-high 11 tackles.
    Urbana QB Eddie Stockett had a big night while doing most of his damage in the first half. Stockett completed 12-of-27 passes for 211 yards with first-half TD tosses of 81 yards to Jesse Bray and 13 yards to Kenneath Redd. Sanders finished with 131 rushing yards on 23 carries while Bray led all receivers with 110 yards on 4 catches.
    The Hilltoppers hit the road for the final time on Nov. 9 with a trip to West Virginia Wesleyan before returning home for the Nov. 16 season finale against the University of Charleston.
  Urbana                                 14  14  0    7 – 35
West Liberty                           3    0  0  14 – 17      UU: Bray 81 pass from Stockett (Ware kick), 11:42
     UU: Young 4 run (Ware kick), 5:03
     WLU: FG Rozanc 24, :07      UU: Redd 13 pass from Stockett (Ware kick), 7:12
     UU: Sanders 6 run (Ware kick), :41      WLU: Taylor 1 run (Rozanc kick), 11:37
     WLU: Robinson 10 pass from Taylor (Rozanc kick), 6:07
     UU: Sanders 53 run (Ware kick),2:02
A: 1,675      RUSHING: Urbana 46-240; Sanders 23-131; Stockett 9-71; Young 11-37; Pettway 1-4; TEAM 2-(-3). West Liberty 37-132; Wimbish 17-72; Johnson 8-30; Taylor 6-11; Frisby 4-10; Farmer 2-9.
     PASSING: Urbana 12-28-211-2td-0x (Stockett 12-27-211-2td-0x; Sanders 0-1-0-0-0). West
Liberty 10-28-113-1td-1x (all by Taylor).
     RECEIVING: Urbana 12-211; Bray 4-110; Floyd 3-36; Young 2-32; Dennis 2-20; Redd 1-13. West Liberty 12-113; Robinson 3-41; Cole 3-21; Jenkins 1-19; N.Phillips 1-16; Durbin 1-13; Johnson 1-3.
     First downs: Urbana 22, West Liberty 17
     Fumbles: Urbana 1-0, West Liberty 1-1
     Penalties: Urbana 9-104, West Liberty 6-45
     Time of Possession: Urbana 35:46, West Liberty 24:14