WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University defense came up big down the stretch here Saturday as WLU held off Glenville State, 20-19, in the annual Hall of Fame Game at West Family Stadium.
    The Pioneers (1-3, 1-3) had overcome an early 20-3 deficit to trail just 20-19 heading into the fourth quarter but big plays by the Hilltoppers (3-2, 3-1) kept the visitors off the board the rest of way to preserve a nail-biting win.
    "Forcing (Glenville) to settle for field goals in the third quarter was huge," WLU head coach Roger Waialae said, "and then the turnovers we created in the fourth quarter helped seal the deal."
    West Liberty took a 20-10 lead into the second half but struggled to find any offensive consistency. The Pioneers mounted three deep drives into Hilltopper territory – twice powering inside the West Liberty 10 – but couldn't punch the ball into the end zone.
    Josh Jones kicked field goals of 22, 23 and 43 yards in the quarter to make it a one-point game but despite mounting several more scoring threats over the final 15 minutes, the visitors never hit the scoreboard again.
    Freshman defensive back Elijah Hadley snuffed one Glenville drive, stepping in front of a DeAndre Clayton pass at the WLU 30 for his second interception of the day and returning it 43 yards to the Pioneer 27 with just 6:21 to play.
    Glenville dodged that bullet when Brandon Penn intercepted a Jack Allison pass in the end zone to get the ball back for the Pioneers with 3:33 to go.
    After a first down moved the ball out to the Glenville 40, WLU defensive end Trevor Hoosier sacked Clayton on third down to force a 4th-and-13 from the 37. Clayton's fourth down pass sailed high out of bounds under extreme pressure from Hoosier and the Hilltoppers took over.
    The Pioneers burned their timeouts as West Liberty moved to the GSC 18 but on 4th-and-6 with just 1:34 to play, Waialae decided against a 35-yard field goal attempt and Allison's pass into the end zone was intercepted for a touchback.
    "There were a lot of factors to consider," Waialae said, "but it was my decision. They were out of timeouts so they were going to have to be in 100 percent pass mode. Our pass rush was starting to get home anyway and they'd just be able to lay their ears back and get after it. Also, they had blocked the PAT after our last touchdown. I just felt more comfortable pinning them back in their end of the field and asking my defense to make a couple more plays."
    It only took one.
    On the very first snap, Hoosier – that man again – split a pair of blockers and strip-sacked Pioneer backup QB Will Adkins. Fellow defensive end Jack Davis recovered at the GSC 15 and the Hilltopper offense returned to the field to run two more snaps out of "victory" formation.
    "Trevor Hoosier is one of the best defensive players - regardless of position - in the region," Waialae said. "He goes as hard as he can for as long as he can on every play. That's what makes him so special."
    The West Liberty offense did most of its damage in the first half. Allison completed 9-of-10 passes for 138 yards – including a 15-yard touchdown strike to Wisdom Jenkins – while Tyler Moler added touchdown runs of 3 and 6 yards after Glenville had opened the scoring with a 24-yard field goal by Jones less than 90 seconds into the contest.
    The Pioneers narrowed the gap to 20-10 at the half with a 16-play, 73-yard drive capped by a 2-yard Alfred Menjor touchdown burst in the waning minutes of the second quarter.
    Allison finished with 15-of-24 completions for 176 yards and a TD with three interceptions. Isaiah Robinson had a game-high 7 catches for 74 yards while Moler finished with 53 yards on 25 rushing attempts. Hoosier led the Hilltopper defense with 7 total tackles, highlighted by a career-high 4 tackles-for-loss and a forced fumble.
    Menjor paced the Pioneers with 75 yards on 22 carries while Clayton was 18-of-32 for just 87 passing yards with no TDs and two interceptions. Seth Arnold had a game-high 10 tackles in a losing cause.
    West Liberty goes back on the MEC road next week with a Saturday afternoon game at Concord.     X The WLU Hall of Fame added eight new members on Saturday. The Hall of Fame's Class of 2021 – Heather Alcorn Ferguson, Clay Beeler, Kevon Calhoun, Dave Cisar, Richard Foston, Doug Surra, Lynn Thompson and Kallen Weaver Nelson – were presented with commemorative plaques at halftime
    X West Liberty improved to 46-32-4 all-time against Glenville in a series that dates back to the early 1920s. The 46 wins are the most by the Black and Gold against any opponent
    X Concord, next week's Hilltopper opponent, fell to 1-3 on the season on Saturday after dropping a 31-27 road decision at Fairmont State
 
  Glenville State                            3  7  9  0 – 19
West Liberty                             14  6  0  0 – 20      GSC: FG Jones 24, 13:47
     WLU: Moler 3 run (Rozanc kick), 8:39
     WLU: Jenkins 15 pass from Allison (Rozanc kick), 6:01      WLU: Moler 6 run (kick blocked), 13:06
     GSC: Menjor 2 run (Jones kick), 11:50      GSC: FG Jones 23, 11:50
     GSC: FG Jones 22, 7:15
     GSC: FG Jones 43, 2:29
A: 1,422      RUSHING: Glenville State 34-105, Menjor 22-75, Dankyi 3-24, Clayton 7-11, Ervin 1-0, Adkins 1-(-5). West Liberty 33-29, Moler 25-53, Griffin 1-2, Alphonso 1-(-1), Allison 6-(-25)
     PASSING: Glenville State 19-33-129-0td-2x (Clayton 18-32-87-0td-2x, Butler 1-1-42-0-0), West Liberty 15-24-176-1td-3x (all by Allison)
     RECEIVING: Glenville State 19-129, West Liberty 15-176,
     First downs: Glenville State 16, West Liberty 14
     Fumbles: Glenville State 1-1, West Liberty 1-1
     Penalties: Glenville State 4-40, West Liberty 6-38
     Time of Possession: Glenville State 28:44, West Liberty 30:16