Buckhannon, W.Va. – The West Liberty University football extended its longest win streak since 2016 to three games with a 24-7 win over West Virginia Wesleyan on Saturday afternoon at Cebe Ross Field. The Hilltoppers jumped out to a 21-0 halftime lead with a pair of Rudy Garcia passing touchdowns and a pick six by Chris Wilson, while the special teams blocked a pair of Bobcat field goal attempts. After a scoreless third quarter Justin Kaplan added a field goal before WVWC ended the WLU shutout bid with a touchdown in the closing minutes.
 
QUICK DETAILS
Final Score: West Liberty 24, West Virginia Wesleyan 7
Team Records: West Liberty 3-4 (3-3 MEC), West Virginia Wesleyan 0-6 (0-5 MEC)
Attendance: 100
 
HOW IT HAPPENED

• After a fumble on the first offensive possession of the game, the West Liberty defense held strong while facing a short field. With West Virginia Wesleyan gaining possession on the WLU 25 yard line, the Bobcats only moved the ball three yards before Liam Depp missed his first field goal attempt of the season, pushing the 39 yard field goal attempt wide right.
• The Hilltopper offense regrouped on the second drive of the game, moving the ball 78 yards on 11 plays in four minutes and 27 seconds, resulting in a touchdown. Facing a 4^th Down and 8 from the WVWC 28 yard line, Ben Turner beat his defender off the line of scrimmage and Rudy Garcia found him in the end zone for the first score of the game. Tyler Waddell added the point after attempt to make it a 7-0 game with 8:07 remaining in the first quarter.
• West Virginia Wesleyan ate up over eight minutes of possession on their ensuing drive, running 15 plays for 77 yards only to see a second straight missed field goal attempt. A 16 yard pass from Quinton Pulley to Nathaniel Garnett Jr. set up 1^st and Goal from the WLU two yard line before the Hilltopper defense made three consecutive stops with their backs against the wall. On Depp's second field goal attempt of the game, from approximately 20 yards out, the West Liberty defense broke through the left side of the WVWC line and John Brown was able to get a hand on the ball for the block.
• After a punt and missed field goal on their first two drives of the second quarter, the West Liberty offense received great starting field position as Tay Currelly-Johnson II returned the Bobcat punt 25 yards to the WVWC 47 yard line. The Black & Gold picked up a pair of first downs before facing 4^th Down and 5 from the WVWC 16 yard line. The offense stayed on the field and Garcia found Chris Charles open down the left sideline for his second touchdown pass of the day. Waddell's extra point pushed the lead to 14-0 with 4:03 remaining till halftime.
• On the second play of the ensuing West Virginia Wesleyan drive, Chris Wilson read the play perfectly and jumped in front of Pulley's pass. Wilson then had 30 yards of open field to return the ball to the end zone for a pick six. Waddell's kick attempt made it 21-0 Hilltoppers with 3:14 left in the second quarter.
• The Bobcats received a short field with 1:25 remaining in the first half as Brennan Secrist was unable to get the punt off and was tackled at the WLU 45 yard line. West Virginia Wesleyan moved the ball down the field to the Hilltopper 14 yard line before Depp came on for his third field goal attempt of the half with 25 seconds remaining. The West Liberty defensive line got pressure once again as the approximately 30 yard field goal attempt was blocked by Mason Gates and recovered by Cam Rice.
• With West Virginia Wesleyan driving towards the end of the third quarter, Rice forced a fumble on a run by Charles Spratley and Taison Fa'Asuamanu recovered the ball at the WLU 31 yard line to end the period. West Liberty got the offense rolling once again in the opening drive of the fourth quarter. On the second play of the drive, Garcia found Rashawn Harvey for a 51 yard pass down the right side of the field to the WVWC 15 yard line. A holding penalty put the Hilltoppers behind the chains and forced a 37 yard field attempt by Justin Kaplan, which he placed through the uprights with 12:29 remaining in the game to extend the West Liberty lead to 24-0.
• The Bobcats ended the Hilltoppers shutout bid with 1:09 remaining in the contest as Pulley capped a 50 yard scoring drive with a 12 yard touchdown pass to Joseph Triplett. Depp's extra point cut the WLU lead to 24-7.
• Rice set a new career-high mark of 13 tackles in the game and matched his career-high of 4.5 tackles-for loss set two weeks ago against Concord. He also added 1.5 sacks.
• Wilson's pick six in the second quarter was the Hilltopper defense's first since Shon Stephens returned an interception for a touchdown in the closing minute of a win over Alderson Broaddus on September 9, 2022.

WEST LIBERTY STATISTICAL LEADERS
Rudy Garcia: 13-of-24 passing, 185 passing yards, 2 passing touchdowns
Dylan Asbury: 21 rushing attempts, 78 rushing yards
Chris Charles: 5 receptions, 56 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown
Ben Turner: 2 receptions, 48 receiving yards, 1 receiving touchdown
Cam Rice: 13 tackles, 4.5 tackles-for-loss, 1.5 sacks, 1 forced fumble
Chris Wilson: 1 tackle, 1 interception, 1 touchdown
 
UP NEXT
West Liberty will look to extend their win streak to four games, which would be their longest winning streak since 2009 when the Black & Gold won 11 consecutive, when they host Notre Dame on Saturday (October 21) evening. The Hilltoppers will also look for their first-ever win against the Falcons when they kickoff at 5 p.m. at West Family Stadium.