“We lost in Game One last year but we re-focused and took care of business,” Waialae said. “I saw a lot of similarities to that loss on Saturday but we have a lot of veteran guys who know what it takes to battle back. We need to put this behind us, fix the mistakes and move on.”

That’s exactly what Waialae and his coaching staff set out to do in practice this week as the Hilltoppers began preparations for Saturday’s game at perennial Northeast-10 power Southern Connecticut State. The primary concern coming out of the Edinboro game was the lack of cohesiveness on an offense that replaced three starters on the offensive line and a pair of 1,000-yard receivers.

Senior quarterback Zach Amedro passed for 330 yards on the day – his 14th consecutive 300-yard game – but most of that came in the first half while the Hilltoppers were building a 19-7 lead. West Liberty was shut out in the second half and managed less than 100 yards of total offense over the final two quarters.

“Probably the biggest disappointment was the play of our offensive line,” Waialae said. “It doesn’t matter how talented you are individually, this is a team game and you have to work together as a unit. We have to do a better job in that area.”

The Hilltoppers did find some encouraging signs coming out of the loss. A defensive unit that had allowed an average of 619 yards and 54 points in its final three games last November held Edinboro to just 9 first downs and 251 yards of total offense while racking up 6 quarterback sacks and 13 tackles-for-loss.

“I thought our defensive line was very good,” Waialae said. “They were physical and they made plays. The defense on the whole played well but we still need to work together better as a unit in order to eliminate the big plays. Edinboro probably got half of their yards on just four plays.”

He’s right. The Fighting Scots gained 131 yards on four snaps Saturday with three of those plays leading directly to Edinboro touchdowns. The Hilltoppers held the visitors to just 120 yards of total offense and 5 first downs on the other 51 plays.

The best news for West Liberty fans going forward is that Waialae and his coaches came away disappointed but not discouraged.

“After looking at the tape, we did see a lot of mistakes but they’re things that can be corrected,” Waialae said. “I think we’re actually a more talented football team than we were a year ago but we didn’t play together and we didn’t play smart against Edinboro.”

Waialae continued on; “We lost our first game a year ago and bounced back by taking it one week at a time the rest of the way. We’re facing the very same challenge again, beginning this week.”

Shadyside 12 – Monroe Central 0
Newscomerstown 33 – River 21
Martins Ferry 31 – Edison 21
Barnesville 39 – Meadowbrook 13
Mount Vernon 27 – Cambridge 13
Caldwell 48 – Buckeye Trail 3
St. Clairsville 48 – Buckeye Local 21
Brooke 35 – Parkersburg South 7
Bridgeport 42 – Toronto 0
Magnolia 48 – Williamstown 21
Bridgeport WV 29 – Wheeling Park 27
Harrison Central 36 – Weir 34

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Coach Roger Waialae’s defending West Virginia Conference champions had been ranked No. 8 in the AFCA preseason poll. That had been the highest ranking ever for a West Liberty team which finished the 2009 season at No. 9 in the national polls after advancing to the quarterfinals of the NCAA Division II playoffs.

Defending NCAA Division II champion Northwest Missouri State and last year’s national runner-up, Grand Valley State (Mich.), were idle last weekend and held onto the top two spots in the coaches’ poll.

Minnesota-Duluth moved up from No. 4 to No. 3 with an impressive 35-10 rout of Central Washington, which plummeted from No. 5 to No. 13. North Alabama and California (Pa.) round out this week’s top five, followed by Abilene Christian (Texas), West Liberty, West Texas A&M, Washburn (Kan.) and West Alabama.

Shepherd was the only other West Virginia Conference team receiving votes. The Rams got 14 votes this week after knocking off defending Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference champion Shippensburg, 35-27, on Saturday.

There could be quite a bit of movement in next week’s poll as the season swings into high gear with four games matching Top 25 teams.

No. 2 Grand Valley State hosts No. 8 West Texas A&M on Thursday while No. 6 Abilene Christian travels to No. 9 Washburn on Saturday. Also on Saturday, No. 1 Northwest Missouri State opens defense of its national championship by hosting No. 14 Texas A&M-Kingsville while No. 5 California (Pa.) travels to No. 11 Saginaw Valley State (Mich.).

The Hilltoppers, who return 15 starters and more than 20 seniors from the team which led the nation in scoring and total offense a year ago, kick off the 2010 season at home Saturday when they host Edinboro (Pa.).

The Fighting Scots, who split a pair of high-scoring games with West Liberty a year ago, received 16 votes in this week’s poll but fell short of cracking the Top 25.

Kickoff is set for 1:30 p.m. at Russek Field.

Barnesville 21 – John Glen 13
St.Clairsville 34 – Crestview 24
Cambridge 32 – John Marshall 26
Edison 36 – Oak Glen 12
Martins Ferry 28 – Buckeye Local 13
Brooke 39 – Parkersburg 17
Union Local 21 – Meadowbrook 19
Indian Creek 33 – Weir 0
Strasburg 59 – St.Johns 0
Harrison Central 47 – Claymont 37
Cladwell 29 – Newscomerstown 21
Megadore 21 – Linsly 7
Van 34 – Paden City 6
Magnolia 54 – Tolsia 0
Shadyside 42 – Beallsville 0
Bishop Donahue 57 – Cameron 0
Monroe Central 34  - Columbania  26
Williamstown 41 – Tyler Consolidated 0
Fort Frye 38 – River 14
East Liverpool 16 – Beaver Local 10

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Wheeling Island and Death Valley in Steubenville  hosted the McDonalds OVAC Kickoff at their respective stadiums.

The first official OVAC winner in the Ohio Valley was Steubenville Big Red, as they were able to wrap up their contest minutes before Wheeling Central put the finishing touches on Bellaire.

Steubenville and Wheeling Central both set the tone early as they pulled their starters early in the 2nd half.

Steubenville topped Inkster 36-0 in the shutout, while Wheeling Central tumbled Bellaire 56-7

Wellsville and Toronto went toe to toe for 4 quarters with the Tigers squeezing out a 13-12 victory.

In the late afternoon double headers, Wheeling Park let Morgantown have their way in a 41-7 blowout.  The Bridgeport Bulldogs lived up to the preseason hype handling Steubenville Central in another big victory.

Wheeling Centrals offensive line opened up huge holes, allowing Marcus Clifford to run wild for 275 yards, all of which came in the first half.

Up the river, Steubenville Big Red opened their season by downing Inkster in dominating fashion 36-0.

At Wheeling Island, Wheeling Park will host Morgantown, and Wheeling Central will entertain the Bellaire Big Reds.

In Steubenville at Death Valley, Steubenville Big Red will match up with Inkster, and Steubenville CC with host a highly ranked Bridgeport squad.

In another Ohio battle, Wellsville will host Toronto in small school action.

We’ve waited, and now the time is finally here… its football season!

The D2Football.com website has been providing coverage and insights about the NCAA Division II football scene for more than a decade and is the nation’s most popular site for Division II football information. The website attracted more than 3 million visitors during 2009.

The D2Football.com preseason rankings closely mirror the Top 25 poll released earlier this month by the American Football Coaches Association (AFCA).

Defending champion Northwest Missouri State is ranked No. 1 followed by 2009 national runner-up Grand Valley State (Mich.) and North Alabama in both polls. The Hilltoppers are ranked No. 8 by both groups.

Abilene Christian (Texas) and Central Washington round out the top five in the D2Football.com listing followed by Minnesota-Duluth, California (Pa.), West Liberty, Washburn (Kan.) and Nebraska-Kearney.

Minnesota-Duluth and Central Washington round out the top five in the AFCA poll followed by California (Pa.), Abilene Christian, West Liberty, Carson-Newman (Tenn.) and Washburn.

The defending West Virginia Conference champion Hilltoppers kick off the 2010 season on Saturday, Sept. 4 when they host Edinboro (Pa.) in a 1:30 p.m. game at Russek Field.

1 Northwest Missouri 14-1
2 Grand Valley 13-2
3 North Alabama 11-2
4 Abilene Christian 9-4
5 Central Washington 12-1
6 Minnesota-Duluth 11-2
7 California 11-4
8 WEST LIBERTY 11-2
9 Washburn 8-3
10 Nebraska-Kearney 11-2

The 2009 season saw a rash of injuries hamper Bethany from start to finish, as they posted a 3-7 overall record and 1-5 mark in the PAC. The bright side to the injury bug, which claimed more than 20 season-enders by the conclusion of the campaign, was that many of the more than 100 freshmen that came to camp had opportunities to play and gain experience. Head coach Tim Weaver believes the skills learned in their trial-by-fire last year, along with another big year of recruiting, will lead to positive things in 2010.

“Our success in recruiting the last two years has helped stabilize our numbers,” said Weaver, who is in his fifth year at the helm of the Green and White. “That’s usually a 4-6 year process, but we should now be in the 140-150 range every year. Plus, we are almost where we want to be with having a roster of half veterans and half newcomers and we were able to make a special teams two-deep with zero freshmen, so are not looking for very many newcomers to have to contribute right away.

“Looking at this year, we will be young, but not inexperienced,” said Weaver. “Due to the injuries last year and because our senior class is so small, there will be a ton of sophomores playing, but those same players caught a lot of passes, made a lot of tackles and played a great deal of snaps on both lines last year.”

One position where Bethany will still feel the effects of the last year’s injuries is at quarterback. After throwing for more than 3,600 yards and 24 TDs in his first 15 career starts under center, a concussion knocked Chad Smith out of the final four games of 2009 and ended his career. Senior Dan Pegg stepped in to throw for 1,081 yards and six scores in the final four games last year and has the advantage coming into camp, but a strong group of freshmen will be pushing him.

“We thought we had achieved quality and depth at quarterback with Chad and Dan and it was a big blow when we lost Chad,” said Weaver. “Dan did well at the end of last year and has proven he can win, but not on a consistent basis. He knows he will be challenged by an exciting group of newcomers and all of our quarterbacks will benefit from an experienced line, a very good running back and wideouts with lots of receptions. It’s our job to coach Dan and the newcomers into a position where they can be successful.”

Joining the signal caller in the backfield will be junior tailback Eric Walker (left), who was Second Team All-PAC last year after leading the conference with 15 touchdowns, which also tied a BC single-season record, and finishing second in rushing yards with 879. While Weaver expects another big year from his junior back, he says the key at that spot will be developing depth.

“We know we have a proven playmaker in Walker, but in watching film from last year, we probably wore him down towards the end of the season,” said Weaver. “We recruited a solid group of backs to hopefully develop and take a little bit of the load off. But we still don’t see any reason why Eric can’t have two 1,000-yard seasons to close out his career.”

Although Bethany lost its all-time leader in every major receiving category when Matt Cruse graduated, this year’s wideouts counter their youth with talent and depth. Sophomores Johnathan Foster, Ed Holmes, and Marcus D’Aguiar-Alexander caught 44, 30 and 29 passes, respectively, last year and mixing in junior Alex Evans, who sat out after transferring to Bethany last year, and sophomore Jarrell Smalls, as well as sophomore tight ends Fletcher Coffman and Kevin Covert, will provide plenty of targets for Bison passes this fall.

“Receiver has always been a good position for us and this year, we are deeper and probably more talented than we’ve been in our time here,” said Weaver. “Foster, Holmes and D’Aguiar-Alexander caught over 100 passes between them last year, while Smalls didn’t get a lot of time, but we like him and we will be glad to be able to put Evans into a game this year. We have two distinctive players at tight end, as Coffman is 6-5, 255 with good hands and Covert goes about 6-2, 220, but is very athletic and can run. We may look to run more two tight end sets this year with them.”

Injuries were also a big problem on the offensive line, as 10 different players started a game last year. Seven of those are returning in 2010, led by junior guard Cory Potter, who was a Second Team All-PAC pick last year. Despite the constant upheaval, the Bison ranked second in the PAC by allowing only 16 sacks even though they posted a league-high 429 passing attempts.

“With seven guys returning who started a game last year, we have lots of experience on the line,” said Weaver. “We get a senior back in Bob Rovnanik who missed all of last year because of injury, but everyone returning has proven they can do the job. Because we are experienced and have real depth for the first time since we’ve been here, we need to get them to play as a cohesive unit every week.”

The Bethany defense went through another tough year, ranking eighth in the PAC in scoring (35.6) and ninth in total defense (419.9). Six starters are back however, including four athletic sophomores who gained valuable experience last year. On the defensive line, senior John Gyure returns after missing nearly all of last season because of injury. Sophomore Robert Baker made 21 tackles in nine starts as a freshman and other returners, as well as an infusion of freshmen potential, have Weaver seeing better days ahead for the line.

“Defensive line is an area we need to play better obviously, but it should,” said Weaver. “Baker started as a freshman and showed improvement in the spring, Gyure is back on the line full-time after missing last year, (sophomore) Blake DeBord started to see time late last year and (senior) Lamar Fisher moves over from the offensive line. We need to find productivity at defensive end, but that could be a spot where some freshmen can contribute.”

Youth was truly served at linebacker last year, where freshmen started every game for the Green and White. Sophomore MLB Kyle Arrington was Honorable Mention All-PAC after finishing second on the team with 73 tackles and adding in two interceptions and 1.5 sacks. Sophomore Willis Powell, who made 52 hits last season, could see time at linebacker or safety, while fellow sophomores McQuel Sims, who battled injuries throughout the season, and Gage Lotozo, who missed all of last year after getting hurt in a high school all-star game, will provide options for the line-up.

“At linebacker, it was the year of the freshman,” said Weaver. “We were very pleased with the play of Arrington, who needed to work on his conditioning and strength but showed natural leadership and football instincts, and Powell, who is a hybrid linebacker and DB. Sims is as talented as any of them, but only played in spots because he was nicked up all of last season and Lotozo missed all of last year with a knee injury, but had a great rehab and was squatting 500 pounds when we tested him last spring. Young guys will have the opportunity to provide depth but we shouldn’t be in the same spot as last year needing freshmen to play every down.”

The defensive back field is where Bethany will see a lot of new faces, as they graduated three starters. The only returning player is sophomore cornerback Tremayne Ford, who made 22 tackles in nine games a year ago. Powell may move back to safety, while junior Jeff Joyce comes over from wide receiver to get in the mix for time at safety as well.

“We graduated three seniors in the secondary who played a ton, so Ford is the elder statesman heading into camp,” said Weaver. “However, we are very excited about the possibilities of who we can put back there. Our production at wide receiver allowed us to move Joyce, who missed all of last year because of injury, and we expect him to start. Powell is a candidate for the other safety position, but so is (sophomore) Kyle Nannah, who played some there in the spring after switching from quarterback, and we have high hopes for Jeff Joyce’s younger brother Jordan. Overall, this is one area where there is a legitimate chance for a young player to play their way into the line-up.”

On special teams, Weaver says all the talent at the skill positions should translate into better return games than last year and the kicking jobs will both be open competitions throughout camp.

“We really like what we have in the return game,” said Weaver “Joyce is back, Holmes should be a good returner, Walker has run back kicks in the past and Evans is a threat as well, so while we weren’t as good in the return game last year as we have been, we expect to be much better this season.

“We did not have a good year in the kicking game either, so both specialist jobs will be open,” said Weaver. “(Sophomore) D.J. Clark a nice job punting the last few games for us, but he is a candidate to get time at defensive end. At kicker, (sophomore) Adam Gibboney has been challenged and we have a recruiting class full of competition for that spot.”

This season’s schedule will feature a difficult first month, with the opener at home against Allegheny (8-2 in 2009) and a road game at King’s out in Wilkes-Barre, Pa., as part of the PAC-MAC Challenge, which will be followed by contests at Washington & Jefferson and at home against Geneva (8-3 last year). The PAC sent a pair of teams to the NCAA playoffs for the second consecutive season, but Weaver says the conference is becoming more competitive every year.

“Our opener is no picnic against Allegheny, a historically great program with a lot returning from an 8-2 team last year,” said Weaver. “Then we play King’s, a team we know nothing about with a brand new coaching staff and we come back to play W&J and Geneva, so we get tested right out of the gate.

“I see the PAC more balanced every year,” said Weaver.” Thomas More has become a force, but of all the teams who have stepped up in recent years, no one has been able to sustain that success outside of W&J. Everyone is getting closer and the conference is much stronger from top-to-bottom than when we got here.”

Among the keys to the Bison hopes if they want to have their first winning season since 2001 is getting through the rough opening stretch of games, with the others being improvement from the defense and the Bison quarterbacks providing solid efforts. If those three things occur, Bethany could send their seniors out with a season full of highlights while also setting the stage for big things to come.

“Our three keys this year is for the defense to make a huge jump, which they are poised to do based on their talent, get really good quarterback play and survive a brutal first month of the season with a positive attitude,” said Weaver. “We have a small senior class this year that we will lean on for leadership and we want them to win some games. But our playmakers are underclassmen and we will lean on their talent for our success, not only this year, but in the coming years as they continue to develop.

Davis looked good driving the 49ers down the field on several drives, and displayed his arm strength with an impressive 65 yard completion.

Davis is battling former #1 pick David Carr for the backup spot.