WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – The West Liberty University football team responded to its coach’s demands for increased intensity on Saturday with a spirited morning scrimmage but a lackluster afternoon session left head coach Roger Waialae with mixed emotions following the final 2-a-day of the preseason.
“I was pretty happy with what I saw in the scrimmage this morning,” Waialae said. “I thought we competed at the level we need to compete at and we had players making plays on both sides of the ball. We didn’t bring that same intensity back to the field n the afternoon, though, and I let them know about it. We shouldn’t have to scrimmage to practice hard. We should do every drill hard.”
Senior QB Zach Amedro warmed up for the morning scrimmage by firing long TD passes to TB Kevon Calhoun and backup H-Back/TB DeVaughn Gordon during 7-on-7. After Amedro wrapped up with several more completions of intermediate range, the chain gang got set up and the scrimmage began with the ball on the 30.
Working behind an All-California juco offensive line to start – OTs Ryan Scaperotta and Larry Wreidt, OGs Jose Baez and Dan Srch and C Nick Madia – Amedro led a 70-yard TD drive on 11 plays. Mixing short passes and runs on a 50-50 basis, the senior QB kept the sticks moving until Calhoun got outside on a toss right and outraced everybody to the flag for a 22-yard score.
The second possession opened with a 20-yard pass and run to juco WR Brandon Carver, who has established a pretty good rapport with Amedro over the last week or so. It took a hustling dive from S Alec Wood to keep Carver from breaking into the clear. A 4-yard run by TB Justin Brewton and a quick out to H-Back Ryan Travis picked up another first down. Calhoun danced through a couple of tackles after catching a screen pass to take the ball inside the 20 but the defense stiffened at that point. DT Zach Turley stuffed Calhoun for no gain on 1st down and an incompletion set up 3rd-and-10. A false start made it 3rd-and-15 – offensive coordinator Gary Krol was NOT pleased – and Travis was held to a 6-yard gain on a short pass. Amedro tried to hit Travis in the end zone on 4th-and-9 but Wood took a good angle to shield Travis away from the ball and give the defense a stop.
The third and final possession for most of the ones on offense started with a 7-yard run by Calhoun and a 17-yard pass from Amedro to Travis. A short run by Brewton and a quick slant to Carver set up a 3rd-and-short pass to Gordon, who shook off a defender and rumbled all the way down inside the 25. Amedro converted another 3rd down with a clutch throw to Carver, who had worked his way open inside the 10 to set up 1st-and-goal. A pair of running plays took the ball to the 4 and Amedro checked off a play at the line of scrimmage on 3rd down to hit WR Pauly Ferguson with a quick slant for the score almost before the defense had a chance to react. There’s nothing like having a senior vet under center.
Plenty of players shuttled in and out on both sides of the ball for the remainder of the scrimmage. CB Laurence Johnson had an interception and OS David Richmond came up with a nice strip of a ballcarrier with LB Marcus Raney recovering the fumble. Backup QB Tyler Tucci played well, capping a pair of scoring drives with 50-yard scoring bombs to Ferguson and WR Brandon Schroeder. Brewton continued to run hard out of the backfield and the three backup QBs – Tucci, Chris Kiedaisch and Cody Cernansky – rotated series for the final half-hour.
Game preparation for the Sept. 4 season opener began in the afternoon session with the offense and defense working against scout teams running Edinboro’s schemes.
The team will work out Sunday at 3 p.m. before getting its first off day of the preseason on Monday, the first day of classes at the University
