WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Despite the final score, West Liberty University head football coach Roger Waialae saw plenty of encouraging signs while watching the tapes from his Hilltoppers’ 30-14 season-opening loss at Edinboro (Pa.) on Saturday.
But it was something Waialae saw while tying up a few loose ends in his office during Monday’s Labor Day holiday that put a smile on the coach’s face.
“We worked the kids a little bit on Sunday so they could have Monday off,” Waialae said, “but a lot of them took it upon themselves to come up to campus and walk through some stuff on their own. Some of them even dug out a few tapes to watch. All the coaches were at home with their families so I don’t know if the kids were even working on the right stuff or not but I thought it was a positive sign. This is my seventh year as head coach and it’s the first time I’ve seen a group of players do something like that.”
Consistency and execution had been the major concerns for Waialae coming into the game as the Hilltoppers had only 9 players in the starting lineup on Saturday who had started last year’s season finale at Concord.
A veteran Edinboro squad which returned 19 starters from a year ago took advantage of West Liberty’s inexperience at the skill positions to hold the Hilltoppers to 148 passing yards and 243 total yards – the lowest numbers in several years for a program which led the nation in scoring and total offense each of the past two seasons.
“What we saw on tape wasn’t a lack of talent or a lack of effort on our part,” Waialae said. “It was just a lack of time playing together under game conditions. Timing is a big part of our offense and we have a new quarterback, a new running back and a new group of receivers who all have to be in the right place at the right time. It’s hard to simulate game speed in practice. That’s why they say a team makes its biggest improvement from Game One to Game Two and I’m looking forward to that.”
Tailback Brandon Davis impressed in his West Liberty debut, rushing for 104 yards and 2 TDs on 18 carries – including a 30-yard touchdown burst late in the first half that saw him break a pair of tackles at the 10 on his way to the end zone. Quarterback L.D. Crow completed 22-of-37 passes but was intercepted twice and finished with less than 150 yards through the air.
“I was pretty happy with the run game but we need to do a better job of getting on the same page and being where we’re supposed to be in the passing game,” Waialae said. “Having said that, I think getting L.D. on the field for a live game probably helped him more than any other player. We put a lot more on our quarterbacks than most programs and now that he has that game under his belt, he has a much better idea what to expect. He should be much more comfortable from here on out.”
The Hilltopper defense held Edinboro QB Cody Harris to just 10-of-18 completions for 71 yards and no TDs. The Fighting Scots had 225 rushing yards on 43 carries but more than half of those yards came on two 61-yard runs by tailback Drew Herrell in the second half.
“Except for the two long runs where they caught us taking some chances, which is to their credit, our defense played well,” Waialae said. “We had a good pass rush and our pass defense looked greatly improved. On special teams, we made a couple of rookie mistakes in our return game and dropped a punt snap but we expected some early jitters from our young kids. They’ll settle down and we’ll be fine. I liked the fact that we were also pretty close to breaking a couple of kickoffs and made some good things happen with our punt return unit.”
The Hilltoppers emerged from their opener relatively injury-free. Senior offensive tackle Ryan Scaperotta left the game early after aggravating a leg injury that had nagged him throughout preseason camp but junior Isaac Herrera stepped in without missing a beat.
West Liberty hosts Southern Connecticut State on “Black-Out Day” at Russek Field on Saturday. All fans are asked to wear black in support of the Black and Gold with the first 500 ticket-holders through the gates receiving special “Black-Out” T-shirts. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m.
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