WEST LIBERTY, WV – West Liberty head coach Roger Waialae says effort, or the lack thereof, hasn’t been the driving force behind the Hilltoppers’ disappointing record as the Black and Gold prepare to host Seton Hill in Saturday’s 16th annual Alumni Scholarship Bowl.
West Liberty (1-7, 1-5) and the Griffins (0-8, 0-6) are set for a 1 p.m. kickoff at Russek Field.
“It’s not a case of needing to play harder,” Waialae said. “Our effort has been fine. We need to play smarter.
“We’ve been the victim of some unlucky bounces in a few games but smart teams create their own good luck and take advantage of other teams’ bad breaks. We’ve usually been on the right side of that equation over the past few seasons but this year, for whatever reason, it’s gone the other way.”
Waialae cited last week’s 35-24 loss at Charleston as a case in point. A Golden Eagle punt took a crazy bounce off a WLU blocker and was recovered by UC deep in Hilltopper territory to set up a fourth-quarter TD. Charleston then recovered the ensuing kickoff in the end zone for another score after the West Liberty kick returner had trouble fielding a rolling kick.
“It was a short punt and our guy was trying to get away from but it bounced into him anyway,” Waialae said. “Then we don’t pick up the kickoff and they’ve got 14 points on the board just like that. Don’t forget the two interceptions we had on what should have been scoring drives in the first half. Both of them bounced off our receivers’ hands and Charleston caught the deflections inside their own 10. That’s a swing of 28 points in a game we lost by 11.
“The point is every one of those four mistakes could have been avoided. All we needed was for someone to step up and make a play.”
West Liberty shouldn’t expect much sympathy from Seton Hill as the Griffins’ tale of woe is a much more extensive one.
The high water mark of the Seton Hill program came on Nov. 15, 2008 when SHU knocked off American International, 14-7, in an NCAA Division II first-round playoff game.
Since that day three years ago, Seton Hill has won just three times in 31 games.
Most of the Griffins’ struggles in their current 12-game losing streak have come on the defensive side of the ball.
Seton Hill has given up a WVIAC-worst 23 rushing TDs this year and ranks last in the league in total defense (474.1 ypg.), scoring defense (38.6 ppg.) and rushing defense (222.9 ypg.).
The Griffins have allowed at least one 100-yard rusher in every game this season and the 714 total yards racked up by Charleston in a game earlier this month are the most total yards allowed by any WVIAC team since West Liberty set the all-time conference record with 820 yards of total offense during a 70-43 rout of Seton Hill in the 2007 season finale.
That should be good news for a WLU offense that has battled injuries and turnovers for much of the year.
The offense had one of its more productive afternoons at Charleston last week, posting season-highs in total offense (388), first downs (22) and pass attempts and completions (28-of-51), but was handicapped by 5 turnovers.
Quarterback L.D. Crow had his second 300-yard passing game of the season, completing 25-of-44 passes for 303 yards, while WR Brandon Schroeder had a career-high 8 receptions for 128 yards.
Linebacker Kyle Agustin and DT Nate Maleski each were charted with a team-high 8 tackles while DE Isaac Omaits was a disruptive force with 2 tackles-for-loss, a quarterback sack and a pair of forced fumbles.
“From what we’ve seen on tape,” Waialae said, “Seton Hill has some very talented players, especially on the offensive side of the ball. They’ve put up some points against just about everybody they’ve played but when we play together as a team, we can play with anybody.
“We’ve shown that in the first half against Shepherd and earlier this season against regionally-ranked teams like Edinboro and Southern Connecticut. We’ve been beating ourselves all year. It’s time we put a stop to that.”
GAME NOTES
X West Liberty is 6-0 all-time against Seton Hill, with the six wins coming by an average score of 49-26
X Saturday has also been designated as “Zach Amedro Day” on the hilltop. The leading passer in NCAA Division II history, Amedro will be presented with a commemorative plaque in recognition of his record-setting career
X In four career games against Seton Hill, Amedro completed 101-of-151 passes for 1,521 yards and 18 TDs
X West Liberty punter Griffin Yocum leads the WVIAC with an average of 38.8 yards per punt
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