WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – One of the nation’s top quarterbacks crashed West Liberty’s Homecoming party Saturday afternoon as Urbana’s D.J. Mendenhall fired 4 touchdown passes and racked up more than 300 yards of total offense to help the Blue Knights pull away to a 32-13 win at a rainswept Russek Field
Mendenhall, a senior preseason All-American who is rapidly approaching the 10,000-yard career passing milestone, completed 21-of-35 passes for 255 yards and 4 TDs with just one interception. The 6-5, 230-pounder also tacked on 48 rushing yards on 9 carries without giving up a single sack.
“He had a great game against us passing and running,” West Liberty head coach Roger Waialae said. “He really manages the game well for them, as you’d expect from a senior and a 4-year starter, and they executed very well. That’s a good football team.”
Urbana (5-2, 5-1) drew first blood, taking the opening kickoff and marching 70 yards in 8 plays for the game’s first touchdown. Mendenhall covered the final 23 yards with a TD pass to workhorse WR Joe Webb for a 6-0 lead when the PAT sailed wide right.
The Hilltoppers (3-4, 3-2) controlled field position for the rest of the quarter, however, and took full advantage.
Bryan Arbes cut the lead in half with a 42-yard field goal at the 7:25 mark and West Liberty took a 10-6 lead when Dylan Lagarde flipped an 8-yard TD pass to WR Daree Goodwin with just one tick remaining in the quarter.
That lead proved short-lived as Mendenhall hit Webb on a quick slant and the speedy senior wideout split the secondary for a 53-yard touchdown. Holder Nate Wilburn-Ogletree bobbled the snap on the PAT attempt but scrambled to his right to find tackle-eligible Kyle Ferguson in the corner of the end zone for a 2-point conversion and a 14-10 lead.
Mendenhall – who threw for nearly 200 yards in the first half alone – made it 21-10 just before halftime when he hit WR Marc Johnson in stride on a post route for a 30-yard TD with just 1:07left in the half but West Liberty wasn’t finished. Aided by several penalties against Urbana, the Hilltoppers moved the length of the field in the waning seconds of the half. A 22-yard Arbes field goal made it a one-score game, 21-13, at halftime.
Penalties were a major factor in the game as Urbana – which leads the MEC in penalties by a wide margin – was flagged a staggering 24 times for 219 yards while West Liberty had 9 penalties for 103 yards.
“The difference was that they (Urbana) were able to overcome their mental mistakes and penalties and we weren’t,” Waialae said. “We had a couple of things going in the second half but put ourselves behind the sticks with a penalty or something and couldn’t recover.”
An exchange of punts and a couple of penalties pinned the Blue Knights deep in their own territory early in the second half, giving the Hilltoppers a golden opportunity. After picking up a first down at the Urbana 10, West Liberty’s drive stalled at the 7 and Arbes came on for a short field goal attempt. Unfortunately, the wet ball squirted through the holder’s hands on the snap and Arbes was snowed under at the Blue Knight 17 after picking up the loose ball.
Mendenhall came on to lead a 9-play, 83-yard scoring march, capping it with his fourth TD pass of the day – an 11-yard bullet to Webb over the middle. Webb, who came into the game ranked No. 3 nationally among all active receivers with more than 3,000 career yards, finished with 141 yards and 3 TDs on 8 catches.
A holding penalty forced West Liberty into a 3-and-out and Mendenhall returned with an 11-play, 53-yard foray that set up a 23-yard field goal by Blaine Hafner for a 32-13 lead with 4:01remaining in the third quarter.
The Urbana defense was in control the rest of the way, holding the Hilltoppers to just 68 yards of total offense in the second half. West Liberty didn’t throw an interception for the second straight game but completed just 5-of-18 passes for 20 yards over the final two quarters.
The Blue Knights had 199 rushing yards to go along with Mendenhall’s 255 through the air. Deontea Rudasill led the ground attack with 21 carries for 89 yards.
West Liberty’s Kenjay Trueblood led all rushers with 19 carries for 96 yards. Lagarde completed 10-of-35 passes for 61 yards and a TD. Kordarius Rice was WLU’s leading receiver with 3 catches for 60 yards.
Camille Bernabei of Weirton, W.Va. was crowned Homecoming Queen and Myron Jellison of Quaker City, Ohio was crowned Homecoming King during halftime ceremonies.
The Hilltoppers hit the road next week to take on West Virginia Wesleyan. Kickoff is set for 1 p.m. Saturday in Buckhannon.
