The Register-Herald, Beckley, West Virginia

Sports

November 1, 2009

West Liberty clinches WVIAC season title

By Jim Workman

West Liberty clinched the WVIAC regular season title Saturday with a victory over Seton Hill coupled with a University of Charleston loss to Glenville State.

With the conference title comes an automatic berth in the NCAA Division II playoffs.

The Hilltoppers (9-1 overall, 7-0 WVIAC) are looking strong, with momentum building for a good run in the post-season.

With the Pioneers dropping UC, chances for a first-ever two team WVIAC appearance in the NCAA playoffs took a drastic blow.

After beginning the season 8-0 and ranked No. 2 in Super Region I, UC, ranked No. 10 nationally two weeks ago and No. 17 last week, has lost two in a row.

But it appears that Glenville State is finishing strong itself and should make no apologies for going into UC Stadium and taking care of business.

Any given Saturday you really never know what will happen. Home field hasn’t really been a clear advantage.

That makes for an exciting WVIAC.



West Liberty 48, Seton Hill 21

West Liberty clinched their first conference title since 2000 by downing Seton Hill (1-9, 0-8) 48-21.

The Toppers, who won the league championship outright for the first time since 1971, got 366 passing yards and four touchdowns from Zach Amedro. Amedro also contributed a rushing score to help West Liberty build a 34-7 halftime lead.

Eddie Hills caught 10 passes for 175 yards to lead West Liberty, while Ryan Travis had six catches for 100 yards. Kashif Walls caught touchdown passes of 16, 34, and 9 yards.



Glenville State 14, Charleston 12

Wes Sherrill's potential game-winning 39-yard field goal was blocked by Kaleb Lawrence on the game's final play to preserve Glenville State's (6-4, 5-2) 14-12 victory over Charleston (8-2, 5-2).

Pioneer quarterback James McCants struggled for much of the day, but a pair of big plays overshadowed a 6-for-20 passing effort. His four-yard third quarter touchdown rush got GSC on the board and a 58-yard fourth quarter touchdown strike to Xavier Glenn gave the Pioneers a 14-6 lead.

Charleston pulled within 14-12 on DaRante Hunter's five-yard rush, but he was hurried by GSC defensive lineman Sione Maafu on the ensuing two-point conversion pass as the Pioneers maintained the lead.

Three Hunter completions and a pass interference penalty moved Charleston from their own 43 to the Glenville State 22 to set up Lawrence's heroics on the blocked kick.



Concord 15, Fairmont State 9

Concord (6-4, 4-3) turned away four Fairmont State (3-7, 3-4) drives inside the Mountain Lion 11-yard line with no points to clinch their first overall winning record since 1998.

The Mountain Lions took a 9-0 lead at the break as Brian Kennedy scored on a two-yard rush and Brandon Strupp added a 41-yard field goal.

The lead grew to 15-0 when Steven Hearons hit Nathan Tanner on fourth-and-goal with a nine-yard scoring pass with 2:07 to play.

Fairmont State would not go away quietly as the Falcons got on the board with a Brandon Tucker defensive return after a block on the ensuing Concord extra point.



West Virginia Wesleyan 28, West Virginia State 0

West Virginia Wesleyan (2-7, 2-5) posted their first shutout since 1996 by blanking West Virginia State (2-7, 1-6).

Reggie Taylor paced the Bobcats with 176 rush yards and three touchdowns. Adam Neugebauer completed 14 of 22 passes for 192 yards, including an 83-yard touchdown pass to Jon Meadows.

West Virginia State, which was limited to 135 yards of total offense on the afternoon, got a 9-for-23 passing afternoon out of Kevin O'Brien. LeFloyd Phillips had three receptions for 73 yards for the Jackets. Ten of the 14 State drives on the afternoon ended in three or fewer plays.



WVIAC associate commissioner Will Prewitt contributed to this story.

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