WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. – Dakota Conwell passed for 252 yards and 3 touchdowns and ran for another score here Saturday afternoon as the West Liberty University football team celebrated Homecoming with a 39-16 rout of Fairmont State before nearly 3,000 fans at West Family Stadium.
Coach Roger Waialae’s Hilltoppers (3-3, 3-2) scored on their first possession and never looked back, opening up a 30-0 lead just before halftime and coasting to their eighth win in the last 10 meetings with the Falcons (2-4, 2-4).
Conwell did most of his damage in that opening half, completing 8-of-10 passes for 160 yards and all 3 touchdowns after wrapping up the first drive of the day with a 3-yard scoring burst. He finished the day completing 13-of-19 passes for 252 yards and 3 TDs with one interception.
“I told (quarterbacks) Coach (Zach) Amedro over the headsets in the first half that Dakota is really giving us exactly what we want from our quarterback,” Waialae said. “He checked out of a run to a pass at the line of scrimmage on every one of his touchdown passes.
“Our offense works best when the quarterback can see what we need to run at the line of scrimmage and check to it. That’s what we had with Zach when he set all those records here a few years ago. If he threw 100 touchdown passes, he probably checked to 90 of them.”
West Liberty produced big plays in all three phases of the game. The offense racked up nearly 500 total yards and showed excellent balance with more than 200 yards running and passing while going a perfect 6-for-6 on red zone scoring opportunities.
Fairmont’s high-powered offense was able to move the ball between the 20s but the Hilltopper defense came up with three interceptions and a safety while sending the Falcons away empty-handed on four of their six red zone possessions. Special teams even got into the act when punter Griffin Yocum drilled a 46-yard punt into the wind that was downed inside the Falcon 1, setting up the WLU safety.
Back-to-back 11-yard TD passes from Conwell to WR Dylan Potts broke the game open late in the opening quarter. The Hilltopper defense forced a turnover on downs near midfield to set up Potts’ first TD catch and Josh White set up the next one with a 39-yard return on the first of his two interceptions.
Senior safety Marco Ricchetti pushed the count to 23-0 when he tackled Austin White in the end zone for a safety and Conwell’s third TD pass of the half – an 85-yard bomb to a streaking Anton McCallum – made it 30-0 just before the half.
The 85-yard pass was West Liberty’s longest play from scrimmage since Amedro’s school-record 88-yard touchdown pass to Willie Walker at Glenville State on Oct. 3, 2009.
“We had a run play called there but Dakota saw Anton had a chance to get deep so he checked to it and put the ball right on the money,” Waialae said. “I told Zach we’ve been waiting to see that awareness and confidence from our quarterback for a long time. He’s doing a great job bringing Dakota along.”
West Liberty spent most of the second half working on the clock, getting a 20-yard field goal from Shawn Carl midway through the third quarter before putting the game on ice with a 2-yard TD run from R.J. Thomas in the fourth quarter after the Falcons had made the score more respectable with a pair of touchdowns.
McCallum finished with 3 catches for a career-high 118 yards while Isiah Moody led a deep stable of WLU running backs with 60 yards on just 6 carries. Senior LB Alec Wood finished with a game-high 12 tackles for a Hilltopper defense that was charted with 11 tackles-for-loss and a pair of quarterback sacks.
Fairmont QB Cooper Hibbs completed 27-of-42 passes for 331 yards and a touchdown with 3 interceptions. White ran for 60 yards on 25 carries while Fabian Guerra had 12 catches for 131 yards and Zach Pate added 8 grabs for 101 yards and a score.
West Liberty hits the road Saturday for a noon game at Urbana.
GAME NOTES
X The official dedication of West Family Stadium was held at halftime with donors Gary and Flip West receiving a standing ovation from the appreciative crowd
X The latest additions to West Liberty’s Wall of Honor – Attorney John William Hoppers of Columbus, Ohio; West Virginia State Sen. Jeff Kessler of Glen Dale and Dr. Mary Whitman of West Chester, Pa. – were introduced between the first and second quarters
X West Liberty’s 1964 NAIA national championship baseball team were also recognized on the field prior to kickoff
X Jillian Laslo of Shadyside, Ohio and Stewart Lane of Williamstown, W.Va. were crowned Homecoming Queen and King at halftime
