PRINCETON, W.Va. – After carving an unbeaten swath through the West Virginia Conference en route to the NCAA Division II national quarterfinals a year ago, West Liberty is the overwhelming favorite to defend its WVIAC football championship this fall.
Coach Roger Waialae’s veteran Hilltopper squad was a virtually unanimous pick at No. 1 in preseason voting by the league coaches, who were not permitted to vote for their own teams.
West Liberty received eight of the nine first-place votes to lead the poll with 80 points. Shepherd received the only other first-place vote and was a distant second with 62 points.
Charleston, Glenville State and Concord were separated by a mere two points in occupying the next three spots with Seton Hill, Fairmont State, West Virginia Wesleyan and West Virginia State rounding out the list.
“I guess being picked No. 1 is something the program earned because if you look at the coaches’ polls in the past, the team that won it the year before is usually picked to win it again,” Waialae said.
“That being said, we are pretty excited about this season because we have a lot of kids coming back on both sides of the ball from a team that won 11 games a year ago.”
Here’s a link to a video interview in which Coach Waialae discusses the results of the WVIAC coaches’ poll and looks ahead to the 2010 season: Roger Waialae Interview
With more than 20 seniors returning to a veteran Hilltopper squad that finished the 2009 season ranked No. 9 in the NCAA Division II coaches’ Top 25, West Liberty has been a consensus Top 5 pick in the national rankings of most college football preview magazines over the summer.
Senior QB Zach Amedro returns to lead a potent Hilltopper attack which set WVIAC records for scoring offense, total offense and passing offense a year ago.
Amedro shattered virtually every WVIAC single-season passing mark with a league-record 4,945 passing yards and 49 TDs last fall. The Harlon Hill Award runner-up is only 1,210 passing yards away from becoming the WVIAC’s career passing leader and the NCAA Division II career record is also within reach.
The talented signalcaller is joined by three other Preseason All-Americans in tight end Ryan Travis (104 catches in 2009), tailback Kevon Calhoun (1,529 rushing yards and 26 TDs in 2009) and linebacker Clay Beeler (back-to-back 100-tackle seasons)
Players report to campus on Wednesday for physical exams with preseason drills scheduled to get under way on Thursday at Russek Field.
The Hilltoppers kick off the 2010 season on Saturday, Sept. 4 when they host nationally-ranked Edinboro (Pa.) in a rematch of last year’s wild NCAA Division II second-round playoff game which saw West Liberty race away to an 84-63 victory.
