Hilltopper Football Pounds Pioneers, 37-14
GLENVILLE, W.Va. – Jack Allison fired four touchdown passes and West Liberty reeled off 37 unanswered points here Saturday afternoon in racing away to a 37-14 victory against Glenville State at Morris Stadium.
With the win, Coach Roger Waialae's Hilltoppers closed out their abbreviated spring schedule at 2-2 while the Pioneers put the pads away with an 0-4 mark.
Allison, a graduate transfer from West Virginia, was razor sharp on Saturday. The 6-5 righty completed 13-of-16 passes for 149 yards and 4 TDs with no interceptions before exiting the game in the third quarter with the Hilltoppers having put the game on ice at 37-7.
The Pioneers drew first blood as QB Tim Heltzel tossed a 40-yard touchdown pass to WR Zay Huff for a 7-0 Glenville State lead at 8:46 of the opening quarter but it was all Hilltoppers the rest of the way.
West Liberty responded with a 10-play, 55-yard scoring drive capped by Allison’s first TD pass of the day, a 4-yard flip to TB Quincy Wimbish that forged a 7-7 deadlock at 4:25.
The score didn’t stay tied for long as freshman linebacker Trent Crawford stepped in front of a Heltzel pass at the Pioneer 35, picked up a few blocks and threaded his way into the end zone. The defensive TD combined with Owen Rozanc’s PAT sent the Black and Gold into the second quarter with a 14-7 edge.
A Rozanc field goal and a 20-yard touchdown pass from Allison to Marquis Johnson pushed the count to 24-7 at the half but Allison and the Hilltoppers were far from finished.
Senior WR Wisdom Jenkins hauled in a 39-yard scoring toss from Allison – West Liberty’s longest play of the day – to start the third quarter. The senior QB wrapped up a good day’s work with a 1-yard TD throw to WR Anthony Smoot, who made an acrobatic catch in the right corner of the end zone for his first collegiate score.
Jenkins was the leading receiver for WLU with 3 catches for 60 yards while Wimbish just missed posting his third straight 100-yard rushing game, finishing with 95 rushing yards on 23 carries. He also came out of the backfield for 3 catches and 23 more yards.
The West Liberty defense more than held up its end of the bargain, picking off three Glenville passes and holding the Pioneers to less than 300 yards of total offense. Koty Hutson had a team-high 8 tackles while Kaden Rice and Jason Mitchell joined Crawford with interceptions.
Rozanc had another strong day on special teams. In addition to his 32-yard field goal in the second quarter, making him 4-for-4 on three-pointers this spring, he unleashed a 78-yard punt midway through the fourth quarter.
The 78-yard bomb was just one yard shot of the school-record 79-yard punt shared by Kevin Wilson (1977) and Christian Morris (2017).
FOOTBALL
West Liberty 37, Glenville State 14
West Liberty 14 10 13 0 – 37
Glenville State 7 0 0 7 – 14
First Quarter
GSC: Huff 40 pass from Heltzel (Book kick), 8:46
WLU: Wimbish 4 pass from Allison (Rozanc kick), 4:25
WLU: Crawford 35 interception return (Rozanc kick), 3:38
Second Quarter
WLU: FG Rozanc 32, 10:42
WLU: M.Johnson 20 pass from Allison (Rozanc kick), 9:08
Third Quarter
WLU: Jenkins 39 pass from Allison (kick blocked), 10:23
WLU: Smoot 1 pass from Allison (Rozanc kick), 3:45
Fourth Quarter
GSC: Menjor 12 run (Book kick), 5:02
Individual Statistics
RUSHING: West Liberty 48-158, Wimbish 23-95, Frisby 7-15, Wilson 3-15, Coffie 4-12, Goldson 1-11, Asbury 3-10, Moler 3-8, Ja.Diven 1-(-1), Team 1-(-2), Allison 1-(-5). Glenville State 29-122, Menjor 17-83, Arnold 4-24, Huff 2-20, Pierson 3-7, Heltzel 3-(-12)
PASSING: West Liberty 16-19-166-4td-0x (Allison 13-16-149-4td-0x, Wood 2-2-12-0-0, Ja.Diven 1-1-5-0-0). Glenville State 19-43-170-1td-3x (Pierson 12-24-98-0td-1x, Heltzel 7-19-72-1td-2x)
RECEIVING: West Liberty 16-166, Jenkins 3-60, M.Johnson 3-32, Wimbish 3-23, Harris 2-20, Smoot 2-10, Goldson 1-11, Moler 1-5, Ritz 1-5. Glenville State 19-170, Huff 7-95, Guerrero 3-27, Hopkins 3-23, Hatfield 2-11, Arnold 2-(-4), Clark 1-11, Day 1-7.
First downs: West Liberty 18, Glenville State 18
Fumbles: West Liberty 0-0, Glenville State 0-0
Penalties: West Liberty 6-68, Glenville State 11-86
Time of Possession: West Liberty 38:44, Glenville State 21:16