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West Liberty Smothers Urbana in Football

Hilltoppers Win First in 2016

URBANA, Ohio — Senior quarterback Dakota Conwell threw two touchdown passes and ran for another while the defense held Urbana to 128 yards of total offense Saturday as West Liberty cruised to a 21-8 victory in Mountain East Conference action at Urbana University Stadium.

Conwell showed no ill effects from the injury that knocked him out of action in the first quarter of last week’s game against Fairmont State. The veteran QB rolled up more than 300 yards of total offense, completing 20 of 37 passes for 287 yards while adding 27 more yards on 17 rushing attempts.

Two pass interference penalties and a personal foul against the Hilltoppers fueled a 12-play, 81-yard scoring for Urbana (1-3 overall, 1-3 MEC) midway through the opening quarter. A 9-yard scoring pass to tight end Larry Southall and Eric Pelfrey’s 2-point conversion run put the hosts on top, 8-0, at 4:37 of the first quarter.

Penalties remained a problem for WLU (1-3, 1-2) throughout the afternoon but the its defense was in control the rest of the way. The Blue Knights converted one more third down while averaging less than 2 yards per snap during the final three quarters.

A break on special teams set up the Hilltoppers’ first score as Urbana’s punter whiffed on a snap and was tackled immediately when he tracked the ball down inside his 5. Conwell danced into the end zone from a yard out, cutting the lead to 8-7 with 10:41 showing on the second-quarter clock.

West Liberty was able to take a 14-8 lead at the half when Conwell executed the 2-minute drill to near-perfection.

Taking over at his 20 with 2:23 on the clock, Conwell drove the offense the length of the field. A 37-yard bomb to senior Dan Monteroso set up first-and-goal from the 5 and, two plays later, a scrambling Conwell found senior Anton McCallum just inside the goal line for a touchdown 15 seconds before the half.

Penalties short-circuited several promising West Liberty drives in the second half but Conwell was able to wrap up the scoring with a 44-yard TD toss to sophomore Ian Kelly, who caught the ball in stride at the 20 and beat two defenders up the sideline for the score at 14:14 of the fourth quarter.

McCallum posted his second 100-yard receiving game of the season with seven catches for 109 yards while Monteroso finished with four catches for 77 yards and Kelly tacked on 76 receiving yards with six grabs as the Hilltoppers rolled up 407 yards of total offense.

Burdyshaw and backup QB Tajuan Green combined to complete 13 of 26 passes for 117 yards and Urbana was held to 11 net rushing yards on 33 carries. Redshirt freshman DB Logan Deri led a stalwart defensive effort for WLU with seven tackles, three pass breakups, an interception and a fumble recovery.

West Liberty didn’t have a turnover and had a 22-14 edge in first downs but was flagged a season-high 14 times for 155 penalty yards. The Blue Knights had nine penalties for 58 yards, lost a fumble and threw an interception,

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