Scots fall to Hilltoppers in record-setting afair

By Lisa Byers

November 22, 2009 — WEST LIBERTY, W. Va. — With two Harlon Hill finalists going head to head, an offensive shootout was a near guarantee when West Liberty State and Edinboro met Saturday in the second round of the NCAA Division II playoffs at Russek Field.

And that is exactly what the standing-room crowd of 4,131 got; a record-breaking shootout at that.

West Liberty and Edinboro combined for an NCAA Division II record 1,394 yards of total offense and scored a combined 147 points as the No.1 seed Hilltoppers upended the Scots, 84-63.

Edinboro, with the loss, ended its season at 9-4. West Liberty, which avenged a 42-30 Week 1 loss to the Fighting Scots, extended its winning streak to 11 games and will host California (Pa.), a 26-21 winner over Shippensburg, on Saturday in the NCAA Division II quarterfinals.

“I think, probably in the minds of a lot of people, this was a game they expected; a lot of yards, a lot of points,” Edinboro head coach Scott Browning said. “We knew coming in that (West Liberty was) a different football team than we played the first week. They just improved greatly.

“I start off by complementing West Lib and I compliment our guys. I thought we fought for 60 minutes. We just kept scraping and fighting and that’s all you can ask.”

The Scots did that scraping and fighting as they have much of the season, on the back of All-American quarterback Trevor Harris. Harris, who last week came back after just nine days from arthroscopic surgery on his left knee to lead the Scots to their first playoff win since 2004, was spectacular against the Hilltoppers.

In his final game as a Fighting Scot, Harris broke every one of his single-game passing and total offense records and climbed into the top five in career passing yards in Division II. He finished the contest with a Division II playoff record 630 yards passing and 647 yards of total offense. He did so while completing 50 of 76 passes, both also Division II playoff records.

“His career speaks for itself,” Browning said. “We went into the playoffs offensively and said we were going to turn him loose and let him go (and) let him lead us as far as he could take us. I think that’s what we did (yesterday).”

Of course, none of that mattered to Harris, who was aiming for so much more.

“We put up 63 points and they put up 84,” he said. “Those are the only real numbers that matter to me.

“It’s been a helluva ride. I wouldn’t have wanted to go to war with any other group … But it all comes down to wins and losses and we didn’t get the win (yesterday).”

West Liberty sent a loud message to the Fighting Scots that yesterday’s contest was going to be much different than Round 1 when Kashif Walls ran back the opening kickoff 80 yards for a touchdown to put the Hilltoppers up 7-0 just 12 seconds into the game. Walls let the Scots right back into it, though, when fumbled the ball on West Lib’s next possession.

Edinboro recovered the fumble at the West Liberty 31-yard line and needed just four plays to knot the score at 7-7. David Bostic scored the touchdown for the Scots on a 21-yard pass from Harris with Alex Romanias tacking on the point after.

It all went awry from there.

West Liberty followed with 21 unanswered points to take a 28-7 lead after a quarter of play. The Hilltoppers added 28 more points in the second quarter — with two of their touchdowns coming following third down conversions of 29 and 16 yards — for a 56-21 lead at the break.

The Scots wound up outscoring West Liberty 42-28 in the second half, but the damage was already done.

“We did what we had to (in the) first half to get up and, really, it was holding on from there,” West Liberty coach Roger Waialae said.

Zach Amedro, a Harlon Hill finalist like Harris, led the Hilltoppers’ offense, which came into the game ranked No. 1 in Division II, nearly matching Harris’ gaudy numbers. He completed 27 of 32 passes for 540 yards and six touchdowns and now has 4,580 passing yards this season with 47 touchdowns.

During the game, Amedro passed the 10,000 yard mark for his career, allowing fans to witness two Division II 10,000-yard quarterbacks on the field at the same time for the first time ever. Harris finished his career with 11,899 passing yards, which ranks second in the Pennsylvania State Athletic Conference and fifth in Division II.

Harris also moved into sixth place in career total offense in Division II (12,691) and 15th in career touchdown passes (100), a number that also ranks second in the PSAC.

“Trevor Harris isn’t an NFL prospect because he’s a bad quarterback,” Waialae said. “He’s the best quarterback we’ve seen. I’m taking my guy, though, wherever I go. But in that same sense (Harris) is the best quarterback I’ve seen in a long time.”

Edinboro and West Liberty combined for 70 first downs and ran a total of 165 offensive plays.

Gary Nolen and Marcus Johnson each caught 11 passes for Edinboro. Nolen, who ran back the second-half kickoff 88 yards for a touchdown, finished with 136 yards. Johnson finished with 126 yards and a touchdown. Nick Marino had 95 yards receiving, D’Mar Jeter 83 and Bostic 72.

For the Hilltoppers (11-1), Kevon Calhoun ran for 173 yards on 18 carries with four touchdowns and caught three passes for 116 yards and two touchdowns. Ryan Travis had eight catches for 110 yards, Walls six catches for 137 yards and two touchdowns, and Eddie Hills five catches for 116 yards and one touchdown.

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