There's a theory that adversity doesn't really develop character, it reveals it.
West Liberty coach Roger Waialae was a believer before his Hilltoppers stormed back from a 21-point deficit to nip arch nemesis Shepherd, 29-28, on Saturday afternoon at Russek Field.
But Waialae said this victory - and the manner in which it came about - justified the faith he maintained in a team that was coming off back-to-back losses in West Virginia Conference play.
"We could have just folded up our tents after losing the way we did the past two weeks,"
Waialae said. "For that matter, we could have just packed it in after the first half but these kids won't do that."
"We had some kids step up and the defense made some big plays for us to get us going. We had all three facets of our game going in the second half because we stayed together."
The high-powered Hilltoppers offense couldn't get out of its own way in the early going as two quick turnovers and a short punt put West Liberty (5-4 overall, 4-2 WVC) on the wrong end of a 21-0 score in the first minute of the second quarter.
Shepherd's dominance was so complete that neither team snapped the ball on the Rams side of the 50 until the 10-minute mark of the second quarter when West Liberty's Ryan Travis pulled in a 21-yard pass from Zach Amedro for a first down at the Shepherd 43.
Two snaps later, Amedro threw his second interception of the half as the Rams' Anthony Geary pulled in a deep toss at the Shepherd 7.
"I threw a million interceptions when I was playing and probably got yelled at for every one,"
Waialae said.
"Now as a coach, my job is to be the first guy to grab Zach coming off the field after an interception and tell him to keep his head up. He's our leader out there on offense so I don't want him getting down on himself. I want him going out there with confidence and making plays."
Already trailing 21-0, West Liberty had to find a way to stop the downward spiral before the game got completely out of hand.
The Hilltoppers got the break they needed when Shepherd quarterback Tyler Lazear fumbled while being sacked at his own 5. Linebacker Nick Harding scooped up the loose ball and darted into the end zone to finally put the hosts on the board.
"That's what we've been waiting for,"
Waialae said. "People forget that our defense led the nation in turnovers last year when we went 8-3. What you saw (Saturday) reminded me a lot of the way they played a year ago."
The Rams didn't seem fazed by the sudden turn of events. They took the ensuing kickoff and marched 60 yards on 14 deliberate plays before Jimmy Sutch sprinted in from 4 yards out for a 28-10 Shepherd lead 97 seconds before the end of the half.
West Liberty kicker Billy Hager cut the lead to 28-10 at intermission with a 45-yard field goal, but after being held to a net of minus-6 rushing yards in the first half, a Hilltoppers comeback seemed unlikely.
Shepherd appeared ready to apply the coup de grace when play resumed as the Rams took the second-half kickoff and burned up more than half of the third quarter on a 15-play march from the their 12 to the WLSC 15.
But that 15th play changed everything.
Lazear tried to lob a swing pass over an onrushing Jayson Keyser but the former Bellaire High sprint star leaped high to snatch the ball out of the air and found nothing but green turf and white stripes between him and the end zone.
Eighty-five yards later Keyser was celebrating with his defensive teammates and the deficit had been trimmed to a much more manageable 28-16.
The aroused WLSC defense forced a three-and-out on Shepherd's next possession and Amedro led the Hilltoppers offense 65 yards on nine plays for another touchdown. Branden Ore did the honors from 3 yards out and West Liberty trailed 28-23 heading into the fourth quarter.
The Hilltoppers defense now had the Rams on their heels. Shepherd's next two possessions were cut short on fumbles by Lazear near midfield.
West Liberty failed to capitalize on its first opportunity, turning the ball over on downs at the Rams 33, but another Lazear fumble set up what proved to be the winning drive.
The Hilltoppers took over on their own 40 and needed five plays to hit paydirt.
The touchdown came on a 21-yard bubble screen from Amedro to Hills, who darted through a seam between two blockers and dove for the pylon. The 2-point conversion failed but WLSC led, 29-28, with 6:59 remaining.
Despite the consecutive turnovers, the Rams refused to fold.
Relying heavily on the running game, they drove from their own 33 to the West Liberty 48 before facing a 4th-and-4 with 3:46 remaining.
After a timeout, Lazear fired a 14-yard strike to Craig Tremel and the Rams had a first down at the 34.
The clock was ticking under 3 minutes when Lazear dropped back to pass on 3rd-and-5 from the 29. He never saw Clay Beeler blitzing from the blind side and Beeler popped the ball loose with a crunching blow. West Liberty recovered Shepherd's fourth turnover of the second half and the game was over.
The Hilltoppers were held to a season-low 240 yards of total offense. Ore, who had topped the 100-yard rushing mark in each of his first eight games, was held to 42 yards on 14 carries.
But those numbers didn't matter to Waialae as WLSC kept its faint conference title hopes alive.
"I don't care if the score is 1-0 or 100-99 as long as West Liberty's number is bigger,"
the coach said. "We don't control our own destiny anymore so we're not talking about scenarios or anything like that."
"We have (league-leading) Charleston coming in next week. All we want to do is play them as tough as we can and see where that puts us."
Game Notes
* Hager passed Derrick Stickles as West Liberty's career scoring leader with his field goal at the end of the first half and now shares the WVC career kick scoring record of 262 points with Wesleyan's Eric Myers.
* Lazear is the brother of West Virginia University linebacker Pat Lazear and the nephew of former West Liberty standout Jim Lazear.
* Shepherd had won 11 of its last 12 games against West Liberty.
* ? ?
West Liberty 29, Shepherd 28
Shepherd14 14 0 0 - 28
West Liberty0 10 13 6 - 29
First Quarter
S - Lazear 6 run (Dobratz kick), 10:30
S - Sutch 2 run (Dobratz kick), 4:28
Second Quarter
S - Johnson 10 run (Dobratz kick), 14:13
W - Harding 5 fumble return (Hager kick), 8:27
S - Sutch 4 run (Dobratz kick), 1:37
W - FG Hager 45, :01
Third Quarter
W - Keyser 85 INT return (kick failed), 6:44
W - Ore 3 run (Hager kick), 1:48
Fourth Quarter
W - Hills 21 pass from Amedro (run failed), 6:59
STATISTICS
ShepWL
First downs2015
Rush-yds48-12722-31
Pass yds191209
Passing15-28-120-33-2
Return yds290
Punts-avg.1-28.02-19.5
Fumbles-lost5-42-1
Penalties8-777-65
Time of Poss.35:2824:32
Individual Statistics
RUSHING-Shepherd, Sutch 28-90, Johnson 13-52, Addison 2-11, Muhammed 1-(-10), Lazear 4-(-16). West Liberty, Ore 14-42, Amedro 4-4, James 1-(-1), Hills 1-(-3), Team 2-(-11).
PASSING-Shepherd, Lazear 15-28-191-1. West Liberty, Amedro 20-32-209-2.
RECEIVING-Shepherd, Mends 6-68, Muhammed 4-75, Tremel 2-21, Feaster 1-12, Humphries 1-8, Mazyck 1-7. West Liberty, Hills 5-56, Ore 5-47, Bonar 3-37, Travis 3-35, Ferguson 2-21, Wiggins 1-7, Kampfe 1-6.
