WEST LIBERTY, W.Va. -- Fairmont State scored 61 points and racked up 525 yards of total offense in a dominating 61-28 victory over West Liberty to cap the regular season on Thursday evening at West Family Stadium in West Liberty.
With the win, Fairmont State improves to 9-2 overall and 8-2 in Mountain East Conference play. West Liberty ends the season with a 3-8 overall record, including a 3-7 mark in league play.
In addition to five offensive touchdowns on the evening, the Falcons also scored on a pair of interception returns, a punt return and recorded a safety in the victory.
Brandon Ruffin quickly gave the Falcons a 7-0 lead on a 39-yard, pick-six just under four minutes into the game. Six minutes later,
Lyrics Klugh handled a Hilltopper punt at the Fairmont State 19-yard line and sprinted through the WLU coverage team to return a punt to the endzone for the third time this season. The 81-yard punt return is the fourth longest in school history.
However, West Liberty's Osman Kargbo quickly answered with a 97-yard kickoff return on the ensuing kickoff to cut Fairmont's lead back to 14-7.
Fairmont State led 21-7 after one quarter of play when Matt McDonald hauled in a 27-yard strike from
Takwan Crews-Naylor as time expired in the first.
After WLU cut Fairmont's lead to 21-14 early in the second,
Rakeem Darden scored his first of two touchdowns on a 24-yard run to cap a six-play, 50-yard drive.
Jerry Iweh returned a second Fairmont State interception for a touchdown midway through the second quarter on a 46-yard interception return to cap the scoring in the opening half, sending the Falcons to the locker room with a 35-14 advantage.
After
Colin Harvath connected on a 30-yard field goal to make the score 38-14 early in the second half, West Liberty's Zach Phillips connected on a 62-yard TD pass to Shane Phillips to make the score 38-21 in favor of Fairmont State.
The Falcon defense scored for the third time in the game at the 5:14 mark of the third quarter when
Antonio Harris and
Josh Ballard closed in on Phillips and pushed Fairmont's lead to 40-21 following a safety.
Later in the third quarter, Darden blasted his way through the West Liberty defense to score his second TD of the game, pushing Fairmont's advantage to 47-21 after three quarters of play.
The scoring continued in the fourth quarter, as Crews-Naylor found senior
Alquawn Vickers for a pair of TDs late in the game, giving the Falcons a 61-point scoring performance – their highest point total since a 63-38 victory over West Virginia State in 2010. The 61 points is also the second-most points given up by West Liberty at West Family Stadium (63 vs. Edinboro, 2009).
Fairmont State possessed the football for over 38 minutes in the win, and converted on 8-of-15 third downs and 4-of-5 redzone scoring chances.
Crews-Naylor connected on 19-of-30 passes for 274 yards and three TDs in the win.
Javon Hayes was on the receiving end of six of those passes for a career-high 115 yards.
The Fairmont State running attack featured three running backs with 88 yards or more in the victory, led by Darden with 14 carries for 93 yards to go with his pair of touchdowns.
Timothy Smith also chipped in 90 yards on 11 carries, and
Tyree Randolph totaled 88 yards on 18 carries.
Josh Ballard and
Trevon Shorts each recorded five solo stops to lead the Fairmont State defense.
West Liberty quarterback Zach Phillips completed just 12-of-24 passes for 209 yards and three touchdowns. He also threw a pair of interceptions that were returned for touchdowns. Receiver Shane Phillips was on the receiving end of six receptions for 170 yards and also hauled in two scores.
WLU managed just 58 yards on the ground and converted on just 4-of-14 third-down attempts.
The Falcons will now wait until Sunday evening to see if they receive a bid to the NCAA Division II Super Region One Playoffs. The Falcons were ranked 10
th in last week's Super Region One Rankings.
Note: Fairmont State has established a new school record for total offense with 4,917 yards this season.
