Glenville State University’s Mark Rucker carries the ball during last Saturday’s game at Concord. (Photo courtesy Glenville State University)

GLENVILLE – West Liberty University head coach Roger Waialae and the Hilltoppers will look to keep the good times rolling when they collide with Glenville State University in a 1 p.m. Saturday Mountain Eastern Conference showdown inside Morris Stadium.

WLU (2-5, 2-3) is coming off a 21-9 homecoming victory last weekend against W.Va. Wesleyan.

Coach Waialae watched signal-caller Levi Gullion throw three touchdown passes, including an 81-yarder to Ben Turner, to put the hosts ahead for good. Hunter Patterson rushed 10 times for 78 yards in what was Waialae’s 98th career victory.

“Same West Liberty team we play every year,” admitted GSU boss Mike Kellar on his weekly show. “Dynamic in a couple key spots. Their tailback (second in the MEC at 7.4 ypc) is excellent. This kid is a really good football player. Couple really good receivers.

“They’ve changed quarterbacks. Good defensive football team. It’s just who’s better that Saturday. I tell our team quit worrying about who we are playing and let’s just try to control and worry about us, and hopefully that’s what we do this weekend.”

Glenville State (3-4, 3-2) rallied for a 24-21 win at Concord last week.

Tariq Miller, who had six grabs for 81 yards, helped erase a 21-10 deficit by catching a 9-yard TD pass from Anthony Garrett late in the third and then a 16-yard scoring strike early in the fourth.

The Pioneers, who enter the fray tied for fourth in the MEC, watched Garrett complete 17 of 32 for 177 yards and three touchdowns.

Zay Wood led the G-men on the ground with 82 stripes on 18 attempts, while Jeremiah King and Mark Rucker combined for 21 totes and 97 yards.

“It’s good to come away with a win,” said coach Kellar. “I don’t think we played our best game or our worst game. I coached there for two years.

“I knew going down there at homecoming it would be a great atmosphere and I knew they would show up and play, and I just hoped that we would.

“Even though we made some mistakes we really executed at a decent level. Both sides, if I could take five plays out of both sides of the game I thought we played pretty well, but those five plays on each side could’ve been very costly to us.”

Turner’s 584 receiving yards currently leads the MEC and Trent Crawford ranks first in the conference with five forced fumbles and second in tackles for loss.

The Hilltoppers, who have won four of the last five against the Pioneers and lead the all-time series 47-33-4, handled business last fall in a 48-40 shootout victory.

WLU is averaging nearly three sacks an outing and is led by four from Delano Marcelus.

Glenville State’s Jamair Diaz, who is currently eighth nationally in sacks per game, is coming off a huge outing against the Mountain Lions. Diaz finished with five TFL, including two sacks, while registering a pair of forced fumbles and recovering one en route to being honored as both the MEC and NCAA D2 Defensive Player of the Week.

“That’s who he could be,” admitted Kellar, who watched leading tackler Shaun Sterling Jr. snare his team-high third pick last week. “That’s the guy he should be. In all honesty I think he would be the first to tell you he left some plays out there. I mean there were two or three zone reads where we had them for tackles for loss.

“The quarterback pulled it at the last second and Jamair was all over the field. He ran by a couple, but I think Jamair is a great player and when he does hone it in and control it he can be a really great player. I think you got a glimpse of who he is and who he can become.”