WEST LIBERTY — Playing without its starting quarterback its less-than-ideal weather conditions, West Liberty needed to make something happen early Thursday night. It almost happened … but almost has never won a game.

Urbana fumbled on the first play of the contest and the Hilltoppers had a chance to recover the loose football, but couldn’t and the Blue Knights went on for a 35-17 Mountain East Conference victory before a sparse crowd on a blustery Halloween Night at West Family Stadium.

“You make your own breaks in football. I think our player had in mind that he wanted to scoop and score, but if he just scoops it first and then scores, it might’ve changed the complexion of the game,” veteran West Liberty head coach Roger Waialae said.

Although the Blue Knights (7-2 overall, 7-2 MEC) didn’t score on that opening drive, they did find the end zone on four of their next five possessions in rolling to a 28-3 halftime advantage that proved too much for West Liberty (4-5, 3-5) to overcome as it lost for the second straight time.

Urbana tailback W.R. Sanders ran for 131 yards and two touchdowns to break the Urbana school record and quarterback Eddie Stockett passed for 211 and two more scores to lead the Blue Knights to their fourth consecutive win, something they haven’t achieved since 2013. It was also their eighth consecutive triumph under the lights.

The Blue Knights scored first when Stockett found Jesse Bray on a quick slant that the speedster turned into an 81-yard touchdown. Erick Ware added the first of his five PATs.

Isaiah Young made it 14-0 with a 4-yard run with 5:03 left in the first quarter. He finished with 37 yards on 11 carries.

West Liberty got on the scoreboard when Owen Rozanc booted a 24-yard field goal that capped a 13-play, 60-yard drive that took 4:42 off the clock.

The Blue Knights made it 21-3 with a little more than two minutes left in the first half as Stockett found Kenneth Redd for a 13-yard scoring toss.

Then, after a Hilltopper fumble, Sanders went in from 6 yards out with 45 seconds left for a 28-3 reading.

“For the most part I thought how physical and how they played against everybody else, I thought, for the most part, we handled them,” Waialae pointed out. “Offensively, I don’t think we gave up a (quarterback) sack. This is probably the most effective we’ve run the football. I think they (Urbana) were leading the conference in yards allowed rushing, and we took it to them.

“The problem is we have to make plays. We can’t have our playmakers starting off slow for the second straight week,” he stressed.

West Liberty managed a mere 83 yards on 30 plays in the first 30 minutes. However, it finished with 245 on 65 snaps.

“The second half we got into a rhythm offensively and that allowed to get into a rhythm defensively,” Waialae explained. “We were into the wind and we wanted to flip the field so we could make a run at them in the fourth quarter. Then we gave up the big play when they were trying to run out the clock.

“We talked at halftime about winning the half, and we did. But we need to win the games, too,” Waialae stressed. “We got better up front in the second half on both sides of the ball. We were able to make plays, but not enough of them.”

In the fourth quarter, WLU quarterback Erick Taylor scored on a 1-yard run and Rozanc’s placement made it 28-10. Taylor then teamed with Isaiah Robinson on a 10-yard scoring hookup and Rozanc made it 28-17 with 1:52 left to play.

However, Sanders broke loose for a 53-yard scoring jaunt that sealed the deal.

When asked if the weather played a part in the outcome, Waialae said maybe some.

“With everyone having turf fields any more, I don’t think rain affects games like it does on natural surfaces,” Waialae said. “Now, the wind affects games. It did on both sides. We are normally a vertical passing team and throwing into the wind we had a couple of opportunities, but it is even harder throwing with the wind, especially on the deeper balls.”

Taylor went 10 for 28 for 113 yards. Quincy Wimbish rushed for 72 yards and Robinson had three catches.

West Liberty hits the road on Saturday, Nov. 9 at West Virginia Wesleyan before concluding the season the next Saturday at home against Charleston.