By John Antonik for
MSNsportsNET.comMORGANTOWN, W.VA. -- West Virginia needed a goal line stand and a 99-yard drive to secure its second victory of the season Saturday against Maryland.
The Mountaineers ran out to a comfortable 20-3 halftime lead, but shoddy special teams play put the Terrapins, now 1-1, back into the game.
West Virginia controlled both lines of scrimmage, producing an eye-opening 276 yards on the ground while limiting Maryland's all-time leading rusher Lamont Jordan to just 38 yards on 18 attempts.
However, a dropped punt attempt by Mark Fazzolari resulted in a fourth-quarter 55-yard Maryland score, and defensive back Richard Bryant muffed a punt at the Maryland nine that nearly resulted in Maryland's go-ahead touchdown.
"We made three major errors that just about killed us," growled West Virginia Coach Don Nehlen. "We tried to give the game away in the second half."
The Mountaineer defense produced a goal line stand, keeping Maryland quarterback Calvin McCall out of the end zone on fourth and goal with just under seven minutes left in the game.
WVU's front three of David Upchurch, Jason Davis and Antwan Lake stuffed McCall's sneak just short of the goal line.
On West Virginia's ensuing possession, the Mountaineers produced a 99-yard drive that was culminated with a Cooper Rego two-yard touchdown run, one of two rushing TDs the junior had on the day.
Rego finished the afternoon with a career-high 114 yards on 23 carries. The New York, N.Y., native played the entire second half because starter Avon Cobourne was sidelined with a high ankle sprain.
Cobourne produced 97 yards on 12 attempts.
At the game's outset, it looked like West Virginia was headed toward an easy blowout victory.
West Virginia got on the board first with 12:42 left in the first quarter when quarterback Brad Lewis scrambled for a 12-yard touchdown.
It appeared Lewis went in the wrong direction, but managed to elude three Maryland tacklers to find the end zone.
"It's easy to joke when they work, but when they go the other way, the coach isn't too happy," Nehlen offered.
Lewis' scramble proved a harbinger of things to come for West Virginia, now 2-0 on the season for the first time since 1997.
Later on West Virginia's second scoring drive, Lewis coughed up the football after being hit from behind on a scramble. The ball was recovered well down field by WVU wide receiver Phil Braxton for a first down.
The Mountaineers eventually scored on a Lewis-to-Khori Ivy 14-yard pass. That was Lewis' first touchdown pass of the season.
"We made mistakes," admitted Maryland Coach Ron Vanderlinden. "Playing a good team on the road, you can't make mistakes."
Kicker Jon Ohliger shanked the extra point try to give West Virginia a 13-3 lead.
Prior to that, Maryland had managed to sandwich a Brian Kopka 26-yard field goal between West Virginia's two scores.
The Mountaineers extended the lead to 17 with just 40 seconds left in the half when Rego found paydirt from a yard out.
Maryland stuffed West Virginia on its opening possession of the third quarter and eventually closed the gap to 10 when quarterback Calvin McCall scored on a quarterback sneak with 7:18 left in the period.
It was Maryland's best drive of the day, spanning 77 yards on 11 plays.
Then came West Virginia's special teams play.
Maryland got its first gift to start the fourth quarter when West Virginia punter Mark Fazzolari dropped the football in the face of a Maryland rush. Instead of recovering the ball, the sophomore attempted to kick it off the ground.
The ball was picked up by Leon Joe, who returned it 55 yards for a touchdown.
That closed the gap to just 20-17 with 14:41 left in the contest.
West Virginia answered with a long drive that resulted in a Ohliger, 26-yard field goal to push the margin back to six with 13:19 left.
But another Mountaineer special teams miscue nearly cost them the game after the defense forced Maryland to punt.
West Virginia deep-man Richard Bryant muffed Kopka's pooch punt and Maryland recovered the football at the West Virginia nine.
"Special teams weren't a big problem," said Nehlen. "We just made stupid mistakes. We have a couple of guys that I don't know what they've got for brains, but the other 10 guys are great. If they can't do it, then we will just find somebody else to replace them."
The Terps took the football all the way to the West Virginia goal line, but was unable to score on fourth down when McCall's sneak was ruled just short of the end zone.
"All I kept looking for was the official with his hands up, and when I didn't see that, I said 'thank the Lord!'" Nehlen said.
"I'm encouraged by the way we fought back in the second half," Vanderlinden said.
With less the seven minutes remaining, West Virginia drove the football the length of the field to ice the game.
A big play on the time-consuming, 11-play drive was a nifty 39-yard screen pass to fullback Wes Ours that placed the football at the Maryland 17. Five plays later, Rego scored the game's final touchdown from two yards out.
"We had several big plays on that drive, you don't drive the football 99 yards without having some big plays," Nehlen admitted.
Lewis finished the afternoon completing 14-of-22 passes for 165 yards and one touchdown.
Senior Khori Ivy caught nine passes for 83 yards to move into eighth place on the WVU all-time receiving list with 1,753 yards. Ivy also caught a pass in his 30th consecutive game Saturday.
West Virginia produced 276 yards on the ground, the most since churning out 303 yards against Rutgers last year.
"I would never have guessed they would run the ball as much as they did and so consistently," said Vanderlinden, now 1-3 against West Virginia.
Freshman Brian King led the WVU defense with nine unofficial tackles. Bryant and Grant Wiley contributed six tackles each.
McCall led the Maryland offense with 215 yards through the air. His favorite target was Guilian Gary, who caught seven passes for 96 yards.
"Calvin threw the ball well today -- he's a much improved player from a year ago," said Vanderlinden.
The Terrapins could muster just 71 yards on the ground on 30 attempts -- the second consecutive week West Virginia limited an opponent to less than 100 rushing yards.
The 2-0 Mountaineers are back in action next Saturday against Miami. Game time is set for 3:30 p.m.
Scoring Summary
WV - Lewis 12 run (Ohliger kick)
MD - Kopka 26 FG
WV - Ivy 14 pass from Lewis (Kick failed)
WV - Rego 1 run (Ohliger kick)
MD - McCall 1 run (Kopka kick)
MD - Joe 55 fumble return (Kopka kick)
WV - Ohliger 26 FG
WV - Rego 2 run (Ohliger kick)
Individual Statistics
Rushing: MD - Jordan 18-38, McCall 9-29, Kalapinski 3-4, Total 30-71; WV - Rego 23-114, Cobourne 12-97, Lewis 5-33, Brown 3-29, Ours 1-2, Team 1-1, Total 45-276.
Passing: MD - McCall 19-29-1-215-0, Jordan 0-1-0-0-0, Total, 19-30-1-0-215; WV - Lewis 14-22-0-165-1.
Receiving: MD - Gary 7-96, Dugan 4-64, Jordan 3-20, Monroe 3-9, Cruz 1-16, Williams 1-10, Total 19-215; WV - Ivy 9-83, Brown 3-32, Ours 1-39, Nastasi 1-11, Total 14-165.
Attendance: 53,007
