WEST LIBERTY - West Liberty running back Kevon Calhoun has been forced to live with it.

Playing in an offense with a quarterback that is blowing past every conceivable record, and even some inconceivable ones, it has become commonplace for the 5-foot-10, 185-pound junior running back from Rockville, Md., to get lost in the shuffle. This, despite the fact he's run for 1,528 yards and 20 touchdowns.

That was again the case Saturday at Russek Field as West Liberty's Zach Amedro (540, seven total TDs) and Edinboro's Trevor Harris (630, seven total touchdowns) combined to throw for 1,170 yards in the Hilltoppers' 84-63 victory in an NCAA Division II second-round game.

All Calhoun did was rush for 173 yards and four touchdowns, and catch three passes for 116 yards and two more scores. And the fact is, were it not for Calhoun's determination after Amedro left with a bruised non-throwing shoulder in the third quarter, the game may have taken a turn for the worse.

In all honesty, though, it already had.

''After that, I just felt like I needed to do something because I felt like that injury Zach took was kind of my fault,'' Calhoun said. ''So I took more of the weight on myself.''

After Edinboro had scored to 'cut' the lead to 70-42, a bad bounce on the ensuing kickoff had the Hilltoppers backed up at their own 9. And with freshman quarterback and Linsly product Chris Kiedaisch under center, Edinboro figured West Liberty was going to keep the ball on the ground.

The huddle, according to Calhoun, was calm.

''It was just, basically, hold onto the ball and keep it moving,'' he said. ''Even though we were going to run the ball and they were thinking we were going to run the ball, we've still got to make plays and play the game.''

Calhoun carried once for 5 yards and then busted the next one outside to the left and raced 68 yards to the Scots 19. Two plays later he was in the end zone with the backbreaker.

Just like that, the little guy who lurks in the shadows most days, had shone the brightest.

''He's done that all year for us,'' West Liberty coach Roger Waialae said. ''That's what makes our offense go, is that we're not one-dimensional.

''When we needed some yardage we got it.''

Krol's Krew

There wasn't a West Liberty representative at the postgame news conference that didn't offer praise for the team's offensive coordinator, Gary Krol. If it wasn't Amedro, it was Walls. If not Calhoun, then Waialae.

Seems we're all finally figuring something out that those in the program have known from the beginning - Krol is an offensive mastermind.

''I think our (Krol) an unbelievable job in getting us in plays,'' Waialae said. ''That's what you've got to do as a coach - put your guys in position to make plays.''

Walls, who is a junior out of Camden, N.J., that came from a single-wing program that threw the ball roughly four times a game, remembered his first meeting with the coach.

''I had no idea (what I was getting into),'' Walls said. ''When I first got here, (Krol) told me he threw the ball a lot, like 40 times a game.

''So I had to get in shape and get ready to run.''

He Was Coming Out

When Amedro went down while attempting a pass with the Hilltoppers leading 70-35, the questions came raining down from the stands in Waialae's direction. Most wanted to know why the quarterback was still in, and more specifically, still throwing.

''In all honesty that was going to be Zach's last series,'' Waialae said. ''The only thing that kind of upset me was (it was) a miscommunication.

''Somebody went the wrong way and he was stuck with the ball and tried to make something out of it.

''Through a normal case of the game I think it's easier to swallow, but when somebody goes the wrong way and he gets hit is tough for me two swallow. Because what we preach is not making those mental mistakes.''

Shawn Rine can be reached via e-mail at Rine@theintelligencer.net