Lee Goings (1) is taken down by the Westside defense. (Photo/Ross Burton)
BLYTHEWOOD (Aug. 27, 2016) – The lights went out at Richland District 2 Stadium early in the first quarter Friday night as Westwood began to battle with Westside.
Three out of the four light stands relit after about a 20-minute delay, but the Redhawks stayed in the dark.
The Rams put up 21 points on the scoreboard within six minutes after the lights came back on, and the Anderson school cruised to a 44-3 victory.
“The only thing we can take away from this game is that we didn’t play good football,” first-year Westwood head coach Dustin Curtis said. “Westside came ready to play, they executed, they made big plays, they got stops on defense, and that’s the bottom line.”
Westwood (1-1) had just 104 total yards of offense on the night, 52 rushing and 52 passing. With only six first downs and eight punts, the Redhawks found it difficult to get going.
“I’m not saying our kids weren’t ready to play,” Curtis said. “I’m saying that Westside clearly played an outstanding game and we had some breakdowns in some key places. We just gotta go coach better. It’s on the coaches.”
Westside got on the board early, thanks to a 36-yard Chance Poore field goal at the 8:05 mark.
The power went out throughout the stadium at the 7:54 mark. Lights in the press box and amenities were restored shortly after, but the stadium lights remained dark as both teams stopped play.
Westwood fumbled the ball away when play was resumed, which set up a 27-yard Jackson Williamson touchdown run with 6:54 left that gave Westside a 10-0 lead.
Williamson then connected with Jyston Kendrick on two long catch-and-run touchdown plays.
The first, a 74-yarder at the 3:53 mark of the first, put the Rams up 17-0. With 1:21 left, Kendrick broke away from the Westwood defenders to complete a 69-yard TD pass play.
Poore delivered again early in the second quarter from 32 yards out to make it 27-0.
“I thought we had a great first quarter, but we only got three points in the second,” Westside head coach Scott Earley said. “I thought we got sloppy, lackadaisical, we didn’t really have the killer instinct, but we got the win.”
The Rams, 2-0 after dismissing Gaffney 38-10 in the season opener last week, didn’t need much of a killer instinct for the rest of the game.
The Redhawks’ only first-half highlight came late in the second quarter, when Darieus McCaskill pounced on a loose football at the Westside 25-yard line.
Westwood drove to the 4-yard line on that series, but on fourth-and-2 at the Westside 4, quarterback Elijah Heatley was sacked at the 14 and the Redhawks turned the ball over on downs.
Westside got another 23-yarder from Poore, along with a Dalton Walls TD run in the third quarter to make it 37-0.
Williamson connected with Brady Vickery for an 8-yard touchdown to make it 44-0 in the fourth, but Westwood finally caught a break in the closing minutes of the game.
McCaskill jumped on a second fumble to set Westwood up at midfield. Six plays later, D.J. Fields hit a 36-yard field goal to avoid the shutout.
Williamson finished the night 14-of-18 for 319 yards and two touchdowns passing, with no interceptions. Kendrick accounted for 214 of those yards on six catches, with two TDs.
The Redhawks travel to S. Florence next week.
Westside: 24-3-10-7 – 44
Westwood: 0-0-0-3 – 3
First Quarter
Westside – Chance Poore 36 field goal, 8:05.
Westside – Jackson Williamson 27 run (Poore kick) 6:54.
Westside – Jyston Kendrick 74 pass from Williamson (Poore kick) 3:53.
Westside – Kendrick 69 pass from Williamson (Poore kick) 1:21.
Second Quarter
Westside – Poore 32 field goal, 10:29.
Third Quarter
Westside – Poore 32 field goal, 9:01.
Westside – Dalton Walls 2 run (Poore kick) 5:55.
Fourth Quarter
Westside – Brady Vickery 8 pass from Williamson (Poore kick) 11:04.
Westwood – D.J. Fields 36 field goal, 3:42.
Westside Westwood
First Downs 14 6
Rushes-Yards 27-97 27-52
Passing Yards 319 52
C-A-I 14-18-0 9-22-0
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-1
Penalties-Yards 6-48 3-40
Punts-Avg. 0-0.0 8-36.8
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Westside – Paul Johnson 12-56, Jackson Williamson 4-32, Traye Carson 2-7, Dalton Walls 3-8, Jordan Blue 3-(-2), Jyston Kendrick 1-(-2). Westwood – Victor Smith 8-6, Rashawn Greene 3-20, Joshua Heyward 1-4, Jaylon Riley 5-12, Jaylan Graham 4-10, D.J. Fields 1-(-7).
PASSSING: Jackson Williamson 14-18-0. Westwood – Elijah Heatley 8-20-0; Rashawn Greene 1-2-0.
RECEIVING: Jyston Kendrick 6-214, Traye Carson 4-63, Hunter Marchbanks 1-2, Paul Johnson 1-10. Westwood – Kaden Briggs 3-17, Jaylan Graham 2-14, Jaylon Riley 1-10, Dermonti Romey 1-8, Rashawn Greene 1-3, Tyler Hosey 1-0.
