BLYTHEWOOD – Westwood’s homecoming game at Richland District Two Stadium Friday night was more of a breakout.
The Redhawks, who had struggled to put an offensive and a defensive game together this season, zoned in on Lugoff-Elgin right from kickoff and kept up the pace in a 40-28 Region 4-4A victory over the Demons.
Noah Jennings fired the Westwood offense, pulling in seven Camren Brown passes to the tune of 203 yards and a touchdown. Two other catches led directly to two Julian Milligan rushing touchdowns.
As for Milligan, the team’s leading rusher finished the night with 93 yards on 13 carries. He got run support from Lavelle Ramsey, who had 93 yards on 16 carries. Thirty-five of those yards came on a touchdown run early in the fourth quarter that pushed Westwood’s lead to 34-14.
The Redhawks struck an offensive balance with 237 yards through the air and 237 more on the ground. Few were more pleased than Westwood head coach Matt Quinn.
“It was a great game. Offensively we spread the ball around,” Quinn said. “Jayden had a touchdown, Lavelle had a touchdown, Noah had a touchdown, Julian had a touchdown. It’s great that we can get everybody involved and be as explosive as we were tonight.”
Having it come at homecoming added something special to the night.
“I’ve really got to thank our fans. They really came out tonight and that was a big huge help for us,” Quinn said. “I’m really happy that our kids got the homecoming win, our community got the homecoming win.”
Quinn said, noted another milestone as well.
“We got our first win on the turf.”
Richland District Two installed the turf last year, but the Redhawks had to scrub some home dates because of COVID-19, and the Redhawks fell on the losing side at other home games.
Friday night played out differently.
Westwood (2-4, 1-1) got cracking right after the opening kickoff with a 45-yard Brown-to-Jennings connection. On the next play, Milligan ran 21 yards for the opening score in just the first minute of regulation.
Lugoff-Elgin (0-6, 0-2) responded five minutes later when Brouton Gardner found Kristian Golden for a 29-yard touchdown pass. The Demons took a 7-6 lead on Asher Warner’s extra point.
Brown closed out a 64-yard drive with a 7-yard TD strike to Jaylin McDuffie early in the second quarter, and Milligan burst in for the 2-point conversion to make it 14-7 Redhawks.
The Demons evened the score again on Ashton Horton’s 3-yard run at the 6:41 mark of the second, but Westwood set out quickly to take the advantage once again.
The Redhawks took over at their own 45-yard line and moved quickly to the Lugoff-Elgin 27-yard line on Brown’s 10-yard completion to Jennings, a 12-yard Milligan run, and a Demons personal foul penalty.
After three incompletions, Brown found Jaden Harrison in the end zone on fourth-and-10 and hit him for a 27-yard touchdown connection at the 4:52 mark of the second quarter. Zyere Lee’s catch for the 2-point conversion, and a defensive stop of the Demons at the Redhawks 10-yard line gave Westwood a 22-14 lead at the half.
When third-quarter action started up, the Redhawk defense forced a turnover on downs, but on the third play, Milligan fumbled the ball away, bringing the Lugoff-Elgin offense back onto the field.
In what Quinn pointed out as a turning point in the game, Westwood defenders took the field and forced the Demons to punt.
“I was really proud of those guys,” Quinn said. “Our defense played tough. I told them, ‘No excuses: Bad things are going to happen in a game, bad things are going to happen in life. It’s how you bounce back from it.’ They make a big stop, they have to go right back on the field, and they make another big stop.”
From that point on, Westwood played more aggressively. The Redhawks had to take some pass-interference penalties, on top of at least five unsportsmanlike conduct flags, but they never let up on their message that the Demons were not going to rally.
Scores from Milligan and Ramsey in the third and fourth quarters had the Redhawks up 34-14.
Lugoff-Elgin rallied for a touchdown right after Westwood took a 20-point lead, but Jenning’s 37-yard TD reception with 7:20 to put the Redhawks up 40-22. The Demons scored the last touchdown in the final minute.
“This is a big region win for us. We’re still in the hunt,” Westwood head coach Matt Quinn said. “That non-region schedule doesn’t really matter anymore. We’re really focusing on these last few weeks.”
Westwood returns to Memorial Stadium in Columbia to take on Dreher Friday. Lugoff-Elgin plays host to Richland Northeast.
Lugoff-Elgin – 7-7-0-14 — 28
Westwood – 6-16-6-12 — 40
First Quarter
W – Julian Milligan 21 run (run failed) 11:22
L – Kristian Golden 29 pass from Brouton Gardner (Asher Warner kick) 6:44
Second Quarter
W – Jaylin McDuffie 7 pass from Camren Brown (Milligan run) 10:32
L – Ashton Horton 3 run (Warner kick) 6:41
W – Jayden Harrison 27 pass from Brown (Zyere Lee pass from Brown) 4:52
Third Quarter
W – Milligan 3 run (pass failed) 4:43
Fourth Quarter
W – Lavelle Ramsey 35 run (pass failed) 11:35
L – James Ogle 12 pass from Jylil Favor (Mason Williams pass from Gardner) 11:07
W – Jennings 37 pass from Brown (run failed) 7:20
L – Timari Murphy 33 pass from Gardner (pass failed) :44
L-E Westwood
First Downs 22 20
Rushes-Yards 31-132 39-237
Passing Yards 200 237
Att-Com-Int 28-12-0 14-8-0
Fumbles-Lost 1-0 2-1
Penalties-Yards 6-50 14-160
Punts-Avg. 4-34.0 3-45.3
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: Lugoff-Elgin – Jylil Favor 19-99, Ashton Horton 9-26, Brouton Gardner 3-7. Westwood – Julian Milligan 13-93, Lavelle Ramsey 19-93, Jayden Harrison 8-21, Camren Brown 3-30.
PASSING: Lugoff-Elgin – Brouton Gardner 11-27-0, Jylil Favor 1-1-0. Westwood – Camren Brown 8-14-0.
RECEIVING: Lugoff-Elgin – Mason Williams 3-20, Kristian Golden 4-60, Blease Campbell 1-27, Timari Murphy 2-44, DaSean Jenkins 2-45, James Ogle 1-12. Westwood – Noah Jennings 7-203, Jaylin McDuffie 1-7, Jayden Harrison 1-29.
