BLYTHEWOOD – The Westwood football team had taken some beatings over the last two years. This season the Redhawks walked off with a couple of victories before going into The Battle for the Axe against arch rival Blythewood Friday night.
In the teams’ eighth meeting in fighting for the Jeanne Schmidt Memorial Trophy since 2015 (two games were cancelled in 2020 and 2021 because of covid infections), the Redhawks scored a third-quarter touchdown and shut out the Bengals 7-0 at Westwood’s District Two Stadium.
“I’m so proud of these kids. They’ve just continued to fight,” Head coach Robert O’Connell said. “I know it’s been a tough couple of years, but there’s no quit in this group. I’m extremely proud.”
Westwood (3-2) also happened to get its first Region 5-5A win along with topping its crosstown rival.
Both teams battled to a scoreless tie by halftime, but Westwood quarterback Carrington Carter led the team on a 10-play, 80-yard drive on its first possession of the second half. Carter closed out the drive with a 9-yard touchdown pass to Uriah Lofton.
“Our defense had been playing phenomenally all season, and we’ve just got to put some points on the board,” Carter said. “That’s what I was thinking, we’ve just got to score, score, score, score, score.”
As it turned out, one score was all Westwood needed.
And when Blythewood (4-1) aimed for the end zone on its last drive, quarterback John Henry Collins scanned the end zone from the 13-yard line, and his eyes met defender Justin Washington.
Washington hovered in the back of the end zone and intercepted Collins’ pass in the closing two minutes of the game to help seal the Westwood win.
“I saw his eyes. I looked right at him,” Washington said of spying on Collins. “I saw him try to get (to a receiver) behind me, and he threw it right in my hands.”
The Redhawks used its final possession to eat the rest of the clock and finish with its first win of the series since 2019, when they beat Blythewood 14-7.
Blythewood and Westwood battled through a scoreless first half.
The Bengals took the opening kickoff and drove 73 yards on 18 plays, reaching the Westwood 4-yard line. On fourth-and-1 from that yard mark, Collins was hit for an 11-yard loss and the Bengals turned the ball over on downs.
Westwood and Blythewood exchanged short possessions from then on, with two turnovers on downs, two punts, and a Blythewood fumble.
The only play into the end zone was Carter’s 69-yard touchdown pass to Kham Cunningham at the 1:28 mark of the second quarter. That play was stricken from the scoreboard on an ineligible man downfield call against the Redhawks.
After Westwood put a touchdown on the scoreboard, Blythewood caught a couple of bad breaks when two touchdowns were called back on one third-quarter possession.
First came Carter Coleman’s 80-yard touchdown return on a Westwood punt, which was called back for an illegal blindside block and an unsportsmanlike conduct. Later in the drive Collins threw a 16-yard touchdown pass, but that one was called back on a holding penalty.
Blythewood’s four possessions of the second half ended with two turnovers on downs, a punt, and Washington’s pick in the end zone.
Throughout the game Blythewood’s passing offense was under heavy pressure from the Westwood secondary. Collins finished the night 26-for-37 in passing with one interception and 249 yards, but often his receivers were so well covered that the junior quarterback got flushed out of the pocket. Rushers either sacked him or tackled him for a loss four times.
“Justin Washington with the pick down here at the end, Devonte Armstrong, Dominique Armstrong, Zion Oliver, Christian Smith,” O’Connell began in reeling off the names of his defensive backs. “You talk about a prolific offense, I don’t know what the yardage was, but a shutout’s a shutout.”
Westwood’s fortunes after the score weren’t much better than Blythewood’s. The Redhawks punted twice, but their final possession ended with a victory formation, thanks to the one drive that made the difference in the storied rivalry in the town of Blythewood.
“We worked extremely hard this week,” Carter said. “The defense came through, the offensive line came through, and we all just came together and had a big team win.”
Blythewood returns to its home field for the first time since Aug. 30 next week, playing host to Spring Valley. The Vikings (0-5) fell 56-7 in its Region opener against Sumter.
Westwood plays at Ridge View Friday. The Blazers (1-3) were idle Friday night.
Blythewood – 0-0-0-0 – 0
Westwood – 0-0-7-0 – 7
Third Quarter
W – Uriah Lofton 9 pass from Carrington Carter (Cullen Henderson kick) 7:22
BHS WHS
First Downs 20 14
Rushes-yds 30-79 28-87
Passing yds 249 94
Att-Com-Int 37-26-1 16-8-0
Fumbles-lost 1-1 1-0
Penalties-yds 10-94 8-60
Punts-avg. 2-24.5 4-34.0
RUSHING
B – John Henry Collins 12-5, Desmond Macklin 11-40, Alonzo Kyles 5-23, Carter Coleman 2-11. W – Angelo Rios 16-75, Carrington Carter 9-7, Quentin McGill Jr. 1-5.
PASSING
B – John Henry Collins 26-37-1-249. W – Carrington Carter 8-16-0-94
RECEIVING
B – Kanye Reed 7-62, Chance Johnson 7-43, Carter Coleman 5-88, Ben Hendrix 4-31, Desmond Macklin 2-6 Ryan Hall 1-19. W – Quentin McGill Jr. 5-56, Angelo Rios 1-13, Desmond Washington 1-16, Uriah Lofton 1-9.
