The Redhawks lose the handle on the ball late in the game.
Miquelle Canady struggles to break the Blue Devils’ tackle.
The Westwood High School Redhawks fell to the Dreher Blue Devils in a close, hard fought battle Friday night, 29-22. Statistically, Dreher, with their 6-1 record, should have overwhelmed the Redhawks, who are 0-7.
It wasn’t so.
The game was close throughout and could have gone either way if the breaks had fallen differently. Although Westwood didn’t win, head coach Rodney Summers’ boys showed that they are coming together as a team, and making quantum improvements in many areas of their game.
“We will run the ball as much as we can. We will go to the air if we fall behind. We have worked to improve our special teams, and we still need to improve our punting,” he said before the game.
And special teams did their job. Two field goals in the first two quarters from a team who, in their first couple of games, couldn’t even kick a PAT.
The first possession of the game went well for the Redhawks, as it did in last week’s game. Miquelle Canady hauled in a pass from Davis King and ran it all the way down to the Dreher 47-yard line.
Canady again ran the ball on a third-down-and-8 situation for a Westwood first down. On the next play, Diamond Williams at quarterback kept the ball and was tackled at the Dreher 27-yard line. Westwood got the first down on the next play, being stopped at the 25.
Davis King replaced Williams at quarterback, and handed the ball to Canady. Canady ran the ball to just short of the first down with 9 minutes to go in the first quarter. Westwood got a break when Dreher was penalized for a dead ball foul, and the officials spotted the ball on the 11-yard line. Williams went in again at quarter back and ran the ball himself to the 3-yard line, but Westwood would go no further on the ground.
On fourth-and-4 yards, the Westwood field goal unit took the field. Brandon Howard put the ball through the uprights, giving Westwood a 3-0 lead with 6:20 to go in the first quarter.
Following the kickoff, a reception by Dreher’s Hakim Frazier gave the Blue Devils the ball on the 50-yard line. With two good running plays from Frazier to Donovan Ward, the Blue Devils found themselves on the 3-yard line, deep in the Westwood red zone.
If ever Westwood needed a miracle for their defense, it was now…and they got it!
The flags came out on the next play, and Dreher was charged with illegal procedure, bringing the ball out to the 8-yard line. With 2:40 to go in the first quarter, Ward carried the ball for a 1-yard loss. On second down and 8 yards to go, Frazier was sacked on the 15-yard line.
With 1:50 to go in the quarter, a Dreher pass into the end zone went in and out of the hands of Bradford Lemmons. Dreher attempted to even the score with a field goal, but the amazing Westwood defense blocked the attempt. The quarter ended with Westwood in possession of the ball and the score 3-0 Westwood.
After some successful offensive running plays by Williams, Canady and Adonus Lee, Westwood worked the ball to their own 40-yard line. A big break came Westwood’s way when, after a complete pass from King to Lee, Dreher was assessed a costly facemask penalty. The result was a first down for Westwood on the opponent’s 46-yard line.
An 8-yard gain by Canady, followed by a big play, found the Redhawks all the way down on the Dreher 7-yard line with 9:46 to go in the half. Like the previous Redhawk scoring drive, they could not get into the end zone, but had to settle for the field goal. It was delivered by Howard with 8:26 to go in the half. The score became 6-0 Redhawks.
The Blue Devils were able to score after a Frazier pass was caught deep in Westwood territory by Lemmons, landing the Blue Devils on the Westwood 3-yard line. Two plays later, Frazier was able to run the ball into the end zone for the touchdown, tying the game. The PAT kick was no good.
The Redhawks could not make anything happen on their next possession, and Dreher gained possession with 2:42 to go in the half. The Westwood defense would again be tested as Dreher made another big passing play from Howard Henderson to Frasier, who ran the ball to the Westwood 5-yard line. Two plays later, a pitch to Frazier looked like a touchdown, but the officials spotted the ball on the 1-foot line.
A big break came for Westwood as Dreher was penalized for holding, making it third and 15 with 39 seconds to go in the half. The third-down run by Tyrek Outler gained only a yard, and the fourth-down pass was incomplete. The half ended in a 6-6 tie.
Summers was pleased with his team’s defensive performance of the first half.
“They started buckling down and playing right,” Summers said at the half. “It’s still those big plays we have to watch out for.”
But the third quarter would again prove to be Westwood’s downfall. The Blue Devils scored three times to Westwood’s one score.
With 9:30 to go in the quarter, Frazier hit Lemmons with a 57-yard touchdown pass to put the Blue Devils out front.
At the 6:45 mark, Frazier again hit Ward for a 12-yard touchdown passing play. Dreher’s final score of the third quarter came as Wesley Mousseau sent the ball through the uprights for a field goal. Dreher lead the game 22-6.
The big plays did not all come from the Blue Devils, however. With 5:34 to go in the third quarter, Westwood’s Diamond Williams completed a 62-yard pass to Vyncint Smith for the touchdown. Westwood ran the ball for the successful 2-point conversion, bringing the score to 22-14 Dreher.
In the fourth quarter, Westwood was able to tie the game 22-all with another big play. King hit Lee for a 57-yard touchdown pass and Williams added the 2-point conversion to knot things up.
The touchdown and 2-points to follow would be the best Westwood could do, as the final scoring play of the game would come from Dreher. Hakim Frazier passed the ball 10 yards to Donovan Ward for the TD, followed by the successful PAT by Mousseau.
The game was not one-sided by any means, but Westwood still looks for its first win.
“I thought our guys fought back well,” Summers said. “Some turnovers killed us there. It started to look pretty ugly. We needed to get some big plays to get back into the game, and we got them. We had it in our grasp. If we hadn’t turned it over, we would have at least tied it. Not enough third down conversions.”
The Redhawks travel to Columbia this week for a Thursday night match-up against region leaders A.C. Flora.
DHS 0-6-16-7 29
WHS 3-3-8-8 22
First Quarter:
WHS-Howard FG(6:30)
Second Quarter:
WHS-Howard FG(8:26)
DHS- Frazier 3 run. Kick failed. (9:30)
Third Quarter
WHS-Smith 62 pass from Williams. Williams 2 run. (5:34)
DHS- Lemmons 57 pass from Frazier. Mousseau kick (9:30)
DHS- Ward 12 pass from Frazier. Kick failed. (6:45)
DHS-Mousseau FG (5:49)
Fourth Quarter
WHS- Lee 57 pass from King. Williams 2 run. (11:30)
DHS- Ward 10 pass from Frazier. Mousseau kick. (8:12)
Team stats WHS DHS
First Downs 14 16
Rushing Yards 150 40
Comp-Att.-Int. 10-17-1 11-21-0
Passing Yards 174 307
Fumbles – Lost 4-0 0-0
Penalties – Yards 7-65 7-55
RUSHING: WHS-Alexander 10-69, Williams 14-47, Canady 9-38, King 1-(-1). DHS-Ward 14-44, Outler 10-1, Frazier 10-(-15).
PASSING: WHS- King 7-12-0,111 yds., Williams 3-5-1, 63 yds. DHS-Frazier 10-19-0, 247 yds., Henderson 1-2-0, 60 yds.
RECEIVING: WHS-Lee 4-106, Smith 2-65, Canady 2-10, Gallman 2-(-7). DHS-Ward 3-67, Outler 3-16, Lemmons 2-102, Drayton 2-60, Frazier 1-60.
