Westwood’s Andrew Plante (32) leaps through the RNE defense, just out of reach of Kevin Smalls (5), for the first down. (Photo/Ross Burton)
BLYTHEWOOD – The Westwood Redhawks were able to keep their home-field winning streak alive Friday night by clobbering the Cavaliers of Richland Northeast, 38-6. Further, the ‘Hawks showed their opponents that last Friday’s 46-point shutout of River Bluff was no fluke and that the Redhawks are one of the toughest teams around.
Last year’s matchup between these two teams was a close game. Westwood scored their first win of the season and the second win in the school’s history, but it was a one-touchdown victory for the Redhawks. Richland Northeast is an important game in many ways. For one, it is the team that head coach Rodney Summers mentored before coming to Westwood, along with several former Cavalier assistant coaches and players.
“We feel we have an advantage over them with the running game and our line,” Summers said before the game. “Their linebackers are really good, though. They fly around. If we can control their linebackers we can move the ball well on them.”
Westwood’s hallmark has often been “first blood.” The Redhawks, even when the game is an eventual loss, strive to draw first blood, and it looked like it was to be in this game as well. Westwood received the opening kickoff on their own 35-yard line. Thanks to a 23-yard reception by Adonus Lee, and a couple of handoffs and QB keepers, they were deep in Cavalier territory in short order. Then disaster struck the Redhawks in the form of a Leveretter fumble, which was picked up by T.J. Brunson. Brunson ran the ball 67 yards to the Westwood 10-yard line, setting up Cavalier quarterback Eric Brown, who on third down connected with receiver Devion Brown for the first and only score of the game for RNE.
The second Westwood possession was all Leveretter and Andrew Plante, plus one reception each for Diamond Williams and Lee. The Redhawks moved the ball well both on the ground and in the air. The drive was capped off by a 32-yard pass from Leveretter to Lee in the end zone to tie the game. Brandon Howard, perfect for the night after a rough first game, put the ball through the posts for the point after. Westwood took the lead for good, 7-6. The Cavs went three and out on their next possession, and Westwood scored on an almost identical drive, pulling out a 14-6 lead heading into the second quarter.
Again the Cavs couldn’t mount any meaningful offense against the point-stingy Redhawk defense, and had to punt after three plays. The Redhawks again ground the RNE defense to a pulp, this time with Winslow Powell sharing in the running back duties, and Bruce Temple filling in as receiver. Trapp snuck in for the touchdown on fourth-and-goal from the 1-yard line. The next three drives would end in nothing for either team. The Cavaliers got their second turnover of the game when Mike Joiner picked off a Leveretter pass on the RNE 7-yard line, and was downed on the RNE 4. The Cavs were just too deep in their own territory with too little time left in the half. With time almost gone, Brown took a knee to end the half with the score 21-6, Westwood.
The third quarter opened with a highly questionable play by the Cavaliers. On a fourth down and inches situation, with almost a whole half of the game to play, RNE went for the conversion on their own 21-yard line. The conversion failed, giving Westwood the ball on the RNE 21. Fortunately for RNE, Leveretter fumbled with Tyler Sims recovering for the Cavaliers, otherwise an easy score for the Redhawks.
The second half was dominated by Westwood’s ground game, served up by their second team. Jalen Smith kept the ball for the only score of the third period after Mark Mikens gave the team good field position by running a Cavalier punt back into Cav territory. A steady series of small ground gains allowed Smith to keep the ball and run it into the end zone.
The fourth quarter began with the Cavaliers facing a fourth down situation, and going for the conversion in their own territory. A broken play on third down cost the team 9 yards, and instead of a punt, they ran the play, failing to convert, and giving Westwood excellent field position. This time Westwood didn’t turn the ball over, and scored three on a Howard field goal from the RNE 3-yard line. The final score of the night began with a Steven Timmons interception of a pass intended for Holliday. Timmons ran the ball 56 yards to the RNE 6-yard line. A Smith handoff to Devon Preston resulted in the final touchdown of the night. After Howard’s kick, the final score stood at 38-6.
Summers was happy about the win, but offered some concerns about the team’s play tonight and looked ahead.
“Some things are frustrating,” Summers said. “We’re making some bonehead plays here and there. On Monday we will go back to work and correct some mistakes. It was kind of a different atmosphere from last game. Things we did really, really well last time we did well tonight, and some things we didn’t do well. We didn’t give them a short field out there, they won’t score any unless we give them a short field. We can’t turn the ball over, we had a fumble and a pick, and we can’t do that.
“Clover runs a strong offense and they like to run it and throw it off of the play action,” he said, “so we have to stop that run they have.”
Friday night, the 2-0 Red Hawks travel to Clover to meet the 0-2 Blue Eagles for a non-region game. Despite the Blue Eagles record, they are ranked among South Carolina’s top-20 most dominant football teams, and not to be taken lightly.
RNE: 6-0-0-0 – 6
WHS: 7-14-7-10 – 38
Scoring
First Quarter
RNE – Devion Brown 10-pass from Eric Brown. Kick fails. (8:36)
WHS – Adonus Lee 32-pass from Nick Leveretter. Brandon Howard kick. (5:27)
Second Quarter
WHS – Andrew Plante 7-run. B. Howard kick. (5:54)
Third Quarter
WHS – Jalen Smith 11-run. B. Howard kick. (1:17)
Fourth Quarter
WHS – B. Howard 25-FG. (9:16)
WHS – Devon Preston 1-run. B. Howard kick. (5:25)
Team Stats
RNE WHS
First Downs 9 18
Rushes/Yards 26-37 52-195
Passing Yards 130 164
C-A-I 13-28-1 8-12-1
Fumbles/Lost 1-0 3-2
Penalties/Yards 7-50 2-25
Individual Stats
RUSHING: RNE—Barry Moorer 14-42, Eric Brown 2-11, R. Mays 2-3, Q. Burrell 5-(-4), Donovan Harris 1-(-5), D. Holliday 1-(-9), Team 1-(-1). WHS—Andrew Plante 14-71, Jalen Smith 7-51, Winslow Powell 9-39, Nick Leveretter 13-25, Diamond Williams 1-6, Devon Preston 1-1, Rudy Mitchell 2-1, Rashawn Green 1-1, John Trapp 4-0.
RECEIVING: RNE—D. Holliday 5-59, D. Brown 3-42, A. Howze 4-19, B. Moorer 1-10. WHS—Adonus Lee 3-67, Diamond Williams 3-67, Bruce Temple 2-30.
PASSING: RNE—Eric Brown 13-28, 130 yards, TD, INT. WHS—Nick Leveretter 8-10, 164 yards, TD INT; Jalen Smith 0-2.