Tyler Hosey breaks into Dutch Fork territory. (Photo/Ross Burton)
IRMO (Sept. 26, 2016) – Friday night’s game at Dutch Fork looked like it had taken a good turn for Westwood early in the second quarter.
The Redhawks fumbled the ball deep in their own territory and gave up a score to fall behind 13-7. Bradlee Nelson took the kickoff that followed and returned it 85 yards to put the Redhawks back up 14-13.
The turnaround was short-lived.
On the very next kickoff, Dutch Fork’s Bobby Irby took the ball 84 yards for a touchdown, negating Nelson’s score and keeping the Silver Foxes in the lead for good. Dutch Fork put up 34 points in that second quarter to cruise to a 47-14 victory.
“They’re a great team, but we gave them some extra opportunities and some turnovers,” Westwood head coach Dustin Curtis said. “You know coach (Tom) Knotts is going to have a team that’s going to take advantage of that.”
Westwood (2-3) had jumped to a 7-6 lead in the first quarter when Elijah Heatley found Cortez Braham for a 24-yard TD pass at the 1:29 mark.
The Silver Foxes (5-0) recovered a Redhawks fumble at the Westwood 11-yard line early in the second quarter. Ron Hoff ran in from 6-yards out to give the Silver Foxes a 13-7 lead with 9:30 left.
Irby’s kickoff return with 9:02 left made it 20-14.
“That was big,” Dutch Fork head coach Tom Knotts said of that moment. “I was telling all these college coaches that Bobby Irby is a D-1 guy. I guess I don’t know what I’ve been talking about but he sure has been dynamic for us in all five games.”
Westwood hoped to keep the game close going into the half, but it wasn’t meant to be.
Irby caught a 45-yard TD pass from Reese Nichols, Nichols rushed in from 8 yards out and Austin Conner caught a 12-yard pass from Ward Hacklen – all within the last 3:14 of the half. The final two scores were set up when Irby returned a punt 33 yards to the Westwood 16, and when Westwood fumbled on a kickoff return.
“We were right there (behind 20-14) about to go in with it close at halftime,” Curtis said, “but that last three minutes blew up on us.”
In the second half, played with the clock running, Josue Paredes rushed in from 12 yards out late in the fourth quarter to close out the scoring.
Beyond Heatley’s TD pass to Braham and Nelson’s kickoff return, the Westwood offense was stymied. The Redhawks gained just 39 net rushing yards, and Heatley was 10-for-14 for 146 passing yards.
WHS: 7-7-0-0 – 14
DF: 6-34-0-7 – 47
First Quarter
D – Bryson Cannon 20 pass from Reeze Nichols (kick failed). 4:49.
W – Cortez Braham 24 pass from Elijah Heatley (D.J. Fields kick). 1:29.
Second Quarter
D – Ron Hoff 6 run (Ford Williams kick).
W – Bradlee Nelson 85 kickoff return (Fields kick). 9:17.
D – Bobby Irby 84 kickoff return (Williams kick). 9:02.
D – Irby 45 pass from Nichols (Williams kick). 3:14.
D – Nichols 8 run (Williams kick). 0:51.
D – Austin Conner 12 pass from Hacklen (kick failed). 0:31.
Fourth Quarter
D – Josue Paredes 12 run (Williams kick). 4:46.
WHS DF
First Downs 9 19
Rushes-Yards 30-39 24-142
Passing Yards 182 222
C-A-I 11-18-0 13-24-0
Fumbles-Lost 2-2 1-1
Penalties-Yards 4-38 7-45
Punts-Avg. 5-28.6 4-39.0
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING: WHS – Rashawn Greene 11-23, Bradlee Nelson 2-23, Joshua Heyward 10-22, Jalen Briggman 1-3, Cortez Braham 1-(-10), Elijah Heatley 4-(-16). DF – Ron Hoff 7-59, Josue Paredes 7-38, Austin Conner 2-37, Reese Nichols 6-6, Jesse Ragin 2-2.
PASSING: WHS – Elijah Heatley 14-10-0, Rashawn Greene 3-0-0, D.J. Fields 1-1. DF – Reese Nichols 20-11-0, Graeson Underwood 3-1-0, Ward Hacklen 1-1-0.
RECEIVING: WHS – Cortez Braham 3-69, Trinni Feggett 2-37, Tyler Hosey 2-33, Bradlee Nelson 1-39, Victor Smith 1=4, Joshua Heyward 1-4, Kaden Briggs 1-(-4). DF – Austin Conner 3-73, Bryson Cannon 3-42, Ward Hacklen 3-41, Bobby Irby 2-63, Jesse Ragin 1-4, Ron Hoff 1-(-1).
