Lugoff-Elgin at Westwood

By WORTHY EVANS

Contributing Writer

Columbia - The Westwood football team was about as down and out as a team could get Friday night. Yet, the Redhawks came away with a 34-28 Homecoming victory over Lugoff-Elgin at District Two Stadium.

The Redhawks (6-2, 3-1 Region 5-5A) dug deep and cashed in on an 89-yard hook-and-lateral touchdown play to tie the game at 21 at the end of regulation, exchanged touchdowns with the Demons in the first overtime, then came up with another TD and a solid defensive stop to seal the win and guarantee the team’s first winning season since 2019.

“I’m just so proud of these kids and these coaches, man,” head coach Stephen Burris said. “We put a lot of work and a lot of time in and I think tonight, I hope we grew up. We were still immature like we were in the first half, we were responding to a lot of things going on, a lot of unsportsmanlike and personal foul penalties, it wasn’t pretty.

“In the second half we got out of our own way,” he added. “We didn’t beat Westwood.  Good things happened. I’m just proud of everybody, it was a great program win tonight.”

With Lugoff-Elgin up 28-21 with less than a minute to go on the clock, the Redhawks forced a punt and took possession at the Lugoff-Elgin 48-yard line with 48 seconds to go.

Backup quarterback Josiah Henryhand, subbing for starter Carrington Carter, who went down with a left-shoulder injury sustained in the first series of the game, clapped the first-down play into motion. The snap went high, and the chase for the loose football carried on between scrambling Redhawks and Demons until a Westwood player pounced on it at the Redhawks’ seven-yard line.

“I wasn’t doing what I was supposed to do,” Henryhand said about securing the football no matter how bad the snap was. “Coach is definitely going to grill me on that one on Monday.”

Looking at a second-down-and-55-yards-to-go situation 93 yards from the goal line, Westwood had about 30 seconds to make something happen.

The faint cheer of Lugoff-Elgin fans from the visitors grandstand, along with Demons players hamming it up with their crowd from across the field marked a stark contrast with the Westwood side.

Fans on the home grandstand began to pick up their belongings. Team assistants dumped the ice from the coolers onto the turf.

Yet, as the ice piles stood and the fans dug for their car keys, the Redhawks believed.

Henryhand completed a 4-yard pass to Tyrese Drakeford to get to the 11-yard line. On third-and-51, Henryhand took the snap, looked to his left to find Miles Grant for a 3-yard connection.

Once Grant secured the ball, he lateralled it to Boyd, who ducked a tackler, turned his body toward the end zone, and darted down the left sideline for the game-tying score. After Muhsin Yakubu’s extra point, the score stood at 21-21 with no time on the clock.

The Redhawks and the Demons exchanged scores in the first overtime. Henryhand capped Westwood’s opening possession in the second overtime with a short pass to Tyrek Jenkins for a touchdown. Lugoff-Elgin blocked the point-after attempt, but got flagged twice on its possession to set the Demons on the 25-yard line. Three plays got them to the 7-yard line, but Westwood defender Justin Washington stopped Lugoff-Elgin quarterback Zach Williams cold two yards short of the goal line on fourth down to secure the Redhawks’ victory.

“You never know which play is going to be the one to decide the game,” Burris said. “Fast-forward to the fourth quarter, you have one play. And the fastest kid in the state breaks it down the sideline, and we’ve got to make another play, we get the extra point and tie it up. Then it comes down to one play, and we get a stop right here on the two-yard line.”

Henryhand finished the night passing 6-for-13 for 177 yards with two interceptions.

Boyd, who recently decommitted from Duke and is working to attract other colleges’ attention, took a big step in that direction with 151 receiving yards—the TD reception for 65 yards and the 86 yards credited on the game-tying hook-and-lateral.

Lugoff-Elgin worked up and down the field with ease in the first half, racking up 15 first downs and gaining 211 net yards on the ground and in the air. 

Williams got the Demons on the scoreboard late in the first quarter with a 2-yard TD run that capped a 4-play, 40-yard drive. 

After Ken Sutipanya missed on a 43-yard field goal attempt early in the second quarter, Williams threw a 25-yard touchdown strike to Eric Richardson at the 5:10 mark.

While Lugoff-Elgin got off 41 offensive plays in the first half, Westwood had just 21 offensive snaps. The Redhawks had just 48 total yards and two first downs in the first half.

Westwood played a different tune in the second half. On the first play from scrimmage Henryhand connected with Boyd for a 65-yard touchdown pass that cut Lugoff-Elgin’s lead to 14-7.

“He’s one of a kind, Henryhand said about Boyd, a transfer from Fairfield Central. “It’s so rare to come across a high schooler that runs a 4.2 40 (meter dash). It’s such a blessing to have him.”

The Demons responded with a long drive that Williams capped with a 1-yard TD run a few minutes later, but on the next Westwood possession Jovan Howard got sprung for a 58-yard touchdown run that cut the lead to 21-14 at the 6:22 mark of the third quarter.

For the rest of the game the two teams battled to a draw—until the Redhawks found a breath of inspiration with their backs to the wall.

About his team’s fortune reversal in the second half, Burris said he reminded the Redhawks about making big plays that can cut into the deficit.

“That’s what makes football special, man,” Burris said. “It’s 14-0, but in reality it’s two plays. We told them at halftime that when we get the ball, let’s go make a play. If we make a play, we’re down by one play.”

While Lugoff-Elgin responded to Westwood’s first score with a long drive and a touchdown, the Demons’ possession didn’t deter the Redhawks from continuing to make plays.  

Westwood travels to West Florence (3-5, 2-2), which fell 29-7 at Ridge View (6-2, 4-0) last week.



Lugoff-Elgin (4-5, 1-4) closes out its regular season with a home game against Spring Valley (0-4, 2-6) Friday. 

Lugoff-Elgin   7         7         7         0         7         0         –         28

Westwood      0         0         14       7         7         6         –         34

First Quarter

L - Zach Williams 2 run (Ken Sutipanya kick) 3:38

Second Quarter

L - Eric Richardson 25 pass from Williams (Sutipanya kick) 5:10

Third Quarter

W - Jayden Boyd 65 pass from Josiah Henryhand (Muhsin Yakubu kick) 11:48

L - Williams 1 run (Sutipanya kick) 7:17

W - Jovan Howard 58 run (Yakubu kick) 6:22

Fourth Quarter 

W - Jayden Boyd 89 pass from Henryhand (Yakubu kick) :00

Overtime 1

L - Williams 10 run (Sutipanya kick)

W - Angelo Rios 12 run

Overtime 2

W - Tyrek Jenkins 8 pass from Henryhand (kick failed)

                       L-E                   WHS

First downs            21                      8

Rushes-yds        42-198             32-118

Passing yds           158                  186

Att-Com-Int      24-14-1             15-9-1

Fumbles-lost         3-1                  3-0

Penalties-yds       9-80               6-60

Punts-avg            3-29.0            5-26.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

L - Jar’kese Grant 19-78, Zach Williams 16-45, Shamil Saadiq 3-64, Cash Majar 2-5, Eric Richardson 1-5, Team 1-1. W - Angelo Rios 11-29, Jovan Howard 10-77, Quentin McGill 4-15, Josiah Henryhand 4-(-24), Carrington Carter 2-20, Team 1-1.

PASSING

L - Zach Williams 14-24-1. W - Carrington Carter 1-1-0, Josiah Henryhand 8-14-1.

RECEIVING

L - Keenan Cunningham 4-54, Shamil Saadiq 3-35, Eric Richardson 3-44, Jar’kese Grant 2-12, Cash Majar 1-7. Bryce Bradley 1-6. W - Quentin McGill 2-15, Angelo Rios 2-11, Miles Grant 2-5, Jayden Boyd 1-151, Tyrese Drakeford 1-4, Jovan Howard 1-0.