Westside Defeats South Pointe 35-7 In Upper State AAAA Championship Game, Rams Now Focused On Rematch With South Florence in Gold Medal Game This Friday At SC State

Billy Baker • December 10, 2024

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By Billy G. Baker

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Anderson—Even a game played in freezing temperatures could not slow down the Westside Rams (13-0) potent offense in their 35-14 dominating win over South Pointe at home in the Upper State championship on December, 6^th.

The Rams are now preparing for a rematch in the AAAA finals against South Florence in a game scheduled for South Carolina State University on Friday (December, 13^th) at 7:30.

After the big win, Westside head coach Brian Lane shared some thoughts with the HSSR from the field. “It was a great team effort tonight and we feel blessed to be going back to the state finals against South Florence,” said Coach Lane. “We are preparing to do our very best this Friday night and we know that South Florence will be ready for us.

“We had a lot of play makers tonight including our running back Sharode Richardson who had a great game for us,” said Coach Lane. “Bomar and Weaver played really well catching passes and Cutter Woods was his consistent self and he is a great leader on this team.

“Our defense is really a showcase of this team,” said Coach Lane. “Our first group only gave up seven points against a really good team tonight and then they added that late score with some of four reserves in the game.”

The top two tacklers for the Rams were MLB RJ Livingston with 14 tackles, two TFL and one sack along with SS Jameson Wilson who had 10 tackles.

“We are just so pleased that we came out tonight and played well on both sides of the football and we made things happen,” said Coach Lane, who was a two-sport star in football and baseball in high school. “We are now focused on getting ready to paly our best game of the season against South Florence.”

On the second play of the game senior RB Shamode Richardson scored on a 47-yard run and Bola Gil’s first of five PAT’s on the night made it 7-0 with 11:25 left in the first period.

South Pointe came back and ties the game at 7 on a three- yard touchdown pass from Cam McMillion to RB M Pickett-Hicks with 3:23 left in the opening period, and the PAT tied the score at 7-7.

On their ensuing possession the Rams marched 51 yards in 8 plays with Richardson capping off the drive on a six-yard run with the PAT making it 14-7 with 1:23 left in the first half. On the play before the scoring run, senior QB Cutter Woods, a recent South Carolina signee, had completed a 20-yard pass reception to Appalachian State commitment Chamarryus Bomar. (Bomar will come into the title game this week with over 1,000 yards in receptions.)

In the second quarter two-way standout Armoni Weaver, also an Appalachian State commitment, scored on a 17-yard pick six that put the Rams up 21-7 with 5:26 left in the first half. Then after taking over on downs at the 43- yard line the Rams made it 28-7 on a one-yard run by Woods with 1:38 left in the half. That touchdown was set up by a towering 49 -yard pass completion to Weaver that carried down to the one setting up the touchdown.

In the second half Weaver scored on a 30-yard pass reception with 38 seconds left in the third period and the PAT made it 35-7.

South Pointe added a late score on a determined 48-yard run b y Picket Hicks with 2:02 left in the game and the PAT closed out the game score at 35-14. Pickett-Hicks had an excellent game with 239 net yards on 26 carries and he scored both of the Stallion’s touchdowns.

Woods completed 12-of-20 passes in the game for 164 yards and one TD. He added 37 yards on five carries and one rushing TD.

Weaver played well on both sides of the ball catching three passes for 81 yards with one TD and the pick six on a heads up play on defense. Richardson led Rams rushers with 140 net yards on 22 carries and two rushing TD’s. Bomar caught four passes for 51 yards on the night.

Westside is balanced on offense as they produced 164 passing yards and 177 rushing yards producing 341 yards of offense on 51 plays. They are a team blessed with play makers on both sides of the ball but the leadership of Woods was evident throughout the game.

South Pointe was led on defense by sophomore KJ Bing and junior Brysen Ginn with 15 tackles each while senior Aakil Brown contributed 9 tackles.

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