Westwood Blasts Airport, readies for Region 5-5A slate

By WORTHY EVANS

HSSR Contributing Writer

Columbia - The Westwood football team broke the paper in front of the inflatable Redhawk tunnel Friday night, and that spelled the end for Airport.



Nearly every offensive and defensive player got onto the field at District Two Stadium as Westwood rang up a 65-7 victory with a running clock in the second half.

“Anytime you get a win, you take it, but the goal is to get everybody in every week,” head coach Stephen Burris said. “Obviously it’s not always possible but our starters, their responsibilities we told them before this game was to make sure everybody got the chance to play. Challenge accepted and mission accomplished.”

While working with a short field, the Redhawks (3-1) had seven rushers contribute to 189 yards and four touchdowns on the ground, and Carrington Carter spread the ball to seven receivers for four scores.

Jaden Boyd returned a kickoff 75 yards for a touchdown. Placekicker Mushin Yakubu made good on a 20-yard field goal and was 8-for-9 in point-after attempts.

On the defensive side, the Redhawks held Airport (0-4) to 49 yards rushing and 10 yards passing in the first half, sacking quarterback Isaiah Clemons twice and making seven tackles for loss. They recovered two fumbles that the offense converted to touchdowns, and Brandon Evans made an interception that led to another score.

Westwood got the ball moving after Airport’s opening possession mostly went backward. The Redhawks got to work at midfield and took nine plays to reach the end zone on Carter’s 13-yard pass to Jaylen Donaldson at the 5:37 mark of the first quarter. 

Westwood scored two more touchdowns, on Carter’s 15-yard pass to C.J. Bennett and a 40-yard catch-and-run play to Tyrek Jenkins to go up 21-0 by the first quarter buzzer.

Angelo Rios opened the second quarter scoring with a 23-yard TD run, and after Kendrick Pearson scored Airport’s only touchdown from one yard out, Boyd returned the kickoff 75 yards to put Airport up 34-7. 

Carter connected with Tyrek Jenkins for a 40-yard score before intermission.

With a running clock in the second half, Westwood got a 20-yard field goal from Yakubu, a 5-yard touchdown run from Rios, an 8-yard TD run from Jovan Howard and a 64-yard rushing score from Quentin McGill. 

“I’m proud of them,” Burris said. “We’ve still got some things we need to work on, and we know it’s going to get a little bit harder next week. It’s a rivalry game, the Battle for the Axe, so we looking forward to it.”

Westwood renews its rivalry with Blythewood Friday. Since 2012, when Westwood first fielded a football team, the series is tied at 5-5. After the rivalry was christened “The Battle for the Axe” with the Jeanne Schmidt Memorial Trophy as the prize for the winner, the teams are 2-2.

The Bengals (2-2) are coming off a restorative 41-6 victory over Keenan and look to take the trophy back after falling 7-0 to the Redhawks last year.

Besides renewing a friendly rivalry, both teams will open their Region 5-5A schedule with the game.

After Westwood’s opening loss to 4-0 A.C. Flora, it outscored Lakewood, Richland Northeast, and Airport by a combined score of 160-21. This year’s nonregion schedule showed not to be competitive beyond the season opener with the Falcons, but Burris said “We played a very good team in A.C. Flora, who will play in a lot of games this season and play into the playoffs,” he said. “It (competition) dropped off a little, but our standard doesn’t change regardless of who we’re playing. When we turn the film on we’re always making sure our kids are doing what we coached them to do, that’s regardless of opponent.”

 With games against Blythewood, 2-2 Ridge View, 2-2 Spring Valley, 3-1 Lugoff-Elgin, 1-3 West Florence and 3-1 Sumter on tap through Oct. 31, Burris said he knows his team will be ready to play for a high spot in the 5A Division 2 playoffs.

“I think we’re prepared from the standpoint of are we executing the way we’re expected to execute,” he said. “We had some lopsided scores but we’re a good football team, and that’s what’s supposed to happen. I think we’ve got a good football team and we have a chance to have a really good football team, and we’re about to find out starting Friday.”

Airport             0         7         0         0         –         7

Westwood      21       20       17        7         –         65

First Quarter

W - Jaylen Donaldson 13 pass from Carrington Carter (Mushin Yakubu kick) 5:37

W - C.J. Bennett 15 pass from Carter (Yakubu kick) 2:15

W - Tyrek Jenkins 40 pass from Carter (Yakubu kick) 2:02 

Second Quarter

W - Angelo Rios 23 run (kick failed) 7:35

A - Kendrick Pearson 1 run (kick) 3:04

W - Jayden Boyd 75 kickoff return (Yakubu kick) 2:53

W - Quentin McGill 40 pass from Carter (Yakubu kick) :49

Third Quarter

W - Yakubu 20 field goal 10:27

W - Rios 5 run (Yakubu kick) 8:46
W - Jovan Howard 8 run (Yakubu kick) :58

Fourth Quarter

W - Quentin McGill 68 run (Yakubu kick) 3:24

                   AHS     WHS

First downs          8            12

Rushes-yds     34-108    18-179

Passing yds        11            189

Att-Com-Int    15-7-1    18-12-1

Fumbles-lost     2-2        0-0

Penalties-yds   7-60        1-5

Punts-avg        5-24.6.    0-0.0

INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS

RUSHING

A - Isaiah Clemons 15-44, Kendrick Pearson 11-40, Ashton Boyd 5-29, Team 3-(-5). W - Angelo Rios 6-58, Jovan Howard 6-37, Josiah Henryhand 2-8, Carrington Carter 2-1, Quentin McGill 1-68, Tyrek Jenkins 1-9.

PASSING 

A - Isaiah Clemons 7-15-1. W - Carrington Carter 12-18-1.

RECEIVING

A - Kendrick Pearson 5-21, Team 2-(-10). W - Jovan Howard 3-23, C.J. Bennett 3-23, Tyrek Jenkins 2-46, Jaylen Donaldson 2-25, Kham Cunningham 2-19, Quentin McGill 1-40, Angelo Rios 1-3.