Westwood Defense Disrupts Sharks; Redhawks Head to Berkeley
By WORTHY EVANS
HSSR Contributing Writer
Columbia - The Westwood football team shook off a regular-season ending loss to Sumter on Halloween with a double-digit postseason victory over St. James Friday night.
The Redhawks, seeded seventh in the lower state bracket, opened the Class 5A Division 2 playoffs with a 41-14 victory over the No.10 Sharks at District Two Stadium.
Against the Sharks, the Redhawks’ defense showed up early and finished the night with six interceptions and a fumble recovery.
“On that side of the ball we’re playing really well despite what some scores looked like,” Westwood head coach Stephen Burris said. “Even last week (a 65-28 loss to the Gamecocks) I thought they played well enough to keep us around for a while.”
Against St. James, Tyrese Drakeford came down with two interceptions and recovered a fumble. Zion Oliver, Justin Washington, Donte’ Davis, and Shareef Pitt also came down with picks.
Besides forcing turnovers, the Westwood defense held St. James to just 6 yards rushing and 48 yards passing in the first half.
That effort enabled the Redwhawks offense to overcome an early sputter, and put 20 points on the scoreboard by halftime.
“Our offense has to pick it up and do their part and tonight we looked OK,” Burris said. “But our defense, any time you force turnovers, you have a chance to win the game. I’m proud of their effort, our kids are playing hard and our coaches are coaching hard and we’ll see if we can piece one together against Berkeley”
Westwood hits the road Friday to take on No.2 Berkeley. The Stags (8-2) had a bye week last week.
St. James (4-7) took the opening kickoff, and two plays later gave it back to Westwood when Sharks quarterback Alex Sandt’s pass got deflected into the hands of Oliver.
Westwood took 11 plays to go 44 yards, but the Redhawks hit paydirt when Elye Owens hooked up with Tyrek Jenkins for a 13-yard touchdown pass to go up 7-0 with 7:31 to play in the first quarter.
The Redhawks limited St. James on offense again and drove to the St. James 1-yard line. Angelo Rios’ run on fourth down went for a 2-yard loss.
Westwood turned the ball over on downs on that drive, but on the Sharks’ next possession Justin Washington picked off another Sandt pass. This time Westwood got to the goal line and Rios shot through to the end zone to put the Redhawks up 13-0 at the 9:47 mark of the second.
Westwood went up 20-0 on Jovan Howard’s determination not to be tackled for loss.
On second and 10 at their own 41, Howard took the handoff and a St. James tackler met him immediately in the backfield. Howard wrestled out of the stop, cut back and turned to the left side of the field where he ran free to complete a 59-yard touchdown run.
That score at the 3:31 mark of the second gave the Redhawks a 20-0 halftime lead.
Rios opened the second half with a 65-yard touchdown run from scrimmage after the opening kickoff.
St. James got on the scoreboard with Sandt’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Alijah Ochoa midway through the third quarter.
Rios scored on a 28-yard TD run early in the fourth quarter, which the Sharks countered with another Sandt-to-Ochoa touchdown pass that put the score at 34-14.
Jayden Rischer’s 2-yard score with three minutes in the game closed out the scoring.
The Redhawks face a challenge with the Stags, who finished second to Stratford in the Region 7-5A standings and shut out Westwood 36-0 in the second round of the playoffs a year ago.
Berkeley has rushed for 2,467 yards and 31 touchdowns and passed for 1,130 yards and 11 touchdowns for the season.
Junior quarterback Henry Rivers has thrown for 851 yards and 7 touchdowns but 3 interceptions and rushed for 557 yards and 12 TDs.
“Big, physical, but nothing we haven’t seen yet,” Burris said. “Their quarterback is very dynamic, very similar to the kid from Sumter (Franklin Richardson). Our kids went down there last year and played them. I think they know what to expect.”
With the defense playing as well as they have been in recent weeks, Burris said in spite of the seeding, he can see Westwood have a good chance to make the trip to Moncks Corner very interesting.
“We’ve just got to get ready to play, man,” Burris said. “They’re a good team, they’ve got a bye for a reason, and we’ve got our work cut out for us. We’ll go in as an underdog and nobody will expect anything out of us, but sometimes I like being in that situation. When your back’s against the wall sometimes you play the best.”
St. James 0 0 7 7 – 14
Westwood 7 13 7 14 – 41
First Quarter
W - Tyrek Jenkins 13 pass from Elye Owens (Muhsin Yakubu kick) 7:31
Second Quarter
W - Angelo Rios 1 run (kick failed) 9:47
W - Jovan Howard 59 run (Yakubu kick) 3:31
Third Quarter
W - Rios 65 run (Yakubu kick) 11:45
S - Alijah Ochoa 15 pass from Alex Sandt (Woods Herring kick) 6:16
Fourth Quarter
W -Rios 28 run (Yakubu kick) 11:25
S - Ochoa 25 pass from Sandt (Herring kick) 7:06
W - Jayden Rischer 2 run (Yakubu kick) 3:48
StJ W
First downs 16 15
Rushes-yds 26-115 43-225
Passing yds 116 177
Att-Com-Int 32-13-5 23-16-1
Fumbles-lost 1-1 0-0
Penalties-yds 7-45 5-50
Punts-Avg 4-27.3 4-29.5
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING
S - Hayes Cochrane 10-64, William Bradshaw 8-1, Alex Sandt 3-12, Josh Harnish 2-9, Rylan Williams 1-9, Team 1-20.
W - Angelo Rios 15-82, Jovan Howard 13-112, Elye Owens 7-21, Jaylen Donaldson 2-2, Jayden Rischer 2-4, Carlos McKenzie 1-2, Quentin McGill 1-1, Tyrek Jenkins 1-(-5), Team 1-6.
PASSING
S - Alex Sandt 13-31-4, Woods Herring 0-1-1.
W - Elye Owens 15-22-1, Josiah Henryhand 1-1-0.
RECEIVING
S - Ayden Smith 2-14, Alijah Ochoa 4-69 Josh Harnish 4-10, Brady Larrow 1-15, Rylan Williams 1-1.
W - Angelo Rios 3-14, Cohen Scott 3-9, Quentin McGill 2-67, Miles Grant 2-18, Jovan Howard 2-13, Sheldon Bradley 1-20.
