Westside falls 56-31 in hectic shootout against Westover despite great passing performance

In a chaotic contest that featured touchdowns galore and special teams mishaps, the Westside Seminoles ultimately lost 56-31 to the Westover Patriots at Ed Defore Sports Complex in Macon Friday night.

Seminoles head coach Spoon Risper, who had lost his voice by the end of the zany game that was wrought with busted coverage, big plays and strange scores, said the battle in the trenches became a focal point in the loss.

“They were huge, they kind of laid on us and wore us down a lot,” Risper said of the Patriots’ offensive line after the game. “They just moved the ball, and we couldn’t get enough stops.”

Westover’s line, highlighted by Pitt commit Torian Chester and sophomore prospect Kyson Mallard, helped the Patriots offense move downfield almost at will against a Westside defense that was already weak after its drubbing at the hands of First Baptist Academy in Florida last Friday.

“The offensive line is definitely my ‘player of the game,’” Westover head coach Corey Joyner said. “We thought we could score a little bit, we thought we could mash them up front with all those big guys up there.”

Special teams played a large role in the game as well, with the Patriots out-classing Westside with a 70-yard kick return touchdown in the first quarter and a fumble recovery for a score in the third.

“We take special teams very seriously… we put our best guys there and coach it up,” Joyner said. “I’ve coached a little football at a 6A school, and I found out that special teams is very important, so that’s one thing that we harp on. And I think that was a turning point in the game.”

The latter play gave Westover a 42-25 lead late, setting the tone for the rest of the game and making a Seminoles comeback difficult.

“We just have to clean those type of plays up, get more consistent and get the reps,” Risper said.

Despite the eventual loss, Westside played well on offense for the first half. Quarterback James Neville got into a groove throwing the ball to receiver Tristan Houston. Neville finished 12 of 21 passing for 297 yards and five touchdowns.

“We did well with that tonight, and that’s something we have to do so teams can’t stack the box against (running back) KD Iverson,” Risper said.

Even after the win, Joyner and the Patriots came away impressed by Westside’s offense.

“He can play, we probably won’t see many quarterbacks like him again,” Joyner said of Neville. “We gave up too many points, but he ran and avoided tackles and they just played a little backyard football.”

Westover will face Griffin next week, while the Seminoles host A-Division 2 powerhouse Bowdon next.

An offensive shootout

Both teams provided plenty of fireworks in the first half, trading scores nearly the entire first two quarters aside from one turnover on down for each team.

Neville’s success in the pocket, a sight for sore eyes after the Seminoles struggled to pass the ball in their earlier games, came almost immediately, as Westside scored on a 75-yard touchdown pass on just the second play from scrimmage.

The TD pass opened the floodgates. Westover struck back with a 43-yard scoring throw of its own before each team failed to score on the ensuing drives. Then the Seminoles made their way to paydirt from their own 15-yardline to the end zone thanks to two passes from Neville totaling 78 yards.

The Patriots didn’t blink, returning the kickoff for a 70-yard score on the very next play. After both teams had funky two-point conversion attempts at the beginning of the game, the kickoff return touchdown made it 16-13 Westover with around three minutes left in the first quarter.

Westside went on a longer, more consistent drive on its next possession, driving downfield before Iverson punched it in from six yards out early in the second quarter.

The Patriots answered, getting some key gains on screen passes and run plays before a Seminole penalty put them on the 5-yardline, where they finished the job.

It looked like Westside would take the lead into halftime, but the scoring barrage would not relent. The Patriots struck for their fourth touchdown of the half with just 30 seconds remaining before the break, making the score 30-25 at the half in favor of Westover.

The Patriots then took advantage of the back-to-back possessions thanks to halftime, extending their lead to open the third quarter with a methodical drive that took nearly six minutes off the clock.

The game momentum turned on a dime on the ensuing kickoff, however, as Westside fumbled the squibber from the Patriots in their own territory. The ball ricocheted and caromed off several players before Westover scooped it up in the end zone for a touchdown that pushed their lead to 42-25 with six minutes left in the third quarter.

From that point on, Westside’s offense lost its spark. Though both teams continued scoring, the game was too far out of reach for the ‘Noles and the Patriots came away with the 56-31 victory.