Westside flag football run ends with loss to Calvary Day

After Westside’s 32-6 loss to Calvary Day in the second round of the flag football playoffs Thursday night, head coach Josh Grube was emotional.

Yes, the Seminoles’ playoff run ended a bit earlier than he wanted it to. But Grube was more concerned with a longer journey — one that began four years ago.

After he shed some tears, Grube shed some light on what the 2025 season meant for his team despite the playoff loss.

“(These seniors) started the program four years ago. They laid the foundation for this program. We wanted to make it further (this year), it just wasn’t meant to be,” Grube said. “This program, it ain’t where it’s at without (quarterback Taylor Talton, running back Sade Reid). They built the program for us, so it’s just tough.”

Zylea Dinkins, Jordan Billue and Carma Grayer were also freshmen when the program began.

Since Westside started playing flag football with a donation from the Atlanta Falcons and Grube at the helm those four years ago, it has fielded the premier flag football program in Bibb County. The Seminoles have won the area championship in all four of their seasons, making this group of seniors’ sendoff all the more bittersweet.

“When we started the program four years ago, we didn’t even know what we were doing. To win 59 games, four area championships…”

Grube trailed off, then finished:

“We’re gonna miss ‘em, we’re gonna miss ‘em, we’re gonna miss ‘em. Love ‘em to death, but we’re gonna miss ‘em.”

The Seminoles’ performance in Thursday’s playoff matchup at Ed Defore Sports Complex did not resemble their past dominance. Calvary Day avoided Westside’s biggest strength, its secondary, by sticking to short runs and passes in the middle of the field.

The Seminoles hurt themselves by letting those short passes turn into massive plays.

“We missed so many flag pulls tonight, which is uncharacteristic for us,” Grube said. “They exploited the weaknesses of our defense that we run. A lot of credit to their coaching staff, but we missed a ton of flag pulls.”

Quarterback Page Stewart ran the offense with efficiency, first striking for a 40-yard touchdown pass to Julianna Kitchen before running in a second score set up by a 43-yard catch from Piper McCuen.

A third score from the Cavaliers right before halftime put Westside 19-0 at the break, and the second half was more of the same for Calvary Day. By the time the Seminoles got on the board with a touchdown from Dominique Billue in the fourth quarter, it was too little too late to prevent the 32-6 win.

Westside finished the season 17-1 with the loss after going undefeated in the regular season and winning their first round playoff game over Cedar Grove 27-0 earlier Thursday night.

The undefeated regular season — the team’s second consecutive unbeaten season — was a memorable one. After he broke things down in the huddle postgame for the last time in 2025, Grube recalled other memorable moments involving this year’s seniors.

“I have to say the first year’s area championship when we beat Warner Robins,” he said. “It was cold. We beat ‘em 7-0. Taylor caught the game-winning touchdown.”

Talton, the team’s quarterback for the past three seasons and one of the key pieces of its explosive offense, started off as a receiver.

“That year we really didn’t have any expectations, but we just kept winning. We just showed up and played. We played Warner Robins, who I thought was better than us, but we had a game plan,” Grube said. “All the area championships were great, though.”

Talton’s prowess in the pocket will be tough to replace, Grube said, although the team has plenty of other talent returning next season as it attempts to continue its run of dominance in Bibb County.

Dominique Billue, a star wide receiver and lockdown defensive back with 20 total touchdowns this year, will be back. Bre’Elle King, another receiver/safety combo with lots of talent, will return as well.

“You have almost the whole defense coming back, too, except for a few players. The future is really bright,” Grube said. “You just have to find a quarterback.”

Many of the flag football stars also excel on the basketball court for Westside. While the two sports and their overlapping nature sometimes makes practice difficult to schedule, it means there are plenty of athletes for both teams.

As the group left the field for the last time, Grube had a message for them.

“Don’t hang your head. The scoreboard was not what we wanted, but them girls … they gave everything for four years. I just hate it ended the way it did,” the head coach said.