Westfall beat Huntington 34–31 on Friday night when they came to town.
Westfall coach Logan Stepp said of Huntington’s Clay Beeler, “I give a lot of credit to coach over there.” It is true that there are a few guys who do things the right way. I told him that before the game.
The whole neighborhood is behind them, and things are going well for them.
“I am proud that we were able to win against a team with a lot of culture.”
The Mustangs had a small lead at halftime and got the ball to start the third quarter.
Jaden Towler scored on an AJ Paudicz pass from 64 yards out to get the Mustangs going.
Then they got back on track with an onside kick, which Paudicz turned into a touchdown pass to Landon Sparks. With 6:40 left in the third, they were ahead 34–19.
And that is exactly what they did, Stepp said. “At halftime, we talked about how we were going to score, get an onside kick, and score again.”
“That is something we work on every day, and I think our onside kick rate is one of the best in the state.” That helped us a lot because our kids are ready for that.
After that, the Huntsmen scored on a 90-yard drive that took up the rest of the third quarter. On the first play of the fourth quarter, Isaac Taylor ran for three yards, bringing the score to 34-25.
Two minutes later, Huntington got the ball back near midfield. It took eight plays to go 55 yards, and Taylor scored from one yard out to make it 34–31 with 5:48 left.
Westfall was able to cut almost four minutes off the clock, but they only got one first down and had to punt the ball back to Huntington with 1:51 left.
The Huntsmen got a first down, but with one minute left, they were faced with a fourth-and-five. Carson Deskins of Westfall was able to pick off the pass, which let the Mustangs run out the time and win.
He ran 22 times for 127 yards and a score, which was the most on the team. He caught something for 21 yards as well.
He was 11-12 for the night and threw for more than 200 yards and four scores.
Towler caught three passes for 110 yards and two touchdowns. Geer and Sparks each caught three passes for 39 yards and a touchdown.
Friday night, the Mustangs had to deal with mistakes that added up to more than 100 yards.
“A win is a win, no matter how you get it.” “But we will not beat the best teams in our league by playing football without following the rules,” Stepp said.
Taylor ran 26 times for 103 yards and scored all five of Huntington’s scores. 145 yards were thrown by Frankie Hirsch (9-14).
On Friday, Westfall (4-5, 3-3) goes to Piketon (6-3, 4-2) to finish the regular season. It is official: Piketon will be in the playoffs. The Mustangs, on the other hand, need to beat the Red Streaks to have a chance at making the playoffs for the second year in a row.
