by John Howley / sportingpumkpkin.com
WILLIAMSPORT — Not even a couple weather delays could slow down Logan Elm Friday night.
The Braves improved to 2-0 on the season with a 51-0 win at Westfall.
The LE defense kept the Mustangs (0-2) in check all night giving up only three first downs to their hosts and only 59 yards (14 in the first half) while recovering a couple fumbles and grabbing an interception.
“Over the last couple of years, especially on that side of the ball, we’ve just gotten a little better and a little better. The guys have been playing in the same system now for three years” LE coach Terry Holbert said. “I’m really pleased with their effort and how physical they played. We tackled well and played fundamental defense.”
Abram Montgomery and Ian Roese were responsible for the fumble recoveries and Camron Miller had an interception near the goal line.
Friday saw a stellar effort from Blayton Reid. The junior ran for 225 yards and two touchdowns before sitting in the second half.
Reid’s first score came after a 22-yard gain where he started right only to cut back and find yards to the left. Then he went straight up the middle for the last nine yards.
“When you can cut the way that he does and you can fake and hide the ball the way that he does, that was tough for our guys to overcome,” Westfall coach Brad Smith said. “The guys up front did an amazing job keeping him clean. If we can’t get to him to tackle him, then he’s going to run a long way for a long time.”
“He’s something special,” Holbert said. “He would tell you the same thing, that’s the result of all the other guys in front of him doing their job. He’s a great player but he had a lot of help as well.”
The line play for Logan Elm was a big part of the Braves running for 377 yards Friday.
“I’m fascinated to look at our stats to see what kind of offensive and defensive stats came out tonight,” Smith said. “I know our strong safety, Bryce Wickline who is also our quarterback, he had a lion’s share of the tackles. If your safeties are making tackles, that means their offensive line is getting it done.”
Along with two touchdowns from Reid, quarterback Garrett Summers ran two in, Summer threw a 38-yard score to Jude Braun, Aaron Walters connected with Keegan Diehl on a 62-yard TD play in the second half and Walters ran one in from 15 yards out.
Braun connected on six of his seven PAT kicks and ended the first half with a 40-yard field goal. A soccer player most of the week, the senior spends a little bit of time with the football team late in the week and has been a reliable part of the offense on Fridays.
“Jude’s one of the best athletes in our school,” Holbert said. “His first focus is soccer and his first focus for us is the specialty areas where he kicks it very well. But it would be nonsense for us not to use that special of an athlete.”
The Mustangs put themselves in position to score twice in the second half, but an interception near the goal line ended the first opportunity. The second saw the Mustangs connect on a scoring pass only to have a penalty negate the play.
Smith believes as his team gains needed experience, they’ll be able to put those kinds of mistakes behind them.
“There’s a strong possibility as the season progresses and, especially, in the next year and the year after, you’re going to see a Westfall team that is significantly different than what you look at now,” he said. “The kids are learning incredibly well for what we want them to do. There’s just a lot of maturation that has to happen. Sometimes it’s slow and painful — but it’s coming.”
Friday’s game went through two weather delays. The first lasted a little over half an hour after lightning was spotted from a distant storm in the first quarter. A second delay lasted roughly an hour as a storm came through the Westfall area in the second quarter. By the time the game resumed at 9:30, both marching bands had packed it in and only a handful of fans remained.
Up next
Logan Elm looks to go 3-0 for the first time since 2014 when the Braves head to Miami Trace (1-1). The Panthers dropped a 42-3 decision to Waverly (2-0) in Week 1 and beat Wilmington (0-2) 42-28 Friday.
“Our focus is always going to be one week at a time,” Holbert said. “but it’s great to start out 2-0.”
The Mustangs will be home again next week as Circleville makes the trip up route 56. The Tigers (2-0) have opened their season with a pair of wins over SVC schools — Huntington and Southeastern — and would like to make the Mustangs their third victim from that conference.
“It’s perseverance and staying after it,” Smith said of working to improve for the Tigers’ visit. “It’s two weeks in a row where these kids have never gotten to the point where they started jawing at each other and yapping at the other team. They’ve showed relatively a lot of composure.
“We’ve got a core and we’ve got to continue to build on that.”
Logan Elm 28, Zane Trace 27 OT
By Quarters 1 2 3 4 F
Logan Elm 14 23 7 7 51
Westfall 0 0 0 0 0
First Quarter
LE — Jude Braun 38 pass from Garret Summers (Jude Braun kick), 6:47.
LE — Blayton Reid 9 run (Jude Braun kick), 4:41.
Second Quarter
LE — Garret Summers 8 run (Jude Braun kick), 6:50.
LE — Blayton Reid 8 run (Jude Braun kick), 6:50.
LE — Garret Summers 4 run (kick failed), 0:33.
LE — Jude Braun 40 field goal, 0:00.
Third Quarter
LE — Keegan Diehl 62 pass from Aaron Walters (Jude Braun kick), 4:00.
Fourth Quarter
LE — Aaron Walters 15 run (Jude Braun kick), 1:33.
TEAM STATISTICS
LE WF
First downs 25 3
Rushing yards 43-377 22-35
Passing yards 133 24
Comp.-Att.-Int 5-10-2 5-12-1
Total yards 510 59
Fumbles-Lost 2-0 2-2
Penalties-Yards 6-50 2-15
Punts-Ave. 1-40 5-29
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING – Logan Elm — Blayton Reid 21-225, Garret Summers 8-43, Nicholas Coleman 9-68, Michael Bock 2-(-10), Aaron Walters 3-51. Westfall — Bryce Wickline 10-0, Brydan Gall 1-11, AJ Shoults 3-7, Trent Walters 7-15, Michael Harwood 1-4
PASSING – Logan Elm — Garret Summers 4-8-1-71, Aaron Walters 1-2-1-62. Westfall — Bryce Wickline 5-8-1-24, Michael Harwood 0-2-0-0
RECEIVING – Logan Elm — Tanner Holbert 2-23, Jude Braun 1-38, Camden Redd 1-10, Keegan Diehl 1-62. Westfall — Brydan Gall 1-8, Todd Scheel 3-13, Seth Springs 1-3.
Keep up your post-game write-ups. Greatly appreciated!
Great article. Hard to believe LE hasn’t went 3-0 since 2014. Hope they can keep rolling and grabbing wins, good work boys.