By Brad Morris
SportingPumpkin.com
Westfall rallied with a pair of second half touchdowns on Friday to defeat visiting Southeastern 12-8 in Scioto Valley Conference action.
After yielding the Panthers (0-5, 0-2) their lone touchdown of the game during the first half, coach Brad Smith credited an adjustment made by assistant coach Nick Davey to contain the Panthers’ double-wing attack during the second half.
“We worked with our defensive ends to be wider and outside, so we could bring them in to take on the blockers,” Smith said. “To stop Southeastern’s offense, you have to hold them to one and two yards on some plays to get them off the field and we weren’t doing much of that early. After we made that change, we were able to hold them to a yard, two yards and had a few tackles for loss mixed in there.”
Westfall (1-3, 1-1) reached the scoreboard in the third quarter when Casey Cline hauled in a slant pass from Michael Harwood and took it to the house from 65 yards away.
“We worked on running some double tight (end) during the game and we also had a new quarterback in the game,” Smith said. “It’s hard to simulate a Friday night in practice and having to deal with different blitzes, but I felt like Michael started to find a his timing a little more in the second half. He threw some nice footballs, we started hitting some passes and the ones we didn’t hit were like an inch or two away.”
The Mustangs took a 12-8 advantage in the fourth quarter on a two-yard guard reverse run by left guard Trey Keeton.
Smith discussed having to move some players around this week due to injuries and how his team responded to claim their first win of the season.
“Michael Harwood is not naturally a corner, but he stepped in there and did what he needed to do for us,” he said. “Casey Cline is more of a strong safety or corner for us, but he stepped in and played linebacker.
“We had kids moving all over the place and not doing things they weren’t accustomed to do. We worked to give them some instruction and the kids did a nice job of doing what we needed them to do.”
The Mustangs continue conference play next week at Zane Trace (3-2, 1-1).
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