WILLIAMSPORT — Westfall held off visiting Huntington Friday night for a 34-31 win.
“I give a lot of credit to coach over there,” Westfall coach Logan Stepp said of Huntington’s Clay Beeler. “I talked to him pregame, and I told him there’s like a few guys that do it the right way and they do. That whole community is behind them, and they’ve got a good thing going over there.
“That we were able to pull one out against a team that has a lot of culture makes me proud.”
Holding a narrow lead at halftime, the Mustangs got the ball to start the third quarter.
A 64-yard scoring pass from AJ Paudicz to Jaden Towler got the Mustangs going.
They came back with a successful onside kick and turned that into a touchdown pass from Paudicz to Landon Sparks for a 34-19 lead with 6:40 left in the third.
“At halftime we talked that we were going to go score, we’re going to onside kick and we’re going to score again and that’s exactly what we did,” Stepp said. “We practice that every single day, and I think our onside kick percentage is probably one of the best in the state. Our kids are ready for that situation, and it helped us out a lot.”
The Huntsmen answered with a 90-yard drive that ate up the rest of the third quarter. Isaac Taylor had a three-yard run on the first play of the fourth quarter to make the score 34-25.
Huntington got the ball back near midfield two minutes later and used eight plays to cover 55 yards with Taylor scoring from a yard out to close to 34-31 with 5:48 left.
Westfall was able to take nearly four minutes off the clock but managed only one first down and punted back to Huntington with 1:51 remaining.
The Huntsmen picked up a first down but then found themselves facing a fourth-and-five with a minute left. Westfall’s Carson Deskins was able to intercept the pass attempt which allowed the Mustangs to run out the clock for the win.
Joey Wright led the Mustangs on the ground with 22 carries for 127 yards and a touchdown. He added a catch for 21 yards.
Paudicz threw for more than 200 yards as he was 11-12 on the night with four touchdowns.
Towler had three catches for 110 yards and two scores while Connor Geer and Landon Sparks each had three catches for 39 yards and a touchdown.
The Mustangs survived well over 100 yards in penalties Friday night.
“An ugly win is a win; it doesn’t matter how you get it done. But we’re not going to beat the best teams in our league playing undisciplined football,” Stepp said.
Taylor had 103 yards on 26 carries and scored all five of Huntington’s touchdowns. Frankie Hirsch was 9-14 passing for 145 yards.
Westfall (4-5, 3-3) heads to Piketon (6-3, 4-2) Friday to complete the regular season. Piketon has clinched a playoff spot while the Mustangs need to beat the Red Streaks to have a chance at a second straight playoff appearance.
