Article:Westerville Central 35 Westerville South 23

[LICKING COUNTY FAN]

Last night I made my second trip ever to Westerville South high school, to watch the battle between Westerville Central(4-4) and Westerville South (3-5). I took this same match up in back in 2016 , where Central won in a blowout(35-7). Central comes in off of a four point loss to Olentangy Orange, while South comes in off of a win over Westerville North.

This one started off with Central going on a 11 play drive that resulted in a Luke Swaney 21 yard touchdown run. The score was set up by a 28 yard run by Rickey Hyatt, Jr. The point after kick by strong footed Jacob Borcila, a soccer player was successful, making this a 7-0 game,with 7:54 left on the clock.

South would get a 22 yard run from,Taveon Falls and then a little later in the drive Falls would pick up 12 yards.
Falls would be the featured in this drive as he would be involved in most of the 14 plays that the drive lasted. On the last play of the drive, South faced fourth and and goal from the 19 and they would try to go to the air, as everyone in the stadium knew they would, including Hyatt, Jr, who easily picked the ball off and took it to the 38 yard line. South had the ball down to the 9 but penalties, which would be a thorn in their side all night had moved the ball back to the nineteen.

Central would get a fine 17 yard run from, Justin Carter, with 1:23 left on the fast moving first quarter clock.
Just eight seconds had gone in the 2nd quarter, when Central faced a fourth and five.They lined up to punt the ball as expected, but a fake high snap, that looked to go over the punter's head, would actually go to Zeke Healy, who sprinted for a gain of 24 yards and a first down.
The Wildcats defense showed some life, at the 10:49 mark, when Michael Dailey got to Warhawks quarterback LaBronz Davis II, for a 3 yard loss. The Warhawks would recover nicely with a 14 yard touchdown strike to Kylin Byrd, who lost all of the defense to make the pass and catch as easy as it could be. The point after kick would make this a 14-0 game, with 10:32 left in the half.

The Wildcats would get a 17 yard run right up the gut by Falls, who seemed to have very good field vision as you could see him always looking downfield and reading his blocks.At the 7:17 mark the Warhawks defense was able to get to Falls for a 2 yard loss, when Dontay Hunter II got to the talented running back.Matthew Bame, making only his third start would run a nice slant pattern and then make the catch to take the ball down to the 4 yard line, with 2:05 left. Falls would score his fifth touchdown of the season, on a 2 yard run. The point after kick by Bame cut the Central lead to14-7, with 1:04 left in the fast paced opening half.

The Wildcats get a 16 yard run from Falls, who show great patience again, as he allowed the big boys time to open the hole.
Later on the drove the Wildcats concerted a fourth and three, when Falls went up the gut to move the chains.
The only score of the quarter came on the Wildcats eighth play of the drive,on a 14 yard catch by Jesse Devore.Pedrozo. the Wildcats new starting quarterback threw a nice pass to make the catch a simple one for his receiver. The point after kick locked this one up at 14.

With momentum on the home side, the Wildcats slowly started, what would end up being a 15 play,80 yard drive that would see ten running plays, most of them were to Falls and four passing plays. All of that set up a 23 yard field goal from Jaylen Norwood to put the home team up 17-14, with 11:06 left in the game.

The Warhawks seemed to be rejuvenated after falling behind, as strange as that might sound. A 43 yard run by Hyatt Jr. set up three yard touchdown catch from Jace Jarvis, then after the point after kick, we had ourselves a 21-17 game, with Central back in the lead.

From there this game got very one-sided due to turnovers by the Wildcats that led to easy points for the Warhawks.
First there was a fumble by Kaden Saunders, who could not hang onto the handoff from Pedrozo, was recovered by the Warhawks Darius Madison, is third fumble recovery on the season.


A 18 yard completion to Byrd from Davis II set up the next Central score, which was a 2 yard run from Hyatt Jr., with 6:33 left in the contest. The point after kick would make this a 27-17 game. The drive went for 22 yards and last 4 plays.

At the 6:04 mark South would turn the ball over again, this time it was a pick by Hyatt Jr. on a ball tipped by a Wildcats receiver. On the play before Central just missed getting a pick when Byrd let a ball bounce off of both of his hands.

On the ensuing drive the Warhawks would take 7 plays to go the 38 yards needed to light up the scoreboard again. The score came on a 2 yard run from Byrd, who more than made up for letting the pick get away. The point after made this a 35-17 game.

The Wildcats would end the game on a 15 play 60 yard drive that would see a short touchdown run by Pedrozo cap it off. The point after kick was missed leaving this a 35-23 game.


Very unofficial stats

Central
53 Plays
282 Yards
Passing
6-11 2 TD'S


Pics
Twitter
DAVID BURNWORTH
@OHIO1981

https://www.facebook.com/DavidLewisBurn ... 042&type=3

https://photos.google.com/share/AF1QipO ... RwVmpRZkZB