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Style points missing in Charger outcome
Posted: Wednesday, September 5, 2012 1:51 pm
By KEVIN WEAKS
Press Sports
Westview took one good thing out of Troy on Friday night.
“We won,” Charger head coach Don Coady said. “That’s the only positive thing you can say about our performance.”
The Chargers built a 17-0 lead after three quarters and then almost fell apart before holding on for a 17-16 win over Obion County Central at Rebel Field.
“We had kids giving good effort throughout the night, but we had too many mental errors and then we got soft there in the third and early fourth quarter,” Coady said. “Right now, like most coaches would be, I’m focused in on the negative aspects of the game. We’ll take a look at the tape and find some positives, but we’re just leaving the field with a bad taste in our mouths.”
The veteran head coach noted a list of mistakes that covered all components of the game. The offense failed to finish too many drives, the defense stopped making stops and the special teams gave up one huge play that almost proved to be all the momentum change the Rebels needed.
“It was just a team effort in mistakes, mental errors and breakdowns in special teams, defense and offense,” Coady said. “We played really poorly tonight. We’re really lucky to come away with the win.”
Still, whatever Westview was — and was not — doing, it was much more than the Rebels could muster for more than 36 minutes of play.
On a night where the storm formerly known as Hurricane Isaac showed up with a vengeance in the first half, the Chargers produced two scores in the first period and one more at the end of the third while all but shutting down the Rebels’ offense.
Westview got off to a solid start but came up a few yards short of the ultimate goal, ending a drive that covered 47 yards on nine plays — all on the ground — with a 23-yard Cal Bradshaw field goal at 6:43 of the first quarter.
Then, as the quarter ended, Ty Brown scored on a 38-yard run for a 10-0 lead. Brown had opened the game with a flash, running 21 yards on the game’s first play as the Chargers tried a little deception by bringing the receiver around for a hand-off.
Westview, however, came up empty on two other advances into Rebel territory in the half and then overcame two 3-and-out possessions and a lost fumble in the third period to increase its lead.
On just Westview’s ninth — and final — offensive play of the third quarter, Javier Gordon pulled down a Ryne Vinson pass and then cut inside for a 21-yard touchdown with 1.9 seconds to play.
While Westview was frustrated by its inability to finish much of the night, Obion Central was hampered by its inability to get started.
The Rebels went 3-and-out on its first three possessions and did not pick up a first down until midway through the second quarter.
OC’s first drive of the second half showed promise, reaching the Charger 36, before ending on downs. The Rebs then played 3-and-out three more times before finally coming alive after Westview had upped its advantage to 17-0.
First, Blake Berner scored on a 15-yard run at 9:41 to play in the game. Then, after successfully pulling off an onside kick, OC capitalized when Trent Mann bulled his way to the end zone with 8:26 left.
“We spent the whole second half on the field on defense because we didn’t produce when we had opportunities on offense,” Coady said. “And, then we decided we’d stand up, look around and not tackle anybody in the fourth quarter. I thought we looked awfully soft on defense in the second half.”
Its lead sliced to 17-14, Westview still looked poised to put the game away by moving from its own 44 to the Central 10-yard-line
The Chargers methodically moved downfield on 10 plays, included a catch-and-run by Quan Williams that converted a 4th-and-8 by mere inches.
Williams, however, fumbled on the next play, and OC’s Zach Simpson recovered to give Central the ball on its own 12 with 3:34 to play in the game.
Central covered 30 of those yards before what proved to be the game-winning play landed right in Gordon’s hands. A Berner pass over the middle to Mann sailed way above the intended target and right to Gordon, who grabbed the interception with 1:35 to play.
Westview then used up the final 95 seconds going backward, finishing when Vinson — doing to Central what Dresden had done to Westview in the season-opener — took the snap and ran to his own end zone for a safety on the game’s final play.
“It’s good to win,” Coady said. “It would have been worse had we lost ugly, and I’ll take an ugly win over a beautiful loss any day. It takes a lot of the positives away when you make as many mistakes as we did, though.”
Hunter Moore had a solid game carrying the ball for Westview with 72 yards on 15 tries, while Gordon finished with 65 yards on three catches. Published in The WCP 9.4.12
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Style points missing in Charger outcome
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