(Photo courtesy of Westwood High School)

Westwood’s Jayden Boyd earned WACH 57 Sonic Friday Night Rivals Player of the Game honors.

By Thomas Grant Jr.

To the fans at Westwood High School and those watching on WACH 57 and other streaming outlets, it was the “Miracle at the Castle”.

Trailing Lugoff-Elgin 21-14 with 12.7 seconds left, the Redhawks were down to one play deep in their own territory. Neding a score, head coach Stephen Burris turned to the old playbook for the “Hook and Lateral”.

“Been running that play since 2014,” he said. “We practice it every Thursday. The kids knew what we were going to do.”

Backup quarterback Josiah Henryhand, who entered in place of injured starter Carrington Carter, completed a short pass to Jar’Kese Grant. As the Demons’ Dwight Lewis and Tristan Young tried to tackle Grant, he instinctively lobbed the ball to defensive back/wide receiver Jayden Boyd.

The senior speedster, who last week decommitted from Duke, sprinted into the open field untouched and across the goal line as time expired for his second touchdown. Mushin Yakubu added the important PAT to tie the game and force overtime.

“The discussion was to score,” Burris said. “Not a lot was said. Do your job. We prepare for these situations and as coaches we’ve got to trust the kids to perform, they did, we won the moment and eventually the game.”

It took two overtimes for Westwood to secure the improbable win. A touchdown run by Angelo Rios answered a score by Lugoff-Elgin to force a second overtime.

Henryhand came through again with a touchdown pass to a diving Tyrek Jenkins in the endzone. Westwood led only by six after the missed PAT. This gave the Demons a chance to tie and win the game with the extra point.

On fourth down, Lugoff-Elgin quarterback Zack Williams appeared to have a clear path to the endzone. Charging in at the 2-yard line to blindside Williams with a crushing hit was safety Justin Washington.

As Lugoff-Elgin players and coaches attended to Williams, Washington and the Redhawks celebrated the 34-28 win. Afterwards, Burris declared this was the game his team had finally “grown up”.

“We cut down on the penalties in the second half,” he said. “Still far too many for my liking, but I believe we settled in and focused on what we needed to focus on. We kept the main thing the main thing. We hung around long enough to sneak out a win.

“If Westwood doesn’t beat Westwood, we can be a good football team.”

Do your job. We prepare for these situations and as coaches and we’ve got to trust the kids to perform. They did. We won the moment and eventually the game.”

Burris credited the play of Henryhand who entered the game on short notice.

“Josiah has had the same amount of reps in practice as Carrington,” he said. “Chain is only as strong as the weakest link. His number was called and he did enough for us to win the game. “He made some mistakes, but proud of him showing some resolve and being able to rebound to throw what ended up being the game-winning touchdown pass.”

Westwood (6-2, 3-1) is currently in third place in Region 5-5A heading into Friday’s road game at West Florence. It closes out the regular season at home against Sumter, which has a first-place showdown with Ridge View.

Blazers head to Gamecocks

Ridge View looks to secure sole possession of first place in the region at Sumter.

The Blazers (6-2, 4-0) enter the contest winners of five straight games. During the winning streak, the defense has allowed a total of 15 points and posted two shutouts.

In the 29-7 win over West Florence, safety Quency Grant had two interceptions and a fumble recovery and DaSean Rush had a team-high 10 tackles.

On offense, Spencer Bobian rushed for 144 yards and a touchdown.

Sumter (7-1, 4-0) is coming off a 47-34 win over Blythewood. Quarterback James Veasey threw five touchdowns for 214 yards, two touchdowns each for Tay’Shawn Johnson and Ben Hendrix, and rushed for 95 yards.

Chance Johnson had 109 total yards and Landyn Strong had 103 total yards and a touchdown in defeat.

RPI RATINGS

DIVISION I

CLASS 5A

(Upper State)

Dutch Fork, 6-1, 0.71935 Ridge View, 6-2, 0.66492 Dorman, 6-2, 0.63237 Spartanburg, 5-3, 0.59490 Rock Hill, 5-4, 0.59295 Byrnes, 5-3, 0.58925 Clover, 4-4, 0.55491 Boiling Springs, 4-4, 0.49109 Mauldin, 3-5, 0.47679 JL Mann, 2-6, 0.43795 Blythewood, 3-6, 0.42960 Spring Valley, 2-6, 0.38455 Wade Hampton, 0-8, 0.28089

CLASS 4A

(Upper State)

South Pointe, 7-1, 0.74910 Seneca, 8-1, 0.65224 Daniel, 7-1, 0.64426 Camden, 6-2, 0.63054 AC Flora, 8-1, 0.62632 Wren, 6-2, 0..62201 Westside, 4-4, 0.53147 Emerald, 4-4, 0.50954 Fountain Inn, 4-4, 0.50020 Blue Ridge, 4-3, 0.49190 Greer, 4-5, 0.47330 York, 2-6, 0.43206 Lancaster, 2-6, 0.42236 Dreher, 3-6, 0.38509 Travelers Rest, 2-6, 0.37971 Laurens, 1-7, 0.35975 Pickens, 2-6, 0.34734 Berea, 1-7, 0.29511 Richland Northeast, 0-8, 0.27651 Southside, 0-8, 0.23402

S.C. PREP FOOTBALL POLL

Class 5A

1. Irmo (16) (8-0)

2. Northwestern (3) (8-1)

3. Dutch Fork (6-1)

4. Greenwood (7-1)

5. Ridge View (6-2)

6. Summerville (6-2)

7. James Island (7-1)

8. Gaffney (6-2)

9. Indian Land (8-0)

10. TL Hanna (7-1)

Others receiving votes: Sumter, Dorman, Stratford, Ashley Ridge, Greenville, Spartanburg, Carolina Forest, White Knoll