Class 6 Final Blog - Oscar Smith (12-2) vs. Westfield (14-0)

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Greetings from Hampton University's Armstrong Stadium for the VHSL Class 6 State Football Championship as the #3 seed Oscar Smith Tigers (12-2) take on the undefeated, two-time defending Champion Westfield Bulldogs (14-0).

This is the fourth postseason meeting since 2007 between these two programs. Westfield leads the all-time series 3-0, but each game has been close. In fact, the Bulldogs won in triple-overtime two years ago and in double-overtime in 2016.

Oscar Smith is here with a third different Head Coach - Scott Johnson - in three seasons. Westfield, under the direction of Kyle Simmons, is one of just two unbeaten squads remaining in VIrginia this year; the other is Louisa, who's playing Salem for the Class 4 State Final at William & Mary.

Follow updates here and on Twitter @ hatfieldsports

You can also watch on Facebook Live and through the NFHS Network as Andy Hayes and Chris Bourassa bring you the call...

 

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Not a good start for Westfield as they had two penalties on the kicking, backing them up a total of 10 yards.

On the third try, Oscar Smith's Keshon Artis - their stud LB committed to Virginia Tech - fields the kick and the Tigers begin at their own 43.

 

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On the first play, Tigers RB Khalid Wilson is drilled by junior Arron Dishun and senior Russell Steinhilber. No gain, making it 2nd & 10. They go back to Wilson and this time he has more success, picking up a gain of about 20 yards all the way down to the Westfield 38.

Interesting to note - the Tigers are starting Cam'Ron Kelly, not Dominique Brooks, at quarterback today. Brooks made most of the starts in the second half of the season, but it was Kelly bringing them back from a 17-3 deficit last week at previously undefeated Colonial Forge as they won a thriller in double-overtime. Kelly is a big-time prospect nationally, as a DB, for the Class of 2019 with around 25-30 offers.

 

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On 2nd & 8 from the Westfield 25-yard line, Cam Kelly breaks off a big run, but a holding will push the Tigers back.

Then it's Taylor Morin making his 9th intereception of the season for the Westfield defense. That's the game's first takeaway and the Bulldogs capitalize on the pass that was tipped in their air with their junior ball-hawk.

 

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Westfield begins its first possession with just under 9 minutes in the opening stanza from their own 40-yard line after the Taylor Morin INT. Now it's up to the Oscar Smith defense to make sure the Bulldogs are unable to cash in on the game's first turnover.

After two runs, the Bulldogs are facing a 3rd & 9 and likely a passing situation for their young, yet talented sophomore QB Noah Kim. With three receivers and on back in the backfield, it's a busted play as it appeared Kim wanted to hand it off to RB Eugene Asante, but there was some miscommunication. Kim ended up running out of bounds for a loss of about 7 or 8 yards.

The Bulldogs punt it away.

 

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Oscar Smith begins its second series at their own 28-yard line with 7:26 to go in the first quarter. Tigers RB Khalid Wilson gains 7 on the run, then it's an in incomplete pass.

On 3rd & 7, a really nice design and play called by OC Tim Smith - a former Tigers State Champ who played at UVA - as it's Cam Kelly finding Khalid Wilson on a short pass that nets roughly 8 yards.

The Westfield defensive line is really chasing Kelly around and Davonte Roberts just had a tackle to limit him to a gain of 3. Nolan Cockrill along with the much lighter Dakota Bech line up at defensive end for this 3-man d-line the Bulldogs are using. An incomplete pass brings up 3rd & 7 as the Tigers have it at their own 49.

 

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Westfield is having a hard time getting the running game going, which was also the case each of the past two seasons when they leaned on Rehman Johnson and a core of sure-handed wide receivers (Tyler Scanlon, Sean Eckert, Ivory Frimpong, etc.).

Didn't think the Bulldogs would have a ton of success against this Oscar Smith defense, given that quality rushing attacks at King's Fork and Deep Creek also struggled to sustain offense via the ground game. But Westfield needs to get Eugene Asante going to take pressure off of Noah Kim and the rest of the offense.

 

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Malcolm Britt with a sack on 3rd & 10 for the Oscar Smith defense. Westfield to punt it away - second straight 3 & out.

 

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That's why Kelly has offers from Alabama, Clemson, Florida State, Oregon and so many others. He's a difference-maker and the Tigers are on the board first.

 

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A big-time hit from Tigers sophomore LB Judah Jones on the ensuing kickoff. Westfield starts its third series at their own 33-yard line. Noah Kim completes his first pass of the day to Taylor Morin, good for 8 yards before LB Horace Sawyer makes the tackle.

The 2nd & 2, 3rd & 1 situations give Westfield a chance to fire deep off play-action or see if it allows Eugene Asante to get going in this one. They decide to hand it to Asante, who is close to teh first down, running to the left side.

 

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Westfield takes a couple of shots deep down the field, but Noah Kim's passes are just a hair ahead of his receivers in the early going. On 3rd & 10, Oscar Smith gets called for offsides. Mysteriously, the referee blows it dead instead of letting the play go.

On 3rd & 5, Kim scrambles for the first down. Then it's Kim with a TD to Taylor Morin. The Bulldogs have pulled within a PAT away from tying.

 

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You knew, even as great as the Oscar Smith defense is, that they wouldn't be able to bottle up Westfield and their golden arm QB for the entire game.

Even with talented faces in the secondary like Cam Kelly and BriQuan Harrell - the much talked about newcomer from Western Branch - it's hard to cover these Westfield receivers for an entire 48 minutes. So it leaves DC Joe Jones no choice but to send heavy pressure and see if they can get to Kim before he finds receivers down the field for big plays.

 

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Aaron Acevado with a solid return for Oscar Smith before he is leveled by Russ Steinhilber of Westfield. The Tigers begin at their own 42-yard line with just over a minute left in this opening period.

 

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Can't figure out why, but Oscar Smith Head Coach Scott Johnson decides now to put in Dominique Brooks at QB for Cam Kelly, who has been playing well. The series is not off to a good start as the Tigers are looking at 3rd & 14 after Alex Shadkhoo makes the stop on a quick pass to Karon Prunty.

Then Brooks is running around on 3rd down and is dropped by Arron Dishun. Oscar Smith will punt when we start the 2nd period, deadlocked at 7.

 

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Oscar Smith's defense is playing good, sound assignment football on defense. They're reading their keys well and not having break downs.

Tigers will begin at their own 15 after the Westfield punt.

 

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Even worse news for Oscar Smith is that Cam Kelly was shaken up after the play. He's the one responsible for their best offensive play and the lone touchdown for the Tigers to this point in the ballgame.

Westfield will take over at the Tigers 22-yard line. If Oscar Smith can hold them to a field goal try, it'll be interesting to see how the Bulldogs do without their All-State kicker Brian Delaney, now at UVA. They've had some kicking issues throughout the season too.

 

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Sack by Oscar Smith's Elijah Alston, bringing up 2nd & 16 from the Westfield 18 for the Bulldogs. Alston is part of a really strong d-line that also features Kyle Thomas, who comes in with 19.5 sacks on the year (needing 2.5 to tie the school single-season record shared by Josh Sweat of Florida State and Kanyia Anderson).

Now 3rd & 15 coming for Westfield.

 

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Pressure situations, Westfield rises to the occasion.

 

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Oscar Smith takes over at its own 30 yard line. On 2nd & 7, it's Khalid Wilson gaining 7 yards to the 40.

The Tigers then take a shot and Dominique Brooks has a wide open Jarius Howard. He catches it, but the pass was out of bounds. Brooks has a solid arm and is athletic moving around in the pocket, but sometimes his accuracy is a bit spotty. With Cam Kelly taking a tough hit, he may be the option for a while, if not the duration of the game.

On 3rd & 5, Wilson gets 4. It's 4th & 1 around midfield and the Tigers will probably go for it here, down 14-7 with just over 5 minutes to play before the half.

 

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Moves the chains and Coach Johnson can breathe a sigh of relief.... for now.

 

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Westfield is +3 in the turnover margin and that's a big deal in this type of setting.

The Bulldogs need to capitalize and either pin the Tigers deep or get some points out of it because a 3 & out lets them off the hook.

 

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Just when Oscar Smith's defensive front thinks they have Westfield where they want them on back-to-back sacks, the Bulldogs rise to the occasion on another 3rd down play.

Pivotal 4th & 1 coming up and we have a time-out on the field with 2:35 to go before the break, Westfield ahead 14-7.

 

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When most everyone in the stadium thinks Westfield will go for it, a stroke of brilliance by Bulldogs sideline boss Kyle Simmons to punt it and play field position with a 7-point lead against a quality defense and knowing his own defense can force turnovers as they have 3 takeaways so far.

 

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So Oscar Smith from its own 1-yard line runs the ball once, only gaining a yard, and throws two incomplete passes. The third down one was a real low-percentage play as Dom Brooks really didn't give Cam Kelly - now playing some wide receiver as he's returned - to make a catch since it sailed out of bounds.

Instead of trying to get a little breathing room for the punter by running Khalid Wilson, Oscar Smith now has to punt from the back of the end zone and this is extremely dangerous.

Westfield nearly muffs the punt, but the Bulldogs are able to hop on it at the 43-yard line of the Tigers with 1:32 before intermission. All things considered, Oscar Smith has to be pleased they didn't get down 16-7 or that Westfield has it inside the 30.

 

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Artis has been in these State Championship games before and wants a ring before he goes to Blacksburg.

Oscar Smith will call a time-out and see if they can get something going with 1:14 before the break as the Bulldogs punt it away here from the Tigers 45-yard line.

 

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After having better than decent field position early in this ballgame, back when it was tied and they lead 7-0, Oscar Smith begins at their own 8. It's the second straight series they start inside their own 10 yard line.

Dominique Brooks makes a nice throw and Keyon Watson with a stellar catch to pick up 18 yards. Time is not on Oscar Smith's side as they let the clock run out after losing 2 yards.

We've reached the half, Westfield up 14-7 on Oscar Smith.

 

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Some numbers forthcoming...

 

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The most telling stat to me is Westfield is +3 in the turnover margin. Oscar Smith has actually out-gained Westfield 157-85, including a whopping 127-4 on the ground, but the Tigers have had some turnover issues (3 in the 1st half against Ocean Lakes in the regional semis in fact), but against a team riding the longest winning streak in Virginia, those can come back to bite you.

 

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2nd half underway now...

 

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Year after year, Westfield churns out wide receivers. They may not always be the biggest, fastest or most athletic. But what they do is catch the football and have outstanding ball skills.

 

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Much like he did against South Lakes when he had no yards at the break and then erupted in the 2nd half with a huge showing in the regional title game, Asante dashes off for a long touchdown run to give the Bulldogs some breathing room in this tight series.

Asante came into today with 1757 yards rushing and 14 touchdowns on 277 carries on the season. He's definitely a diamond in the rough on the recruiting front who if he hits some camps in the off-season could start to see the offers roll in considering he's just a junior.

 

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Down 13, Oscar Smith gets a big 3rd & 1 conversion from RB Khalid Wilson, who is small to begin with, yet runs hard and keeps low pad level. Tigers have a pretty good driving going here, at their own 48. They need to turn this series into points.

 

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Let's remember that Cam Kelly was the slot receiver a year ago for Oscar Smith when they had Shon Mitchell - who's now a freshman at William & Mary and watching here today from the sideline - and reached this game. Kelly has scored both touchdowns for the Tigers in this one. PAT upcoming...

 

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A big PAT there as Westfield missed their last PAT after scoring. Now the pressure is on the Bulldogs to avoid a 3 & out - which they've had a couple of times today - and not let the momentum build for an Oscar Smith program that feeds off energy and emotion about as well anyone in the state.

 

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Big hit by Julian Sparkman for Oscar Smith on the ensuing kickoff. Westfield, up 20-14 with 8:34 left in the 3rd quarter, starts at their own 26.

You can feel the tide start to shift again.

The crowd is about 70/30 in favor of Oscar Smith in this one I'd venture to say, which is no shock given the proximity to Chesapeake that Hampton U is.

 

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3rd & 21 for Westfield now from their own 15. Hearing loud chants of defense by the Tigers faithful.

A screne pass will be complete by Noah Kim to Taylor Morin. But it won't be enough for a first down. It does give the punter a little bit more room to punt it away.

Interesting to note on 4th & 12, Oscar Smith had 12 men on the field defensively and they burn a time-out instead of taking the penalty. Quite honestly, I'd take the penalty there and save the time-out because it would've been 4th & 7 and Westfield is still punting. It's not a drastic change in field position.

 

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Enormous special teams play by Artis, the team's leading tackler, there. Westfield has been sound for years in special teams and now the Tigers have a chance to cash in on this and tie or take the lead.

Tigers begin at the Westfield 19-yard line.

 

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Facing 3rd & 3 from the Westfield 12, RB Khalid Wilson keeps chugging his legs forward for a tough run that picks up 4 yards. Tigers are at the 8. Another run gets them closer, down to the Westfield 5.

Wilson gets down to the 1 or 2. 3rd & Goal coming.