Westfield continues to improve but still has a ways to go; South County used three huge pass plays to get the win in this one. And a huge officiating fiasco to end the first half may have impacted the game (more on that later).
WF took the opening KO and started at their 20 yard line. After reaching the WF 45 yard line they punted and pinned SC on the SC 13 yard line, but that did not last long. On just their 4th snap, SC used a Dennis to Spaulding 90 yard pass play to jump ahead 7-0, (Amir XP) with 6:36 remaining in the 1st quarter. After WF's Nelson returned the KO 31 yards to the WF 43 yard line, WF could not take advantage of the good field position and went three and out. SC took over on their own 30 yard line but later found themselves facing 4th and 3 at the WF 30 yard line but the run only gained two yards and WF took over at their own 28 yard line. On WF's series Spaulding picked off WF's Jenks at midfield and returned it for a TD, only to have it called back for a penalty that put the ball on the WF 32 yard line. Shortly after, SC's Dennis found Hoskins for a 22 yard pass play to the WF 10 yard line. After WF and SC penalties on the next two plays, followed by a SC penalty on a dead ball substitution, followed by WF's Thomas batting down a third down pass, SC eventually found themselves facing 4th down on the WF 19 yard line. SC's Amir attempted a 36 yard FG that was blocked by WF's Thomas and the score remained 7-0, SC. WF then executed an 80 yard scoring drive and scored when Nelson ran it in from 11 yards out to tie it at 7-7 (Mattfeld XP) with 7:00 remaining in the half. SC answered with a 68 yard drive and scored when Spaulding took a direct snap and ran it in from the 2 yard line to put SC back on top, 14-7 (Amir XP) with 4:27 remaining in the half. WF went three and out on their next possession, punting the ball back to SC on the SC 39 yard line. On the first or second play, SC's Frazier was stripped at the WF 40 yard line and WF's Anderson returned the ball to the WF 2 yard line. Here is where the refs really, really messed up the entire next series.
Anderson's fumble return reached the 2 yard line where he ran out of bounds with about 1:35 on the clock. Being a change of possession the clock should have stopped, but it did not. Neither did the officials signal to stop the clock, nor did I hear a whistle. To make matters worse, the officiating crew for this game consisted of only four on field officials instead of the normal six; it is also possible the clock operator was not an official but a home team staff member but it was hard to see from across the field. CORRECTION: as pointed out in another post, it was a newer official operating the clock, not a staff member. With WF now having the ball, both teams began changing out their offense/defense - but the clock keeps running and is now close to a minute. The WF fans are screaming but the clock keeps running. The WF head coach, with only one time out left, chooses not to call time out (he might need it later and this was a critical point in the game) so he runs onto the field to the side judge and points out the clock is still running. The side judge does not signal the clock to stop, nor use his whistle, but he does start jogging across the field to the far hash where the white hat is setting the ball. The refs finally stop the clock with 41 seconds left, costing WF at least 50 seconds. WF finally runs their first play, first and goal from the two, after losing all that time. WF's Nelson takes the handoff and runs behind the left tackle and does not see any contact until at the goal line, then lunges forward into the end zone-but the side judge marks him down inches short of the goal. At this point, something happened in the scrum of players and flags start flying - and the clock keeps running, all the way down to 9 seconds, before it is stopped. When all is said and done, the refs mark off three distinct penalties (I have no idea what they were) and the ball ends up on the SC 7 yard line. WF attempts a second down pass that is flagged for defensive PI and now has the ball on the SC 4 yard line. With only one second left on the clock, they choose to attempt a short FG but the snap is bad and SC maintains its 14-7 lead at the half. Later, just prior to starting the second half the white hat is overheard telling the WF head coach that he should have used his timeout to request a rules interpretation, but since he did not there was nothing they could do. I typically do not like to call out refs, but this series was probably the worst officiating I have seen in my 20 years of watching VA high school football. With 1:35 or so, and two yards to go for the tying score (and WF had been running the ball quite well at that point) perhaps things go differently and the game is tied at 14 all at the half. That score certainly would have impacted decisions made in the second half. I guess we will never know.
On to the second half. SC takes the KO and goes three and out. WF takes over at midfield and after a Jenks to Davis pass puts WF on the SC 15 yard line, WF stalls and has to settle for a 33 yard Mattfeld FG to pull within 14-10 with 6:38 remaining in the third quarter. SC punts again on their next possession and WF starts at their own 27 yard line. This time Jenks drops back and throws a deep ball down the middle of the field that is intercepted by SC's Greer and returned to the WF 40 yard line, where Spaulding scores again on a 40 yard pass play to extend the SC lead to 21-10 (Amir XP) with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter. I have to note another possible officiating error here-Spaulding lost the ball diving right at the goal line, but the official was trailing the play by quite a bit and was out of position (remember-no refs down field with only a crew of four). He still ruled it a TD but without video evidence I am not sure if it was or not. Either way, TD for SC. WF started their next possession on the WF 28 yard line and had to punt, but the punt bounced before being fielded by SC's Hoskins as he was running back toward his own goal line. After failing to elude multiple WF defenders, he ended up getting tackled at the SC 7 yard line. SC moved the ball to near midfield but then stalled and had to punt, with the punt rolling to the WF 6 yard line. WF wasted no time when Nelson took a handoff around the left side and went 94 yards for a score to pull WF within 21-17 (Mattfeld XP) with 11:26 remaining in the game. SC took the ensuing KO and moved to midfield where they would face a 4th and 4 at the WF 44 yard line, but Spaulding hauled in an 8 yard pass to give SC a new set of downs. One or two plays later, SC's Ohlmeyer fumbled and WF recovered on their own 35 yard line with a chance to take the lead. WF would use three plays to get close to a first down, but faced a key 4th down attempt at 4th and less than a foot. SC was able to stuff the QB sneak when their D-line got a great push and SC took over at the WF 45 yard line. SC's Dennis soon found WR Hoskins open down the middle and connected with his WR for a 32 yard TD pass to extend the SC lead to 28-17 (Amir XP) with 6:40 to play. WF then started at their own 35 yard line and reached the SC 13 where they faced about 4th and 7. Needing two scores, they elected to go for a 30 yard Mattfeld FG to pull within 28-20 with 3:00 remaining in the game. The ensuing KO put SC on their own 18 yard line, but SC was able to get one first down and that was enough to run out the clock and secure the 28-20 win.
WF took the opening KO and started at their 20 yard line. After reaching the WF 45 yard line they punted and pinned SC on the SC 13 yard line, but that did not last long. On just their 4th snap, SC used a Dennis to Spaulding 90 yard pass play to jump ahead 7-0, (Amir XP) with 6:36 remaining in the 1st quarter. After WF's Nelson returned the KO 31 yards to the WF 43 yard line, WF could not take advantage of the good field position and went three and out. SC took over on their own 30 yard line but later found themselves facing 4th and 3 at the WF 30 yard line but the run only gained two yards and WF took over at their own 28 yard line. On WF's series Spaulding picked off WF's Jenks at midfield and returned it for a TD, only to have it called back for a penalty that put the ball on the WF 32 yard line. Shortly after, SC's Dennis found Hoskins for a 22 yard pass play to the WF 10 yard line. After WF and SC penalties on the next two plays, followed by a SC penalty on a dead ball substitution, followed by WF's Thomas batting down a third down pass, SC eventually found themselves facing 4th down on the WF 19 yard line. SC's Amir attempted a 36 yard FG that was blocked by WF's Thomas and the score remained 7-0, SC. WF then executed an 80 yard scoring drive and scored when Nelson ran it in from 11 yards out to tie it at 7-7 (Mattfeld XP) with 7:00 remaining in the half. SC answered with a 68 yard drive and scored when Spaulding took a direct snap and ran it in from the 2 yard line to put SC back on top, 14-7 (Amir XP) with 4:27 remaining in the half. WF went three and out on their next possession, punting the ball back to SC on the SC 39 yard line. On the first or second play, SC's Frazier was stripped at the WF 40 yard line and WF's Anderson returned the ball to the WF 2 yard line. Here is where the refs really, really messed up the entire next series.
Anderson's fumble return reached the 2 yard line where he ran out of bounds with about 1:35 on the clock. Being a change of possession the clock should have stopped, but it did not. Neither did the officials signal to stop the clock, nor did I hear a whistle. To make matters worse, the officiating crew for this game consisted of only four on field officials instead of the normal six; it is also possible the clock operator was not an official but a home team staff member but it was hard to see from across the field. CORRECTION: as pointed out in another post, it was a newer official operating the clock, not a staff member. With WF now having the ball, both teams began changing out their offense/defense - but the clock keeps running and is now close to a minute. The WF fans are screaming but the clock keeps running. The WF head coach, with only one time out left, chooses not to call time out (he might need it later and this was a critical point in the game) so he runs onto the field to the side judge and points out the clock is still running. The side judge does not signal the clock to stop, nor use his whistle, but he does start jogging across the field to the far hash where the white hat is setting the ball. The refs finally stop the clock with 41 seconds left, costing WF at least 50 seconds. WF finally runs their first play, first and goal from the two, after losing all that time. WF's Nelson takes the handoff and runs behind the left tackle and does not see any contact until at the goal line, then lunges forward into the end zone-but the side judge marks him down inches short of the goal. At this point, something happened in the scrum of players and flags start flying - and the clock keeps running, all the way down to 9 seconds, before it is stopped. When all is said and done, the refs mark off three distinct penalties (I have no idea what they were) and the ball ends up on the SC 7 yard line. WF attempts a second down pass that is flagged for defensive PI and now has the ball on the SC 4 yard line. With only one second left on the clock, they choose to attempt a short FG but the snap is bad and SC maintains its 14-7 lead at the half. Later, just prior to starting the second half the white hat is overheard telling the WF head coach that he should have used his timeout to request a rules interpretation, but since he did not there was nothing they could do. I typically do not like to call out refs, but this series was probably the worst officiating I have seen in my 20 years of watching VA high school football. With 1:35 or so, and two yards to go for the tying score (and WF had been running the ball quite well at that point) perhaps things go differently and the game is tied at 14 all at the half. That score certainly would have impacted decisions made in the second half. I guess we will never know.
On to the second half. SC takes the KO and goes three and out. WF takes over at midfield and after a Jenks to Davis pass puts WF on the SC 15 yard line, WF stalls and has to settle for a 33 yard Mattfeld FG to pull within 14-10 with 6:38 remaining in the third quarter. SC punts again on their next possession and WF starts at their own 27 yard line. This time Jenks drops back and throws a deep ball down the middle of the field that is intercepted by SC's Greer and returned to the WF 40 yard line, where Spaulding scores again on a 40 yard pass play to extend the SC lead to 21-10 (Amir XP) with 4:10 remaining in the third quarter. I have to note another possible officiating error here-Spaulding lost the ball diving right at the goal line, but the official was trailing the play by quite a bit and was out of position (remember-no refs down field with only a crew of four). He still ruled it a TD but without video evidence I am not sure if it was or not. Either way, TD for SC. WF started their next possession on the WF 28 yard line and had to punt, but the punt bounced before being fielded by SC's Hoskins as he was running back toward his own goal line. After failing to elude multiple WF defenders, he ended up getting tackled at the SC 7 yard line. SC moved the ball to near midfield but then stalled and had to punt, with the punt rolling to the WF 6 yard line. WF wasted no time when Nelson took a handoff around the left side and went 94 yards for a score to pull WF within 21-17 (Mattfeld XP) with 11:26 remaining in the game. SC took the ensuing KO and moved to midfield where they would face a 4th and 4 at the WF 44 yard line, but Spaulding hauled in an 8 yard pass to give SC a new set of downs. One or two plays later, SC's Ohlmeyer fumbled and WF recovered on their own 35 yard line with a chance to take the lead. WF would use three plays to get close to a first down, but faced a key 4th down attempt at 4th and less than a foot. SC was able to stuff the QB sneak when their D-line got a great push and SC took over at the WF 45 yard line. SC's Dennis soon found WR Hoskins open down the middle and connected with his WR for a 32 yard TD pass to extend the SC lead to 28-17 (Amir XP) with 6:40 to play. WF then started at their own 35 yard line and reached the SC 13 where they faced about 4th and 7. Needing two scores, they elected to go for a 30 yard Mattfeld FG to pull within 28-20 with 3:00 remaining in the game. The ensuing KO put SC on their own 18 yard line, but SC was able to get one first down and that was enough to run out the clock and secure the 28-20 win.
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