West Forsyth football slips past A.C. Reynolds in season opener, gets set for home opener Friday against Oak Grove

Published 9:17 am Sunday, August 25, 2024

It may not have been the prettiest of wins for West Forsyth, but it still counts in the win column.

Quarterback Riley Horton had a passing touchdown and a rushing touchdown as visiting West Forsyth held on to edge A.C. Reynolds 19-13 in the season opener for both teams.

“Defensively, I thought we played well. Offensively, we have a lot of stuff to correct,” said Kevin Wallace of the Titans (1-0). “I think we just relied on some athleticism and missed a lot of opportunities to open that game up, a lot. So, we’ll go back and look at it on film, educate, teach them, and show the kids, and then hopefully be able to be better this week.”

The Rockets (0-1) quickly took charge just 2 minutes into the first quarter after Lincoln Rogers picked up a blocked punt from punter Max Williamson for a 10-yard touchdown to take a 6-0 lead.

“We didn’t make our check with what we do,” Wallace said. “It was like a perfect storm. And he came in and blocked it.”

Ethan Klepper added an extra-point kick to help push the Rockets’ lead to 7-0.

“Very shocking,” Wallace said. “That wasn’t really the way we wanted to start our special teams.”

Despite A.C. Reynolds taking a quick lead West Forsyth bounced back after Horton scored on an 82-yard keeper for a touchdown with 5 minutes to go in the first quarter to slice the lead to 7-6.

“That one was a designed run,” Horton said.

Instead of going for the extra-point kick, Wallace elected to go for two points. According to MaxPreps.com, Hunter Cruise caught a pass from Horton to help give the Titans an 8-7 lead.

“It’s programmed in us now, we’re going to look to see if we have numbers,” Wallace said. “I think our little plan we call; I think it’s a hard alignment to defend. I think a lot of people are. They’ve tried a lot of different things, and when you do it for a few years and start to see how people adjust and you’ve got to make your adjustments off that. That’s kind of where we’re at with that stuff, which is nice.”

With about a minute to go in the second quarter running back C.J. Blevins caught a screen pass from Horton and ran it 40 yards for touchdown to help give the Titans a 14-6 lead.

“It was third-and-short, third-and-3, and it was the right call at the right time,” Wallace said. “We caught them in a screen, right over the middle, he caught it and no one in front of him.”

Horton added a two-point conversion pass to push the lead to 16-7.

“The overall aspect of it (going for two) is analytically,” Wallace said. “Now, when we get into the fourth quarter of games then we really look at the numbers and stuff like that. But analytically, if you convert one out two it’s the same thing as an extra point. I think it’s a little bit more energy. It’s like a momentum stealer if you can do it, you know. And I think it gives our gives our kids excitement because it’s something new.”

The nine-point lead didn’t last long because the Rockets scored just before halftime on a 30-yard field goal by Rossi Santelia to make it 16-10.

“We were OK,” Wallace said. “I thought our kids needed to calm down. We just missed lots – like Riley missed a lot. I think it’s just a whole new offense in a pressure situation now.”

Horton 9-of-18 passing 116 yards and a touchdown. He also had 131 yards rushing on 13 carries. West Forsyth finished with 319 yards and A.C. Reynolds had 184.

“I think (Horton’s) got to calm down out there,” Wallace said. “He’s got to lock in.”

Santelia kicked a 22-yard field goal with 6 minutes to go in the third quarter to slice the lead to 16-13.

West Forsyth added to the lead after Kosta Dupuy kicked a 22-yard field goal with 2 minutes remaining to make it 19-13.

“The third quarter, they drove down and they kicked a field goal. They didn’t get it in the end zone,” Wallace said. “And then we go down in the fourth (quarter) down in the red zone we kicked that field goal to go up by six and our defense just sealed it.”

The defense did just that, but it had to stop quarterback Ely Hamrick and running back Max Guest of A.C. Reynolds.

Hamrick was 13-of-27 passing for 92 yards and Guest finished with 70 yards on 13 carries.

“I don’t know if I ever feel confident, especially when they have a quarterback that has SEC offers. The kid can throw it,” Wallace said. “And that running back committed to App (State). You still gotta stop them.”

The Titans picked up the win and headed back to Clemmons, arriving back about 1 1 a.m.

“A win’s a win, we’ll take it any way we can get it,” Wallace said. “We’ll go back on Monday and correct it. But we’ll take a win anyway. I think our kids really fought, you know, and stayed up during it even though it wasn’t clean. But it turned out to be, it’s a win and that’s all that matters.”

West Forsyth will practice this week and prepare for Friday’s home opener at 7:30 against Oak Grove (1-0) in a battle of second-year coaches at their respective schools. Rob Creason replaced Mark Holcomb, who is now the head coach at Bishop McGuinnness, at Oak Grove.

Oak Grove defeated Southwest Guilford 37-0 Friday night in its opener. West Forsyth defeated Oak Grove 40-29 last year in Midway.

In this past Friday’s win at Southwest Guilford, running back Karson Williams rushed for 105 yards on 11 carries and three touchdowns. Quarterback Grayson Treadway was 8-of-13 passing for 156 yards and two touchdowns. Sam Bennett had 97 yards receiving on three catches.

The Grizzlies outgained the Cowboys 345-71.

“At least (we have) an understanding of what they’re trying to do,” Wallace said. “And now they’ve got to come to The Village, televised game and all that stuff.”

After Friday’s upcoming game against Oak Grove, West Forsyth will also be home on Sept. 6 against Weddington.

“It’ll be good,” Wallace said. “I mean it’s going to be a good atmosphere. It’ll be nice not having to drive up the mountain.”