Joseph Eigo is an ASU Cronkite School of Journalism student assigned to cover Westwood High School for AZPreps365.com 

 

MESA– With its sights set on winning the 6A East Valley region, Westwood chose trick over treat this Halloween weekend. On Friday the Warriors dipped into their bag of tricks against Skyline High School en route to their fourth consecutive victory. 

The magnitude of the 46-0 rout was quite common for these Warriors, as they have not had a margin of victory smaller than 22 points since their 42-7 loss to Red Mountain on September 24th. As for the Skyline Coyotes, this was their seventh loss in eight games. 

“We’ve talked about winning the region all year long,” said Warrior coach Kyle Ide. “So we just said that was kinda one step. It got a little chippy over there at the end and I was just trying to tell our kids that we don’t need to get chippy, we need to let our play do the talking and let the scoreboard do the talking.” 

The Warriors burst out flying on both sides of the ball, starting the game with a leaping 40-yard reception to wide receiver Korwyn Brantley-Ellis. He'd finish the drive by grabbing a nine-yard touchdown throw, the first of his three touchdown catches on the night.

The Westwood defense continued its streak of dominance in Friday’s game. First-half interceptions by safety Ross Driggs--on a heave from Skyline quarterback Hector Dominguez—and by defensive back Fred Banks set the Warriors up for success in the first half. After two fumble recoveries in the second half, Westwood’s defense finished with four total turnovers. 

“The defense is stepping up,” said coach Ide of a unit that has allowed only seven points total in its last three contests. “We’re getting a lot of turnovers for sure. We still have some issues that we need to fix but we’re definitely turning the ball over a lot which is nice to see.” 

While Banks took care of business on the defensive side, he also partook of the action on the offensive side. Playing quarterback, Banks delivered a trick that was also a treat for a 38-yard touchdown. The play began as a double reverse that was nearly broken up in the backfield when transfer from running back Ryan Willis took a big hit while returning the ball to the passer. Banks was able tor retrieve it, then fired a beautiful heave to Brantley-Ellis for the score. According to Banks, the play had been drawn up earlier in the week. 

“We just made that in practice,” said Banks. “Just put it together, but it worked.” 

Willis notched two first-half touchdowns. On the second of his two scores, Willis broke off a gorgeous 23-yard dash, going untouched through a gaping hole en route to the endzone. Willis would add two more to that total, finishing with four touchdowns on the evening. 

“It’s going good honestly, we're trying to win out,” said Willis postgame. “We’ve got momentum on our side and we're just gonna keep going.” 

On the first Willis touchdown, Westwood dipped in its bag of tricks on the two-point attempt. The formation consisted of what appeared to be eight guys lined up all the way to the left, the center on the ball, quarterback Gavin Letourneau in the shotgun, and a lone receiver out wide right. NFL fans may remember a similar type formation run by the Indianapolis Colts against the New England Patriots on a Sunday Night Football game a few years back.  

Unfortunately for the Warriors, the two-point attempt was no good. 

Westwood led 33-0 at halftime.

A fumble recovery by the Warriors in the first minute of the second half set up Westwood deep in Coyote territory, where Willis notched his third touchdown of the night to make it 40-0. Willis would cash in for his fourth and final touchdown of the evening  in the fourth quarter. 

Westwood has two games remaining in the regular season before it looks ahead to the playoffs. The Warriors' final two games of the season will both be at home, the first of which will come on November 5th against Corona del Sol.