WESTFIELD - Turnovers and a heavy dose of Allegany-Limestone's ground game proved to be too much for the Westfield Wolverines as the Gators rushed for 313 yards as a team to down Westfield 34-6 in the opening week of Class C high school football action.
"Offensively we were picking up good chunks of yardage, but could not sustain a drive whether that is because of turnovers or something else," Westfield coach Bob North said. "We were just getting beat at the line of scrimmage on both sides of the ball and could not stop the run."
Westfield may have had trouble hanging on to the ball, but it was Allegany-Limestone which fumbled the ball on its opening drive deep in its own end.
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OBSERVER?Photo by Roger Coda
Westfield’s Mike Okerland (12) runs for a first down during Friday’s non-league high school football game against Allegany-Limestone.
A holding penalty and a loss of yardage set the Wolverines up with a third-and-25, but a strike from quarterback Dylan MacCubbin to Jon Coe kept the drive alive.
With a third-and-goal the Wolverines coughed up the football setting the Gators up with a long field.
Allegany-Limestone was able to advance near midfield, but once again coughed up the football which led to Westfield's only score of the game.
The 47-yard scoring drive was highlighted by a 35-yard screen to Cameron Wright, but the score came on a catch by Coe.
Faced with a fourth-and-19, MacCubbin scrambled around to keep the play alive before he threw up a bomb to find Coe in the back of the end zone.
The extra-point attempt failed, leaving the score at 6-0 in favor of the home team.
The Wolverines continued to play well into the second quarter until MacCubbin threw an interception deep in Westfield's end.
This was a major turning point in the game because MacCubbin was injured on the play.
"I'm still a little concerned about him," North said after the game. "When he is out there, Dylan runs the show, so to throw a sophomore out there was tough."
The Gators took advantage of the turnover as they pounded the ball 15 yards to score, with Trevor Barber capping the drive off with a four-yard score.
Allegany-Limestone converted the two-point try to take a 8-6 lead with 8:19 left in the first half.
With sophomore Nolan Hunt under center, the Wolverines had a quick three-and-out which led to another Gator possession in Westfield territory.
The Gators made quick work of the short field to score on a 25-yard run by Barber. Allegany-Limestone failed on the two-point try, but held a 14-6 lead with 4:27 left in the second quarter.
On Westfield's ensuing possession, MacCubbin returned to the game despite being hobbled two series earlier.
The Wolverines tried to put together a scoring drive before halftime, but with seconds before the half an interception in the end zone ended the drive.
"We are not deep at any position," North said. "In the first half I used all three timeouts for personnel reasons. Whether we had some guys who needed a breather or were a little banged up we are going to have to either get in better shape or find some guys to step up."
The Gators continued to pound the ball in the second half and pile on the points, while Westfield struggled to find a solution.
Midway through the third quarter, Allegany's Todd Mason scored on a 33-yard sweep, coupled with a successful two-point conversion to make it 22-6.
Another Westfield turnover led to a quarterback sneak from Kyle Stover to make it 28-6.
The Gators capped off the scoring in the fourth quarter with a one-yard touchdown from Lucian Grecco.
Barber led the all rushers with 133 yards on 15 carries for two touchdowns.
For the Wolverines, Coe came down with two catches for 49 yards and a score while Dan Ferguson led all Wolverine rushers with 39 yards on nine carries.
"I thought that Dan ran the ball hard," North said. "I also thought that Coe came up with a couple of big catches."
MacCubbin finished 8-15 128 yards with one touchdown and two interceptions.
There is no rest for Westfield as they will travel next weekend to take on Southwestern.
