Deerfield-Windsor beats Westfield, advances to GIAA championship game

ALBANY — Deerfield-Windsor has played for plenty of high stakes, but Friday night at Webb Memorial Stadium felt different. The Knights, unbeaten and unfazed by pressure, beat Westfield 26-14 before a roaring home crowd and moved one step from something no Deerfield-Windsor team has ever done: win back-to-back state championships.

At 12-0 this season — and now winners of 15 straight games dating back to last year, a school record — the Knights will meet John Milledge Academy next Friday in Macon for the GIAA Class AAA title.

Westfield made them earn it. The Hornets matched Deerfield-Windsor’s physicality, stayed within a score deep into the fourth quarter, and forced the Knights to show the poise expected of defending champions.

The turning point came on a trick play gone wrong. Trailing 26-14 early in the final period, Westfield had the ball and the momentum. A pitch, a stop, a long throw — and there was defensive back Grier Morey, jumping the route and picking it clean. Suddenly, everything swung.

From there, Deerfield-Windsor delivered the kind of drive that wins playoff games. Quarterback Lane Sceals hit senior David Hutchins for a first down, and Cross Mitchell and Turner Simmons pounded the ball between the tackles. A would-be Mitchell touchdown was erased by penalty, but the punishment had been applied. By the time the Knights turned the ball over on downs at the Westfield 4-yard line, only 2:15 remained.

It was exactly the kind of closing sequence head coach Jake McCrae has preached.

“We started and ended the game with seven-minute drives,” McCrae said. “We talk about finishing, and that’s what our kids did tonight. Westfield is as advertised — tough kids who are well coached and love their football. But I couldn’t be prouder of this group and the atmosphere our community created tonight.”

Deerfield-Windsor opened the night with similar authority. The Knights’ first drive covered 76 yards in steady, bruising fashion before Simmons twisted through tacklers for an 18-yard touchdown. Westfield quickly countered with a 24-yard scoring run by quarterback Brock Johnson, but the Knights responded again — this time through the air. A 59-yard strike from Sceals to Hutchins set up a third-and-goal touchdown pass to the senior receiver. Riles Walden’s PAT made it 13-7, the halftime score.

Sceals widened the margin midway through the third quarter with a 21-yard sprint around the left side for a 20-7 lead. Westfield trimmed it to 20-14 on Johnson’s 11-yard run, but Morey’s interception ended the Hornets’ ambitions.

Moments later, Sceals dropped a pass to Brantley Michlig at the Westfield 4. Mitchell hammered in the touchdown that pushed the lead to 26-14. The two-point attempt failed, but the message had been sent.

As the Knights now head to Macon, they carry not only a perfect record but a chip on their collective shoulder — one their coach doesn’t hide.

“It is funny how we can win 15 games in a row against teams with players who have offers,” McCrae said, “and we can’t get a single school to offer any of these kids who are obviously winners and great players. But that is part of what drives them.”

Twelve games this season. Fifteen straight overall. One opportunity left.

Next Friday, Deerfield-Windsor won’t just be playing for a trophy. They’ll be playing to finish a story no Knights team has ever written.