Westover edges past Albany High

ALBANY — The Westover Patriots used a late-game scoring surge to defeat Albany High 26-9 Friday night at Hugh Mills Stadium.

The Patriots improved to 1-1 on the season, while the Indians fell to 0-3.

The Indians were forced to put during their opening drive, but an untimely fumble on the return gave them the ball well in Westover territory.

It was Albany High that was given the first big opportunity to score. Their first possession ended with a punt that Westover fumbled away and the Indians recovered at the Westover 25. They’d pound the ball and eventually got a one-yard touchdown from quarterback Jordon Walton. After the missed extra point attempt, the Indians took a 6-0 lead with 5:48 left in the first.

Westover later answered with a 13-yard run by Daveon Sanders and after the unsuccessful PAT, the game was knotted at 6 with 7:35 left in the first half.

The Patriots got another touchdown with time winding down, this time from Jonathon Mock from six yards out. The Patriots struggled with PATs missing yet another, but still went into the halftime break with a 12-6 lead.

The action picked up in the third despite a number of costly penalties from both sides. Westover head coach Octavia Jones said his team cut down on the 25 they had last week but they still need to improve.

“We improved on the number of penalties we had last week, but we still had too many,” he said.

Albany moved the ball down the field and got a 30-yard field goal, cutting the lead to three with 4:01 left in the third. They had also used all of their timeouts at that point, making every possession count. The Indians recovered an onside kick on the very next play but came up empty on the ensuing drive. Jones said he challenged his team to come up with a defensive stop.

“I just told the defense to buckle down and keep them out of the end zone,” he said. “Momentum can swing both ways and when it swings our way, we just have to be ready to capitalize on it.”

Albany head coach Felton Williams said that drive was indicative of where they are at this point in the season. While they’re making strides, they still struggle to put it all together.

“We had momentum, we just had to capitalize on their mistakes and not shoot ourselves in the foot,” he said. “We’re gonna keep working and keep pushing because I saw a lot of bright things tonight, it’s just those negative things at crucial points in the game.”

In the fourth quarter Westover got an interception from Donovan Wright that led to an eventual 37-yard touchdown by Mock. Mock broke free for a 27-yard run that set up an eventual six-yard score by Desmond Childs to put the game on ice after the extra point at 25-9. Jones said the Patriots were able to use the run game to put the game out of reach.

“I think they started to get a little tired so we wanted to wear them down,” he said. “We kind of went up tempo and we started running at them up front.”