Westover stands strong, beats Northside-Columbus

ALBANY — A pair of late defensive stands allowed Westover to hang on for a 21-16 victory Friday over Northside-Columbus in a GHSA Region 1-4A football game at Hugh Mills Stadium.

A forced fumble and a turnover on downs following three incompletions and a sack enabled Westover (2-2, 1-1 region) to beat Northside (2-2, 1-2), a team that qualified for the postseason last year.

Northside had two possessions on the Westover side of the field in the final five minutes. Both times, Westover’s defense shut down the scoring threat.

“We knew what was on the line, we knew what was at stake,” Westover linebacker Jamie Pettway said. “The offense was playing a little down, so we had to pick them up on the defensive side.”

The visitors had the ball at the Westover 45 with 4:45 to go. A couple of plays later, Deshawn Owens came up with a recovery of a Northside fumble.

Westover needed a couple of first downs to run out the clock, but a bad shotgun snap led to a third-and-26 situation. After Westover picked up a few yards on third down, a short punt gave Northside the ball at the Westover 35 with 1:52 to go.

The short field was an unfavorable situation for Westover, but the defense stepped up. Will Jones came up with a second-down sack that cost Northside 5 yards, and a penalty made it a third-and-20 situation. Two more incompletions, including a fourth-down pass play in which the receiver was just out of bounds, followed.

Westover ran out the final 41 seconds unchallenged.

“We expect that out of our defense,” Westover head coach Olten Downs said. “Of our starters, we have nine seniors on that defense. We have a lot of ability, and we’re trying to get them to play at a very high level, trying to get them to play fast and physical.

“Last week (in a loss at Columbus High), we didn’t play up to our potential. This week, they stepped up to the call. It was good to see these guys respond.”

The Westover defense came up with a big play in the first half, as well, with Pettway taking an interception 25 yards for a touchdown with 9:41 to go in the second quarter to put Westover up 21-7.

All of Westover’s scoring took place in the first half. Johnuel Hicks broke open a 50-yard touchdown run late in the first quarter, while Cameron Hopkins completed a 9-yard scoring pass to Jordin Williams less than two minutes into the second quarter

Northside opened scoring midway through the first quarter on a 4-yard run by Fred Davis. A minute into the third quarter, Northside scored on Jadin Daniels’ 1-yard run set up by a muffed kickoff.