Westover vs. West Laurens football preview and Saturday kickoff time

ALBANY — West Laurens has scored 79 points at home this fall. Sixty-six came before halftime.

That’s the split Dublin Courier sports editor Clay Brown found, and it tells Westover something about Saturday night. The Patriots need to make their early possessions count. If they’re still close after halftime, they’ll have a chance against a team that has scored just 13 second-half points at home all season.

No. 17 Westover (7-3) visits No. 16 West Laurens (6-4) at 7 p.m. Saturday in Dexter in the first round of the GHSA Class 4A playoffs. A shortage of officials moved the 4A games to Saturday. The forecast calls for clear skies and temperatures in the mid-40s at kickoff.

West Laurens went 13-1 and reached the state semifinals a year ago. Then it lost about two-thirds of its starters and opened this season 1-3. The Raiders won five of their last six, finishing with a 22-12 victory over Windsor Forest. It was the first game all season in which the full roster was available, Brown said.

The Raiders found their footing by changing how they ran the ball. After a string of bad snaps against Cook, they went from a shotgun option look to the I-formation. That gave leading rusher Justin Blash a chance to run downhill behind two experienced tackles, Troy commit Christian Rozier and Memphis commit Jonathan Toney. Westover will lean on linebacker Jordan Wallace, who has 66 tackles and nine tackles for loss, and Mercer commit William Owens, who has 45 tackles up front.

Westover was 7-1 before losing to Dougherty and then falling 21-18 at Spencer on a Monday night. Coach Corey Joyner said injuries and the emotion of the rivalry game took a toll on the short turnaround. Against West Laurens, there’s little room to give away a possession. The Raiders are plus-seven in turnover margin, according to Brown.

That makes one number in Gabriel Hopper’s passing line stand out. The Westover quarterback has thrown one interception in 141 attempts, along with 12 touchdown passes. Mikhail Simmons averages nearly 23 yards a catch, Jordan Joyner has 29 receptions, and Malik Young and Michael Daniels have combined for 1,001 rushing yards.

Corey Joyner’s concern is what happens at the end of those drives. The Patriots have had trouble scoring consistently, he said. With the season on the line, he put it plainly.

“We must score.”