Westfield rolls, sets up showdown with Valwood

PERRY -- The Westfield Hornets took advantage of great field position early and cruised to a 56-30 win over Brookwood on Friday in the GISA Class AAA quarerfinals.

The Hornets (11-1) got three touchdowns from quarterback Ryan Fitzpatrick when the game was still close, and with the win, they set up a home playoff game next weekend against Valwood, which handled the Hornets earlier in the regular season.

"We are all excited to get another chance at Valwood," said Fitzpatrick, who ended the game with 85 yards on the ground. "We know we are a much better football team than we were when we played them before, and playoff football is about playing the best teams. Now that this one is over, we can all focus on Valwood."

Brookwood won the toss and elected to receive, a decision that backfired quickly. Starting from their own 24, they lost 8 yards in three plays and after a 15-yard punt Westfield took over on the Brookwood 31. It took only four plays for Austin Burnette to score from 8 yards out.

Brookwood once again could not move the football, and after another poor punt, the Hornets had to cover only 24 yards to score, with Fitzpatrick taking it in from 5 yards out.

Brookwood's defense played much better for the rest of the half and gave up only 113 yards of total offense in the first half. The only play that seemed to work in the first half was Fitzpatrick keeping the ball and running right up the middle. Westfield added a Griffin Elmore 30-yard field goal in the second quarter to lead 17-0 at the half.

"They were keying on Josh (Jenkins) getting the ball up the middle, so when I pulled it back they didn't expect me to have the ball, Fitzpatrick said. "I usually don't get that many carries, but we really just take what the defense is giving us."

Westfield pushed its lead to 30-0 midway through the third quarter on touchdown runs by Fitzpatrick and Jenkins.

The fourth quarter was a track meet. Bradley Jones scored three times as Brookwood kept fighting, but Westfield answered each time. Fitzpatrick scored once in the quarter, while Jenkins scored twice and Reagan Waller added another score.

Waller led the way with 159 yards on the ground, while Jenkins ended with 119. Westfield piled up 307 yards of rushing in the second half.

This story was originally published November 14, 2015 at 12:15 AM with the headline "Westfield rolls, sets up showdown with Valwood ."