Westfield, Gatewood set for region showdown

Head coach Ronnie Jones is looking to put his Westfield Hornets at the top of the GISA Region 4-AAA standings as they travel to Eatonton to take on the Gatewood Gators on Friday.

The Hornets (5-1, 1-0 Region 4-AAA) are carrying a lot of momentum into the pivotal showdown. Westfield stayed home last week to play region opponent Westminster and cruised to a 52-13 win. Gatewood is also 1-0 in region play and is 6-1 overall.

Jones says he didn’t expect his team to dominate like it did last week, but he isn’t complaining.

“All we had to go by was film,” he said. “We certainly thought that game was going to be more of a challenge, mainly because of that running back (Nyg Eaddy). He got hurt kind of early and didn’t play a whole lot in the second half. Everybody played well. We’re kind of amazed that we could move the ball as well did.”

But that was last week. Jones and his team can’t dwell on the past if they want sit at the top of the standings when the season is over. The focus now is Gatewood, and Jones says he has meticulously prepared his team.

“Well, (Gatewood) runs a lot of option on offense. We’ve been trying to preach assignment football,” Jones said. “If you’re not careful and somebody misses an assignment, it can be a big play for them.”

Jones said controlling the football, especially going on the road, will be key.

“The week before (against Bulloch), we had some turnovers. We turned the ball over twice inside the 10. We can’t have those kind of things. We’re playing in an unfamiliar place. It’s one of the few schools I’ve never been to,” Jones said.

Westfield will have starter Gavin Edmondson back after losing the tight end/inside linebacker to an injury on the first play against Bulloch two weeks ago.

“It’s a very big ballgame. Most of the games left are region games, It’s always our goal to win the region,” Jones said.

This story was originally published October 8, 2015 at 4:43 PM.