2011 Season

Football: West earns first playoff win

Wolverines become first Forsyth County team to win postseason game in Class AAAAA

November 15, 2011

By Phil Ervin

West Forsyth’s Jake Wieczorek tries to break a tackle by Etowah’s Michael McCauley in the first round of the Class AAAAA playoffs on Friday at The Den.
Jared Putnam

West Forsyth running back Blake Roberts breaks a tackle and stumbles backwards for extra yardage against Etowah on Friday at The Den.
Jared Putnam

With stagnant offense and fourth-quarter controversy threatening to tear school history from West Forsyth’s grasp, the Wolverines’ defense passed the last of many tests.

Mohamed Camara and Josh Gordon brought down Etowah’s Devonte Wheaton inside West’s 10-yard line on the final play of Friday night’s first-round playoff game at The Den, preserving a 13-7 victory. Wheaton had snared a last-second heave from quarterback John Oliver.

In front of a chilled but vocal home crowd, the Wolverines captured the school’s first postseason victory and became the only Forsyth County team to win a AAAAA playoff game.

“It feels amazing that me and my teammates get to be a part of this,” Camara said. “We want to keep on going as far as we can.

“We’re not just doing this for us; we’re doing it for everyone in Forsyth County because no one really respects our football around here.”

West (10-1) will travel to undefeated Hillgrove (11-0) Friday for the round-of-16 game. The Region 4 champs, led by star running back Kenyan Drake, blew out Beach 49-12 Friday.

“It means a lot,” Coach Frank Hepler said. “It’s just a great feeling that these kids accomplished that first victory after all the hard work they’ve put in. … It just makes you say ‘gosh, maybe we’re doing the right things.’”

Much like West and Etowah’s first meeting this season, a 21-13 West win Sept. 9, the Wolverines came out on top of a defensive struggle lacking in aesthetics but not short on drama.

West stopped Etowah (6-5) three-and-out three times, forced two turnovers on downs and recovered two fumbles. Quarterback John Oliver, who’d been attempting just 12 passes per game coming in, completed 11 of 24 throws for 139 yards but often found safety Trevor Guthrie, cornerback Jon Crawford and others swatting away deep passes.

Etowah outgained the Wolverines 229 yards to 165. Close to a third of West’s production came on its only substantial scoring drive, a 64-yarder capped by running back Blake Roberts’ 2-yard touchdown dive in the second quarter.

The Wolverines led 13-0 until Wheaton’s 21-yard touchdown run with 38 seconds left in the third quarter. Wheaton, who’d been quiet in the Eagles’ previous couple contests, rushed for 81 yards on 21 carries.

West’s oft-explosive offense didn’t move past the Eagle 44 again until early in the fourth. A trick pass from Jake Wieczorek to fellow wingback Lance Belue went for 33 yards — the Wolverines’ longest play of the night — and set up West two yards inside the red zone.

Facing fourth-and-4, quarterback A.J. Erdely rolled right and found a diving Jake Wieczorek for seven yards over the middle. Initially ruled a catch, the officials overturned the play and awarded Etowah possession, befuddling West’s players, who had lined up for the next snap after the chains were moved forward.

It wasn’t the first call the Wolverines would contest.

Defensive lineman Josh Davis recovered a fumble on the ensuing possession, but West was forced to punt.

After Graham Bunting pinned Etowah inside its own 2-yard line with 4:36 to go, Oliver lofted a 26-yard pass down the left sideline to receiver Martyn Detz.

Etowah followed with a third-down conversion and two successful fourth-and-short rushes, and Oliver found Detz again, this time on a 10-yard out the receiver caught falling towards the Wolverines’ sideline with 32.2 seconds on the clock.

Both of Detz’s feet appeared to be out of bounds, but the pass was ruled complete. That sent West’s bench into a frenzy, drawing an unsportsmanlike conduct penalty that moved the ball to the Wolverines’ 25.

“Some of the guys were losing it,” Camara said, “but all the leaders on the defense got together and was like ‘you guys, we’re not going to let you go out like this.’”

Back-to-back holding and false start penalties pushed the Eagles back to West’s 48 before Camara and Gordon pulled down Wheaton, who twisted away from them initially after out-jumping Gordon for the ball.

“We had some adversity there through the second half, some things that went against us,” Hepler said. “I was really glad to see them step up and not give in and put their heads down.”

Erdely completed just five passes for 38 yards and threw an interception, but led West with 50 yards rushing. He scampered 12 yards to set up Jake Wieczorek’s 6-yard touchdown run with eight minutes left in the first quarter.

West had been forced to punt on its first possession, but Trevor Guthrie poked the ball loose from returner Michael McCauley and recovered at Etowah’s 20.

Frequent penetration from a rogue Eagles defensive front held Roberts in check, prevented Wieczorek from breaking away and constantly harassed Erdely.

Roberts and Wieczorek combined for 48 yards rushing, and most of Erdely’s yards came on scrambles after the pocket broke down.

“[Our defense] won the game for us,” Erdely said. “Different parts of our game have to step up certain weeks and they stepped up tonight.”

Etowah abandoned its reputation as a hard-nosed power running team.

Of the Eagles’ 54 offensive plays, only 23 appeared to be designed runs. Coach Bill Stewart’s primary goal was to challenge West’s discipline with long play-action passes and receiver screens.

“With all the film that we’ve watched, they’ve opened their playbook more,” Camara said. “Our coaches get us ready for anything. They drop back and throw; we’ll be ready for it. Anything else, we’ll be ready for it.”

Detz’s four catches for 71 yards led the Eagles.

Guthrie nearly intercepted two fourth-down lob passes in the first and second quarters after Etowah drove into Wolverines territory, highlighting a solid night for the secondary despite the absence of a starting cornerback.

Senior Conner Moore sat out with an ankle injury. Jacob Hill and Crawford, who usually rotate opposite Moore, both started at the position.

“We rose to the occasion,” Guthrie said. “We played our guts out the whole game. … We knew how big this was.”

Cumming Patch:Football Preview

Centennial no match for Wieczorek, West

Wingback scores 4 touchdowns on 8 touches

September 26, 2011

By Phil Ervin

West Forsyth quarterback A.J. Erdely dodges Centennial’s Paul Adediran on the first play of the game Friday night at The Den. Erdely threw for 212 yards and four touchdowns.

Jared Putnam

Jake Wieczorek made up for lost time Friday night.

After missing West Forsyth’s last two games with a hand injury, the junior wing back totaled 223 yards of offense and scored four touchdowns on just eight touches in the Wolverines’ 70-20 victory over Centennial at The Den.

In a game that was decided by halftime, Wieczorek (101 yards receiving on 4 catches, 122 yards rushing on four carries) highlighted an offensive effort that produced touchdowns on 10 of 11 possessions. Quarterback A.J. Erdely threw for four scores, and his favorite target on the night produced more first-half yards than the entire Knights offense.

“He was [disappointed to miss games] big-time, but he’s in full swing [now],” Erdely said of Wieczorek. “As you can tell, he’s been working hard even with his hurt hand.”

Erdely (9-of-11, 212 yards passing) also hit back Lance Belue and tight end Ty Anderson for touchdown passes. Running back Blake Roberts (75 yards on 8 carries) added two rushing scores for West (5-0, 1-0 Region 6-AAAAA).

“Obviously the point total’s nice,” Wolverines coach Frank Hepler said. “We saw some things that we’ve been working on come through … I’m just pleased with how [my players] want to get better. … The old Knute Rockne speeches aren’t really needed for these guys. They’re a self-motivated group.”

West’s defense never allowed Centennial (1-4, 0-1) to get into a rhythm. Quarterback Jimmy Meyer completed seven passes to Christian Robinson for 129 yards and a touchdown, but a couple turnovers and the Wolverines’ ability to score at will made the Knights’ playmakers a non-factor.

Running back Zietrick Smith, Centennials’ No. 1 rushing threat, tallied 44 yards on 12 carries. The Knights were without the services of NCAA Division I recruit Wade Francis, a wide receiver.

“You look at the college game when you’re high school coaches, just like the college guys kind of look at the pro game,” Hepler said. “You look at Oregon, you look at Boise State, you look at the teams that we try to model after a little bit … if you come out and play high tempo and put pressure on other teams, that intimidates teams sometimes.”

The Wolverines didn’t wait long to set the tone.

Erdely found Tanner Bridges (3 catches, 68 yards) for a 39-yard strike on West’s second play from scrimmage, setting up a seven-yard touchdown pass to Anderson.

Safety Hunter Belue recovered a Robinson fumble at the Knights’ 32-yard line on Centennial’s next possession.

Wieczorek then preluded his first touchdown with a 22-yard trot around left end. His 10-yard rush off right tackle the next play made it 14-0 with 4:27 left in the first.

Smith capped a 10-play, 51-yard drive with a two-yard touchdown run to bring Centennial within 14-6. Aided by a couple blown coverages, Centennial converted twice on fourth down and once on third during the drive.

Those moments were the only rough ones for West.

“With that point total and a big win, you think ‘How could you be unhappy?’” Hepler said.

“But I saw some things that we need to work on.”

Wieczorek quickly answered, following lead blocker Roberts around left end for a 76-yard scoring trot on the second play of the second quarter.

The Wolverines defense forced a punt, and Conner Moore returned it to the Knights’ 31-yard line. Roberts needed just one play to zigzag through Centennial’s defense for his first rushing touchdown of the night and boost the lead to 28-6.

The Knights then turned the ball over on downs, and Erdely hit Wieczorek on a curl route to convert on third-and-11 from the West 43. Wieczorek made the catch just past the first-down marker, but split two defenders and sprinted 56 yards.

Roberts rumbled in on the next play to make it 35-6 with three minutes left in the second — a comfortable halftime lead, but not one the Wolverines were content with.

Linebacker Mohamed Camara later jumped a pass intended for Robinson and returned the interception to the Knights’ 34.

As he did on most of his completions, Erdely scrambled to avoid the rush and lofted an easy 19-yard toss to Wieczorek in the end zone with 41 seconds left in the half.

That play put Wieczorek at 183 total yards for the first half. Centennial, by comparison, gained 126 yards of offense during the first two periods.

West needed 17 plays to gain its 42-6 halftime advantage. Centennial ran 39.

“Tonight we were crisp,” Wieczorek said.

Erdely’s 15-yard touchdown pass to Wieczorek on a corner route all but sealed it early in the third quarter. It was the fourth and final scoring play for Wieczorek, who injured a pinky finger during West’s preseason scrimmage against Parkview.

He played through the pain against Harrison and Cherokee to open the year, but West’s coaching staff and trainers asked him to sit against Etowah and Rockmart to ensure his full availability for region play.

With Centennial stuffing the box in hopes of limiting Roberts, outside running and passing lanes were there for Wieczorek’s taking Friday night.

“It feels real good coming back from two games out,” he said. “It was really tough. I just supported my teammates and knew they’d play through it.”

Meyer hit Robinson for a five-yard score on Centennial’s first possession of the second half, but Erdely answered with a 23-yard pass down the right sideline to Belue that made it 56-13 with 7:35 left in the third.

Reserve quarterback Jonathon Kizzar found Anderson for the tight end’s second touchdown on the Wolverines’ next possession, and running back Brian Porter darted off left tackle for another score early in the fourth.

Sandwiched in between those touchdowns was a 26-yard scamper by Knights running back Cyril Teal, but nearly all of West’s starters were watching from the home sideline at that point.

The only possession that didn’t yield points for West was its last, as its junior varsity offense milked the last few moments off the running fourth-quarter clock.

Place kicker Timmy Hartshorn was perfect on all 10 extra points he attempted.

The Wolverines couldn’t have asked for a better start to their region slate, but there’s a long way to go, Hepler said.

“You put the tape from this game aside, and you talk about it at the banquet at the end of the year,” Hepler said. “You’ve got to come back and have that tempo ready to go.”

West travels to Alpharetta (4-1, 1-0) this week. The Raiders won their region opener 40-17 over Northview