Coming into this Friday night, 2A South region matchup, both teams–Patuxent and Westlake–had one thought on their minds, “Win, and we’re in the dance.” Both teams had the same record, and same scenario. For both teams, it was a ‘win and you’re in, lose, and you go home‘ball game.
Patuxent came out after receiving the opening kickoff, and struggled with high snaps all game. Starting quarterback Reese Crounse stands 5’10, and was unable to field the snap. On the first drive alone, there were 3 plays where the snap went over his head, and resulted in either negative yards or no gain on the play. One of those three, he lost to Westlake. Westlake took over on the Panthers’ 45 yard line, and capitalized on the turnover, when quarterback Chad Palmer stepped up in the pocket, shook off a Patuxent defender, and found pay dirt on a 13 yard scramble. The Panthers blocked the point after, but the damage was done. Westlake led 6-0 with 4:56 left in the first quarter.
The next Panther drive didn’t go much better, as two more high snaps went for negative yardage, and a third resulted in a strip sack that Westlake recovered. Patuxent’s defense picked up the slack, and forced Westlake to punt the ball back to the Panthers. They also went three and out, and that was where the first quarter ended, 6-0 Westlake.
Westlake’s offense prides itself on their ability to throw the deep ball, and several times this game, their receivers dropped a deep ball they had in their hands. Two of these events happened on this drive, and they were forced to take another punt. Their drive would have stalled twice, but a roughing the passer call, and an off-sides call extended the Panthers’ drive, which ended in 7 points, as Chris Long punched the ball across from a yard out. This made it 7-6 Panthers.
On the ensuing Westlake possession, they attempted to throw a screen pass, when it was tipped into the air by Juan Watkins, and hauled in by Greg Leonard of Patuxent. However, the offense was forced to punt the ball away as they could get nothing going.
The Panther defense again gave their offense short field, as Tyler Gross picked up an interception on an out route he jumped beautifully. And again, the offense couldn’t muster anything as they were forced to punt. The defense forced a turnover on downs, and out trotted the Patuxent offense with a new quarterback. Jaelen Gross ran out with the offense, and immediately made his presence known with a 15 yard pass down into the Westlake 2 yard line. Chris Long capped off the short drive again with a touchdown run, this time from 2 yards away. This made the score 14-6, and it stayed that way into the half.
Patuxent kicked the ball off to Westlake to start the second half, and forced a Westlake punt. They took over on their own 29 yard line. A miscommunication between Gross and the center resulted in a fumbled snap, as Gross was coming to the line to change something, and the center snapped the ball into the unready gut of Gross. Westlake recovered the fumble, and threw the ball deep twice. Both times, the ball bounced off of a receiver’s hands, and fell incomplete. A short run, and Westlake was forced to punt. They had a decent punt, as it was downed at the Patuxent 10 yard line.
On the first play of the drive, Chris Long picked up no gain, but Gross noticed the safety come into the box pre snap. So, they called the same play again, but instead Gross pulled the ball, and threw a short strike to Jared Massengill, who ran a post route. He ran untouched 90 yards into the end zone to put Patuxent up 21-6 with 6:12 left in the third. Westlake received the ensuing kickoff, and opened their bag of tricks. On the first play, they opened with a screen pass, that quickly turned into a double pass as Jalen Elliott beat his man deep. Elliot rose to catch the ball, but landed awkwardly on his right leg. He hobbled off the field, and didn’t return until late in the fourth quarter.
Westlake continued their drive, but it stalled at the Panther’s 14 yard line as Greg Leonard again made a play on the ball, this time knocking from the receivers grasp on a fourth and 3. The Panthers took over on their own 14 yard line. After a 20 yard pick up on a jet sweep, Chris Long took an inside handoff, cut back to the backside of the play, and was gone. A 64 yard touchdown run put the Panthers up 28-6 with a minute left in the third. Westlake again drove deep into Panther territory, but again stalled as their fourth down pass fell incomplete. Gross ran another draw play, and noticed the safety cheating into the box again. He called the same play as before, but this time sent his tight end Juan Watkins across the middle. Watkins caught the ball, and didn’t look back as he strolled in for a 60 yard touchdown reception. This made it 35-6, with 6:09 left in the game.
For good measure, Patuxent recovered a fumble on the 50, and Tyler Gross took an inside handoff, and used his speed to outrun everyone on his way to a 45 yard touchdown run. This activated the running clock, as the Panthers took the lead 42-6.
When time expired, the Panthers celebrated, but not too much. Their final goal is the state championship in December, this was a merely a step in the right direction.
For Patuxent, Jaelen Gross had 3 completions on 4 attempts for 165 yards, and two touchdowns. Chris Long had 84 rushing yards, and 3 scores. The Panthers improve to 8-2, and clinch a playoff spot. Their opponent will be announced later this week. For Westlake, Chad Palmer finished 18-33 for 217 yards, and also had a rushing score. Kevin McGill was his leading receiver with 7 catches for 102 yards. They drop to 7-3, and will most likely miss the postseason for the second straight season.