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Schools

West Advances With Dominating Win Over Jennings

West gets rematch with Borgia in Class 4 sectional

ST. CHARLES – The football team wanted another crack at the team than handed the Warriors their only loss of the year.

They got it.

Following a dominating 29-6 win over Jennings Wednesday night in a Class 4 regional playoff game at West, the Warriors will play at St. Francis Borgia Monday night.

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“They got so lucky,” said West senior running back Austin Rugraff said of Borgia’s 28-21 victory on Oct. 14. “They had four tipped balls. But now we got everybody healthy and everybody back. We know what we’ve got to do. We’re ready.”

Borgia beat in a 42-7 victory. Borgia (11-0) is also the only team to hand West a defeat this season and the Warriors are hungry for payback.

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“But that’s not our final goal,” West coach Gary Strauss said. “That’s just one step on the ladder for our final goal of getting to the (Edward Jones) Dome. We’ve got to get through them first.”

West (10-1) had its wishbone offense running well Wednesday night – scoring on its first possession of each half.

“That just gave us the momentum in each half,” said Rugraff, who scored three times while rushing for 70 yards on 15 carries. West had 315 yards of total offense, led by Marcus Taylor’s 87 rushing yards on 14 carries. Auggie Loschen had 64 yards on six carries – 50 yards coming on two rush attempts late in the fourth quarter.

Taylor returned a short opening kickoff 34 yards to the Jennings 46. Eight plays later, it was Rugraff plunging it in from 2 yards out.

“It was nice to get that first touchdown out of the way,” Strauss said.

The West defense forced a three-and-out as Jennings lost 10 yards on the series. With the ball at its own 10 and facing a fourth-and-20, Jennings called a fake punt. Raheim Holloway was stopped after only 6 yards to give West great field position.

“That’s who you’ve got to key on,” Jennings coach Ryan Wallace said of Holloway. “We have two or three other really good runners who were a little banged up, so we put the ball in Holloway’s hands. (West) did a really good job of stopping him.”

The Jennings defense held and forced a 34-yard field goal attempt, which was missed wide by the usually sure-footed Ryan McCrum. But Jennings coughed the ball up on the very next play and West was again set up inside the red zone.

The Jennings defense did its job again and McCrum was short on a 37-yard field goal attempt.

“We should’ve had a couple more (touchdowns). Our offense sputtered,” Strauss said. “But give (Jennings) credit. They changed up a couple things.”

When Jennings (8-3) got the ball back, JHS attempted the game’s first pass and quarterback Ezra Brooks overthrew a wide-open Holloway. Two plays later, on a fourth-and-16, Jennings punter Jeremy Greenwood was tackled in the end zone for a safety by West’s Ryan Rockow after the snap sailed over Greenwood’s head.

“That safety was big because it gave us a two-score lead,” Strauss said.

Jennings had just four yards of total offense at halftime, but its defense kept the game close despite being backed up inside its own red zone twice. With just 83 combined yards of total offense, it wasn’t exactly a first half full of offensive prowess.

“Our guys really take pride in playing defense,” Strauss said. “Every week, you see teams scoring 40, 50, 60 points and we take pride in the fact that we’re not giving up that many points. We’ve got guys who really enjoy flying around and hitting people.”

Jennings had better luck moving the ball on the opening possession of the second half, but still had to punt as the drive stalled just inside West territory. West took the ensuing possession and march 81 yards on nine plays to increase its lead with a 1-yard Rugraff dive. Rugraff provided the big play of the drive with a 34-yard scamper down the right sideline. The other big play was a 20-yard pass from Kyle Anders to Tyler Hanneke.

“We knew we could move the ball against them and that they go hard one play, soft the next,” Rugraff said. “We went hard every play.”

Anders threw just three passes and none of them hit the ground. Anders did finish with 32 rushing yards on eight carries. He was intercepted by Jennings’ Gerrod Williams in the second quarter and then was helped out by DaShon Green-Moore in the fourth quarter. Green-Moore tipped the ball away from the Jennings defender and then juggled it for a 28-yard gain to the Jennings 8. Taylor took it in from there as West took a commanding 23-0 lead with 10:02 remaining.

“I just got after the ball,” Green-Moore said of his catch. “I kept my concentration on the ball. I try to tell Coach (Strauss) to throw the ball as much as we can, but then I just try to do my part.”

Neither team threw the ball much. Jennings attempted seven passes with three completions – all of them to Holloway for 9 yards – and an interception. Jennings finished with 137 yards of total offense and turned the ball over three times.

“We had a good offense all year, but it was really evident that their defense came to play,” Wallace said. “It was guys on the backside flying in and hustling to the ball. If the first few guys didn’t get us, they had back-side help.

“They did a hell of a job pursuing and it was apparent that those guys lift more weights than we do. They got us on the line of scrimmage and out-hustled us.”

Following the Taylor touchdown, West ran roughshod over a dejected Jennings squad in the fourth quarter. Rugraff added his third touchdown of the game with 3:25 remaining.

“We broke them in the fourth quarter and that’s what we needed,” Rugraff said. “That’s exactly what we came out to do. Sooner or later, we knew they were going to break.”

Jennings added a late 1-yard Ryan Lindsey touchdown against the West backups. Lindsey picked up 70 yards on three carries on the scoring drive and finished with six carries for a team-high 77 yards.

CLASS 4 REGIONAL

ST. CHARLES WEST 29, JENNINGS 6

Scoring

First Quarter

SCW – Austin Rugraff 2-yard run (Ryan McCrum kick) 8:07

Second Quarter

SCW – Ryan Rockow tackles Jeremy Greenwood in the end zone for a safety (5:54)

Third Quarter

SCW – Rugraff 1-yard run (McCrum kick) 2:00

Fourth Quarter

SCW – Marcus Taylor 8-yard run (McCrum kick) 10:02

SCW – Rugraff 1-yard run (Kick blocked) 3:25

J – Ryan Lindsey 1-yard run (Run failed) 2:18

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