Trailing by six points at halftime and struggling to string together good plays, the Westbrook football team knew it needed to clean things up.
Boy, did they.
The Blue Blazes scored all 29 of their points in the second half while forcing three Deering turnovers over the final two quarters, pulling away for a 29-12 win in the regular-season finale.
“In the beginning we weren’t playing as a team. People arguing, receivers not catching balls, myself included,” said Westbrook wideout Aidan Taylor, who caught three touchdown passes in the second half and finished with 142 yards on five catches. “We played their football in the first half and our football in the second half.”
These team could meet again next week at Westbrook in the first round of the Class B South playoffs. Westbrook, 3-5, likely jumped over Deering (4-4) for the four seed with its win Friday. For Westbrook, which has lost three games by six points or less, the win was a step forward.
“What an opportunity for the Blazes. What a cool thing for Westbrook,” Westbrook Coach Sam Johnson said. “At halftime we asked the kids, ‘What do you guys think?’ It wasn’t schematic stuff. It’s week eight, let’s just play.”
Down 12-6 midway through the third quarter, the Blue Blazes took the lead for good when Taylor caught a 68-yard touchdown pass from Giovanni Staples. Taylor broke a pair of tackles on the play to reach the end zone, then Gavin Tanner ran in the 2-point conversion for a 14-12 lead with 4:47 left in the third quarter.
“I never give up on a play. Keep running. If they’re going to tackle me up high and do a bad job, I’m going to do a better job and finish the play,” Taylor said.
Taylor’s first touchdown catch, for 26 yards, just over a minute into the second half tied the game at 6-6. His final one came with 6:24 left in the game and went for 30 yards on a quick slant to push Westbrook’s lead to 29-12.
“They’ve got a stud at wideout, and they put the ball in his hands. They took advantage of us through the air,” Deering Coach Brendan Scully said. “If that’s the draw, if that’s who we play next week, we’ve got some stuff to clean up.”
Deering took a 6-0 lead on the first drive of the game, going 63 yards in 11 plays and scoring on a 4-yard touchdown catch by Pedro Lombi from Tavian Lauture. The Rams had a chance to increase their lead early in the second quarter when they had first and goal at the 6, but back to back sacks by David Mbuyamba and Camillo Jones on third and fourth down kept Deering out of the end zone.
“We’re getting better. We’ve just got to be consistent for the whole game,” Scully said.
Down 14-12 in the second half, Deering had three consecutive drives end with an interception. Westbrook converted two of the turnovers into touchdowns. Tanner’s 4-yard touchdown run with 9:26 to play, combined with Taylor’s 2-point catch from Staples, gave the Blazes a 22-12 lead.
Staples threw for 221 yards, while Caleb Reid had a pair of interceptions for Westbrook.
Joey Foley ran for 146 yards on 30 carries for the Rams, and scored on a 10-yard run with 6:44 left in the third quarter to give the Rams a 12-6 lead.
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