PREP FOOTBALL: Taking charge from the start

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WESTVILLE — From the start of Saturday’s IHSA Class 2A first round game, the Westville football team made the most of its senior weapons.

Landon Coon got things started with a kickoff return and the Tigers (10-0) would go on from there to get a 49-6 win over Shelbyville.

“We came out here and knew that we could return one on them,” Coon said. “We had great blocks from our line and we did our things right.”

“That was a big shot to the arm,” Westville coach Guy Goodlove said. “The kids got a lot of confidence when he returned it. It was a squib kick that he picked it up and we made blocks and it got things going for us.”

While the Rams did score in their first drive to close the score to 7-6, the Tigers continued to wear them down and build the lead.

“We had a brain cramp in a formation that we only saw one time, but coach (Devin) Gay made some nice adjustment and we shut it down,” Goodlove said. “I thought our kids did a nice job adjusting to those formations and really did a nice job when they go in motion. During the week, we had a day scheduled to go half defense and half offense and we spent three-quarters on it on defense. There was a lot to prepare for but our players and coaches did a good job.”

For most of the first half, the running game was Westville’s success with Jack Ajster running for two scores, Easton Barney rushing for a 29-yard run and two touchdown passes from Easton Bolin to Coon to get a 42-6 halftime lead.

“It was a lot, they loaded the box pretty well and I feel like our guys communicated real well to get the job done,” senior Ethan Miller said. “It was a hard-fought game in the trenches that we won because of communication.”

“Going into this week, we saw a lot of their film and we saw that their corners weren’t their strong suit,” Coon said. “We had a lot of confidence that I could beat them and I think we proved that today.”

“Coach (Dylan) Allen and Coach (Brayden) Weaver does a great job in helping spread the ball around,” Goodlove said. “As long as our offensive line does well, good things happen for everyone. Jack Ajster made some plays, Lincoln Cravens ran hard and Landon Coon made some good catches, but you can’t say enough about the offensive line and Easton Barney at that wing. They do a great job at the Wing-T.”

The first half was plagued by penalties from both teams, including a few that came out after a play was done.

“We had too many penalties and that is something we fought all season long and we have to figure it out,” Goodlove said. “We will keep talking about it and working on it in practice. Some weeks, we hadn’t had penalties at all and other weeks, we had several. Next week, we have a good opponent coming in and you don’t want to shoot yourself in the foot when you get a silly penalty and stalls the drive out. Because there are going to be teams that you are going to find hard to stop defensively.”

In the second half, the Tigers cut down on the penalties and Bolin scored on a one-yard run for the final score of the game.

Barney was successful on defense as well … being one of the seniors that were able to win their first playoff game.

“Defensively, Easton Barney was all over the field. He made plays everywhere and he was fantastic,” Goodlove said. “These guys hadn’t won a playoff game in their high school careers, so it was really important that they got their win. It gets the monkey of their back and we live to play for next week.”

“The win is special because we hadn’t won a playoff game in high school yet,” Miller said. “So this meant a lot to us to get the win at home.”

The Tiger seniors will try to get another home playoff win on Saturday, when Westville will host DuQuoin at 2 p.m. The Indians are 9-1 and are coming off a 48-21 win over Carlinville.

“We know they have a good quarterback and offensive line,” Miller said. “We just have to see a lot of film and know what they do.”

“I have seen some film on them. They have a good quarterback and they have a receiver that is a quick kid and we will have to watch out for him,” Goodlove said. “Coach Gay said that we have to do our best job of preparing this week for the best team we will see this season. We get another chance to play and live another week. I have been around long enough to know that this doesn’t happen every year, so appreciate it as much as you can.”

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