Western High School football player Mason Gillespie celebrates after scoring a touchdown Friday night against Northwest. Photo by Jeff Steers, JTV Sports.
By Jeff Steers
JTV Sports
Only on Friday the 13th can two high school football teams each claim to play home games on the same night.
It happened in the rivalry contest between Western and Northwest high schools on Friday night.
Just seconds in to the second half an electrical issue caused the power to go out a Western’s football field. Following 25 minutes of darkness, the two sides agreed to move the game to Northwest’s new turf field for the remainder of the second half.
Western won the game 43-6, but Mountie fans enjoyed a glimpse of the redone stadium with a turf field, new lighting, and other amenities. The official opening for the varsity football team at NW is scheduled for Friday against Lumen Christi Catholic High School.
Western improves to 2-1 on the season, 1-1 in the Interstate-8 Conference, while the Mounties are 1-2 overall, 1-2 in the conference.
The sharp passing attack of Tyler Pape in the first half set the tone of the Panthers. Pape was 13-for-16 for more than 200 yards and four touchdowns as Western built a 29-6 halftime lead.
Western receiver/safety Landon French caught three touchdowns on the night.
“My coach challenged me to do what I was capable of,” French said. “We knew that Northwest would be pumped up and would being a lot of energy in the second half.”
French silenced the crowd on the first play at Northwest’s field. After nearly a two-hour delay between the first and second halves, the junior caught a slant pass over the middle and outran the coverage for a 60-yard touchdown.
“Coach asked me if I was ready for a slant route and I saw a wide open lane,” French said.
The score put the game out of reach for Western.
French and Mason Gillespie caught two touchdowns apiece in the first half for Western. Pape finished the first half with 236 passing yards.
His only mistake of the night came on a pick-six by Joe Isham of Northwest. He intercepted a pass near the sidelines and returned it 80 yards for a score. At that point, the Panthers led 7-6. Twenty-points in the second quarter would doom the Mounties.
Pape finished the night 17-for-21 for 351 yards, five touchdown passes, and one rushing score.
French caught five of those passes for 144 yards, Gillespie finished with four catches for 77 yards and two scores, and James Bloomfield finished with four catches for 105 yards.
Landon Raczkowski rushed for 70 yards for the Panthers and Bloomfield tallied 64 yards in the win.
Defensively, Bode Brown made six tackles including two for losses, Raczkowski made seven stops, and Wyatt Heavy made five tackles with one sack.
The Western defense held the Mounties to 155 total yards offensively.
Northwest quarterback Isaiah Grybauskas threw for 77 passing yards for the night.
Anthony Cole made five tackles and Bayler Keirns had three tackles – all for losses.
Northwest will host Lumen Christi next Friday for a 7 p.m. kickoff, while Western will travel to Harper Creek for an I-8 game beginning at 7 p.m.
