The Warriors picked up right where they left off last week beating the Grand Island Islanders in another blowout, 45-0.
“It took a while to get the juices flowing,” coach Limongi said. “But once we did we started hitting on all cylinders and were able to pull away.”
The Warriors were led by senior quarterback Anthony Rezac, who had 249 yards and two touchdowns passing and added 58 yards and two touchdowns rushing. Senior running back Jahmez Ross had 94 rushing yards and two touchdowns, making his season total five. Senior Caleb Benning led the team in receiving with 112 yards and one touchdown on 16 receptions.
‘’The game really slowed down,” Rezac said. “I think we had a great week of preparation leading up to it, great play calling, everyone on offense did their job, and it makes it really out there for me.”
The Westside defense was the star of the game allowing only 114 total yards throughout the entire game. Senior defensive lineman Jackson Wing explained what worked so well for the Warriors defense.
“It was tough cause we had a tough first start,” Wing said. “Then it started rolling after that, our defense started shutting them down and we started getting in a rhythm.
Westside started the game out on fire, forcing a quick three and out taking full advantage, striking in three minutes on a 24-yard Rezac scramble. The Warriors got the ball back quickly, scoring on a seven yard Keynan Cotton reception giving the Warriors a 13-0 lead after quarter one. Midway through the second quarter, Rezac completed a 45 yard pass to Trevor Spady, setting up a six yard touchdown rush by Ross.
After a methodical drive by the Warriors with chunk plays to Spady and Christian Jones, Ross scores his fifth touchdown of the year on a four yard run. The Warriors continued their stout defense, getting the ball back nearing the end of the half to add seven more on a 27 yard reception by Caleb Benning. The Warriors made up for an early missed PAT on a Benning two-point conversion, taking a 35-0 shutout into the locker room.
In the second half of the game the running clock allowed the scoring to slow way down, with only one score in the third quarter on another Anthony Rezac touchdown rush. The Warriors final points came early in the fourth via a Will Bauerly 38 yard field goal. The Westside defense continued battling hard all half to keep forcing Grand Island’s offense to struggle.
Wing explained that the offensive and defensive line has to stay healthy and keep building brotherhood to push through the tough times in the season.
“So we got to start the game off fast and get off the ball, and really just give them a good punch and good on our tracks and roll,” Wing said. “We got to keep ourselves healthy, keep our o-line going, we also got to keep building that brotherhood so we can push through these tough times.”
The Warriors head to Bellevue West on Sept. 8. This week, the Thunderbirds will come into the game 2-1 after dropping their second game to Omaha North 25-7. Bellevue West was ranked number two coming into the season, so the Warriors will have no easy task.
