Westside put another chapter into the long rivalry between them and Creighton Prep. Westside continued their recent dominance against the Jays as they won in another blowout 47-7. The game played at Omaha Northwest was the game to watch if you like running the football. The winds were whipping between 20-30 mph at kickoff so it was going to be pure smash mouth football and it did not disappoint.
The Westside defense started by forcing a stop. Then it was all running back Tay Tay Jenkins who is a Prep transfer and was looking to get revenge against his former school. He got all three carries on Westside’s first drive including a 20 yard touchdown run to begin the scoring for Westside. The rest of the first quarter was a slogfest in which no points were scored and punts were the main story of the quarter. But like last week, the second quarter was when the scoring really began. On the first play Jenkins ran it in for his second touchdown of the half. “I put in the work day in and day out,” Jenkins said “The whole team did during the offseason and we push everyone to work hard.”
Right after that on the Junior Jays next drive they drove to midfield then threw a pass that was picked off and returned the other way for a pick six by Charli Di Lorenzo to give Westside a three score lead. The Westside defense kept holding the Jays offense in check forcing another punt and leading to Warriors getting another rushing touchdown via a 31 yard rumble by Finn Christensen. With 2:28 left in the half Westside only needed two plays to score with a whopping 86 yard run by Jenkins to silence the Prep student section and give Westside their fourth score of the half. Once more the Warriors got the ball back with 17 seconds left and a timeout. The Warriors could’ve taken the knee to go into half but they handed off to Jenkins for a gain of 20 and then a touch pass to Keynan Cotton who with some blocks got the touchdown on the last play of the half which made it 41-0.
Like last week, the second half was nothing spectacular Westside got another touchdown in the third quarter by Christensen again, and in the fourth a muffed punt by the Warriors special teams led to a Jays touchdown with just over two minutes left. Westside just had to knee down the clock and took home the win against the Jays 47-7.
With the wind playing a big factor the ball was run for most of the game and for Westside that wasn’t an issue. Jenkins went off once again running for 244 yards and three touchdowns against his former team.
“It feels great to get the win,” Jenkins said “I didn’t play much last year and I love the team here at Westside and Creighton Prep missed out.”
Christensen also had a pair of touchdowns himself along with 89 yards rushing for the second back. Passing was a challenge in the wind which worked in defenses favor only allowing 44 passing yards and 83 rushing yards the whole game. Quarterback Braylen Warren had some good passes but didn’t get many opportunities going 6/9 for 85 yards and a touchdown which was the touch pass to Cotton. All said Westside rushed for nearly 350 yards on the day which is mind boggling for a team who usually is more leaned toward passing. It worked out in the win for the Warriors moving them to a perfect 8-0 on the season. Included with the win they tie the class A record for most consecutive wins at 28.
The Warriors conclude the regular season against the Papillion La Vista Monarchs. Westside looks to go for the record in consecutive wins at home for homecoming night and senior night at Phelps field. If the Warriors win they will capture the one seed in the playoffs and will force the rest of the playoffs teams to run through Westside at home.
