JUNIOR HIGH FOOTBALL RECAP: CHARLESTON 51, WEST FORK 8
When Charleston has their passing attack firing on all cylinders, they have been very hard for opposing defenses to stop this season. Last night was certainly no exception in a 51-8 rout of West Fork to improve Charleston to 8-0 on the season. West Fork falls to 1-7.
Charleston would take the opening kickoff, and would start their first drive by establishing the ground game. Grant Little carried for 18 yards, Cooper Carruth carried for nine yards, and Daeton Stewart took a quarterback keeper for 30 yards. With West Fork forced to respect the run, Stewart then hit Carson Lensing for an 8-yard completion, followed by an 18-yard touchdown pass to Cooper Carruth to put the Tigers up 7-0 early.
The Charleston defense would assert their will early, forcing West Fork into minus-6 yards on their first offensive possession, forcing a punt.
Charleston would then take over offensively at their own 44-yard line. Unlike the previous drive, Charleston would only need one play to score this time. Stewart connected to Carruth again, this time for a 56-yard touchdown pass to put Charleston up 14-0 with 2:55 left in the first quarter.
West Fork would struggle again on their second drive, highlighted by a Carruth quarterback sack for a 13-yard loss. On the following play, West Fork would try to go deep but the pass was intercepted by Charleston’s Elliott McMakin to set the Tigers up at the West Fork 35-yard line.
Charleston would again make quick work off their offensive possession, with Stewart connecting with Tanner Schilling for 8 yards, and then a 27-yard pass touchdown to Jaxson Todd to put Charleston up 21-0.
“Our offense played well last night,” said Charleston assistant coach Tyler Reese. “We were able to have some success running and throwing the ball. Daeton delivered on target passes and we were able to make some plays. Grant and Cooper ran hard, all of our guys contributed.”
For Charleston next two touchdowns, the offense wouldn’t even need to step out on to the field.
West Fork was faced with 4th-and-4 late in the first quarter, and the defensive line pressured the quarterback into having to scramble backwards and lost control of the ball in the process, which was scooped up by defensive lineman Bryant Wilson for a 40-yard touchdown. This was Wilson’s second week in a row with a touchdown.
On West Fork’s next possession, it was Tanner Schilling coming through with an interception this time, returning it 36 yards for a pick-six to give Charleston a 35-0 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“Anytime you can put up multiple scores defensively, you have to feel good about the performance,” said Charleston assistant coach Brett Ward.
Despite the turnovers, West Fork would find an opening in the Charleston defense on their next possession, connecting on a 61-yard pass to cut the Tigers lead to 35-8 with 0:50 left in the first half. This was the first time an opposing team has scored against Charleston in the first half since the Ozark game week three.
“We made some uncharacteristic mistakes that West Fork took advantage of and hit some big plays,” said Ward. “We have to continue to better ourselves each day and approach each play with the same urgency and intensity as the one before.”
Fifty seconds left in the first half? Plenty of time for Charleston. They would actually only need 18 seconds, with Stewart connecting with Schilling on a 60-yard touchdown pass on the second play from scrimmage. Grant Little ran in the two-point conversion to give Charleston a 43-8 lead going into halftime.
Daeton Stewart would finish his night 6-of-7 passing for 186 yards and three touchdowns. His only incompletion was a dropped pass in the flats.
Charleston would score one more time in the second half. Barrett Smith connected on an 11-yard pass to Bentley York, to set up a 21-yard touchdown pass to Elliott McMakin to put Charleston up 51-8 in the fourth quarter.
Charleston head coach Matt Stewart was pleased with his team tonight, but is aware there is still work left to do.
“Overall we got the job done, and that’s what matters,” he said. “We had some missed tackles that allowed West Fork to sustain drives, and we had penalties that we haven’t committed all year. Over the next twelve days we have things to clean up as we make a push to end the season well.”
For the last several weeks, it seemed that Charleston and Mansfield would be on a collision course for an undefeated battle week nine for the conference championship. However, Greenland’s 30-28 upset over Mansfield put a halt to that. Charleston will travel to Mansfield next week with hopes of winning the conference championship and finishing 3A-1 play as the only undefeated team.
