Woodcreek stops West Park twice to hold on to 18-14 win

The 747 Bowl between Woodcreek and West Park gave fans of both teams all they could want and certainly was worth the price of admission Thursday night in the regular-season finale. Woodcreek's defense stopped West Park twice in the last 2:15 of the game to hold on to an 18-14 victory. What a difference in the two halves of the football game. West Park led 14-8 at halftime and rushed for 256 yards in the first half and scored touchdowns on their first two drives, throwing the ball only twice and completing only one pass during the scoring drives. In the second half, after defensive adjustments by the Timberwolves, West Park only ran for 59 yards and was kept off the scoreboard. West Park had the ball four times in the second half and the first possession ended in a punt, while the last three ended on downs in Woodcreek territory on the 34-, 22- and 20-yard lines. "We battled our butts off," West Park coach Jason Tenner said. "We started to get too many penalties in the second half, got behind the sticks, and that affected us. We can't seem to make that one play we need in close games. That's our fourth game we've lost by one score." After starting so poorly, allowing the Panthers two scores in two drives while giving up 161 yards rushing, the Woodcreek defense ended up being the key to the win. "They ball-controlled us in the first half and we couldn't get off the field," Woodcreek coach Kyle Stowers said. "We made some adjustments at halftime and then shut them out in the second half. What I was most proud of is we got punched in the mouth in the first half and it's about how do you respond. I thought we responded pretty well in the second half." Woodcreek opened the scoring with a three-play opening drive, starting with a 64-yard pass from Josiah Melendez to Trace Murchison, which put the ball at the West Park 10-yard line. Two rushing plays by Blake Hastings, plus a two-point conversion run by Jasper Liggins had the Timberwolves in front 8-0. West Park answered with an 11-play, 85-yard drive with all the yards coming on the ground, ending with a five-yard run by Declan Shindelbower. West Park ended Woodcreek's next drive with an interception in the end zone by Madix Ryan-Newman. From there, the Panthers marched the ball 90 yards, all but 14 yards of it on the ground, scoring on a one-yard run by Jaden Jackson to take a 14-8 lead. At the break, Shindelbower had 132 yards rushing on 20 carries, while Ty'Neal Martin had 97 yards on 10 carries. Like in the first half, Woodcreek scored on its first drive of the second half, two key plays coming on an unnecessary roughness 15-yard penalty assessed to West Park, followed by a 17-yard run by Murchison to the West Park 10-yard line. Three plays later, Liggins scored on a one-yard run and the extra point put the Timberwolves in front 15-14. On their next possession, Woodcreek moved the ball to the West Park 9-yard line before the drive stalled, and along with penalties, pushed the ball back to the 30. Woodcreek had no fear, however, as it called on Brody Simpson to boot a 47-yard field goal which increased Woodcreek's lead to 18-14 and forced the Panthers to need a touchdown to go ahead. With 5:28 to play, West Park moved the ball to the Woodcreek 22-yard line. On third down, Jackson tried to hit Tanner McSweeney in the end zone but the pass was broken up by Melendez. On fourth down, Jackson completed a pass to Shindelbower, but it was ruled out of bounds and Woodcreek took over. The Timberwolves only moved the ball nine yards but more importantly made the Panthers use their timeouts before getting the ball back in great field position at the Woodcreek 42-yard line with 1:26 to play. A 28-yard pass from Jackson to McSweeney put the ball on the Woodcreek 11. The next play got them to the 10 but that's as close as the Panthers would get. A sack, followed by a false start penalty moved the ball back to the 20 with time for one more play. The Panthers were called for two penalties on the play and the game was over. "They came out and punched us in the mouth to start the game and you could see that they were more physical and were playing harder," Stowers said. "It was a lack of physicality on our part. In the second half, you saw a reversal of that." Tenner was sad for his players. "We have to play smarter on offense and we've got to execute," Tenner said. "We didn't execute well enough to beat them. Hats off to them. They're a good football team. We just came up short again." To the team, Tenner said, "The reality is we've got to do certain things better to come out on the other side of these close games. We've got one more. We've been close, but we can't finish. We've got to learn how to finish and we've got to do it together."