It could have been worse.

Westside started off 3 drives inside the Prep 35 in just the first two quarters alone, and that doesn’t even count the pick-six that gifted the Warriors 10 more points.

Prep went 4-24 passing the ball for 41 yards, and the only touchdown off of a Prep pass was the aforementioned pick-six.

The Junior Jays were forced to punt 6 times.

They lost the turnover battle, one of the most important things they needed to win to have a shot in this game.

Jonah Moore, Sam Sledge, Jack Kirkwood, Rocco Marcelino, and Christian Lewis all missed some or all of the second half due to injuries.  That’s only 5 of the 11 defensive starters, and all 5 also play offense as well

And yet…

It could have been better.

The defense played extremely well, so well that they held Westside to merely a field goal in the second half.  

Jack Piernicky, the Prep quarterback, had 25 yards a carry (he had just 1 carry, but the point still stands).  

Charmar Brown had 61 yards, most in the first half, and junior fullback George Egan had 4 yards a carry.  

Prep got a safety after a Westside fake punt was horribly botched.

4 points were left on the board thanks to a missed field goal and extra point.

Dom Rezac was held to 81 rushing yards.  

Prep had 10 first downs to Westside’s 11 and 162 total yards to the Warriors’ 164. 

What I’m trying to say is that Friday night had several positives-if the team works with those positives and uses them in the future.  The defense is clearly much improved, and was even able to get quite a few tackles for loss without Sledge and Marcelino in (shoutout to Joe Kieny, who wrapped up Rezac behind the line multiple times).  The power formation-with Egan and Brown (or Jack Stessman) in the backfield worked very well.  Pierce Johnson once again showed himself to be a dynamic kick returner who can turn a game on its head in a snap.  

A lot of people are going to look at the negatives of that game, which is fair.  Except for a few drives in the second quarter, the offense looked stagnant.  That’s also the 5th straight loss to Westside.  But what people should consider is that either that was the worst Westside team since 2017 or…this Prep team has a chance to be really good.

Maybe it’s both.  To me, the one big problem from that game was the passing game, and if that gets fixed, Prep could be able to ride their defense late into the playoffs.  

Last year’s Westside game was over by halftime.  This year’s Westside game turned on 2 tipped interceptions, a questionable incompletion call that looked like it could have been a touchdown, and a few Grant Guyett catches for Westside in the third quarter.

Just like during the pregame, you can look at the clouds and say, “That went horribly”.  

But I’m choosing to look at the rainbow on the horizon and say, “You know, that Westside team could easily lose to Prep”.  

And after the opening game of the season, maybe that’s enough.

https://mhsaaconference.org/public/genie/72/school/5/