Oct. 3—TRINITY — West Morgan’s stranglehold on Class 4A, Region 7 came loose Friday night.
After three consecutive region championships, West Morgan slipped to second place in the region on Friday after a 35-21 home loss to Deshler. It’s the Tigers’ first win over the Rebels since 2022, the last time they won the region.
Advertisement
“Hats off to them, they played a great game,” West Morgan head coach Drew Phillips said. “We played hard, but that’s what happens when you don’t execute the way you need to against a good team.”
The two teams traded touchdowns early on with the game tied 14-14. Deshler took the lead 21-14 and then extended it 28-14 at halftime after a 70-yard pick-six in which the West Morgan receiver fell down.
Mistakes were killer for the Rebels in the first half. Along with the pick-six, a bad punt and a long kickoff return allowed two of Deshler’s scoring drives to start in West Morgan territory.
“Those were big. You can’t give a good team like that a short field and expect to win,” Phillips said.
Advertisement
West Morgan had chances with short fields of their own in the third quarter, but managed just five yards of offense.
“They held the box really well, and we couldn’t get our run game going. That’s what makes our offense go,” Phillips said.
West Morgan did cut the lead to 28-21 but the Rebels were unable to get another stop as Deshler broke free on a 21-yard run to ice the game.
West Morgan quarterback Brantley Phillips led the team with 78 yards passing and two touchdown passes of 27 and 24 yards to Ellis Johnson and Colby Jones respectively. Shaun Harris added the other score on a 2-yard run. Johnson and Asher Fletcher both had interceptions.
Advertisement
Deshler’s Harold Grant rushed for two touchdowns and had the pick-six, while Armani Jones and George Youngblood each rushed for one touchdown.
Despite the loss, Phillips said his team doesn’t have time to dwell as the Rebels have two important region games coming up against Priceville and Hamilton to try and secure a home playoff game in the first round.
“The message to the team is we have to fight how this feels,” Phillips said. “This loss stings, and I think naturally you want to point blame, point fingers, but this team isn’t going to do that. They’re a resilient group, and I have full faith we’re going to finish the season strong and put ourselves in a good spot.”
— caleb.suggs@decaturdaily.com or 256-340-2395. Twitter @CalebSuggs2
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: Sports.yahoo.com
