GAINESVILLE — West Hall displayed its firepower in the first half and its defensive grit in the second -- but mostly it showed just how badly it wanted a region victory on Friday, as the Spartans held off Chestatee for a 35-28 victory in Gainesville.
"Oh my gosh; I don't need any more stress," West Hall coach Tony Lotti chuckled after watching his team seal a key region victory inside the final two minutes after Chestatee had tied the game at 28-28 in the third quarter. "I'm really just proud of the kids to go on the road, in this weather, with the very good football team we had to play -- even when they started catching up again and tied it, I think what I was most proud of was that the kids didn't go into shock mode, so to speak. I think a few years ago that's what our team was doing. I think our kids never stopped believing that they could make a play and win the football game and that's what they did."
AJ Favorite hauled in a 45-yard touchdown pass from Jacob Satterfield with just 1:42 to play to provide the winning score after the Spartans (5-2, 1-0 Region 7-AAAA) defense had forced a punt from deep inside War Eagles territory.
It was part of a huge night for the West Hall quarterback, who rushed for 119 yards and a score, while also completing 11 of 15 passes for two touchdowns -- though Satterfield was intercepted twice by the War Eagles. Cameron Shirley snagged four passes for 111 yards and a first half touchdown.
The Spartans' Tyrese Osborne also rushed for 129 yards and a touchdown.
"I feel like there's several things we can do with a football. When we get to doing a good job moving up front I feel like we can throw and run the ball a little bit. And that's probably what was the big difference tonight, we caught balls which -- go figure, in the rain -- we caught way more balls," Lotti said. "I was really proud of the way those kids concentrated on it. Jake threw good balls. So I do feel like we have a few different ways we can try to hopefully keep people off balance offensively, but that also comes down to teenagers making plays."
They needed every one of those plays, especially in the first half, as Chestatee responded to a 28-13 deficit to pull within a touchdown just beore the interval. The War Eagles (3-4, 0-1) finished with 321 total yards -- though West Hall rolled up 472, including 271 on the ground.
Chestatee knotted the score with 3:19 remaining in the third quarter when Jacob Goodall caught a 30-yard scoring strike from Storm Yarbrough. It was the only score of the half for Chestatee, however, as the West Hall defense kept the hosts from taking the lead.
"I think defense settled in a little bit and a couple of guys who usually make some plays for us made some plays," Lotti said. "It's fitting because I think our defense has played well all year. And I felt like at times we were getting gashed a little bit, and we were making adjustments and trying to make plays. And when it came down to it, we needed a play, and one of our kids made a play, and our defense stepped up and was able to get us out here with a win."
Chestatee's Nick Lyles did his usual damage for the War Eagles, rushing 26 times for 139 yards and two scores, while Yarbrough completed 18 of 37 passes for two touchdowns and an interception. Reggie James hauled in six catches for for 101 yards and a score. Baylee Camp also had fice receptions for 69 yards.
It was not enough to nab the win, however -- of which, in the five-team Region 7-AAAA, each is precious.
"It was a start in region and the non-region schedule was set up to try to put us in a situation to compete in region, and I feel like it's doing that," Lotti said. "Having to move up classification, and all those things, I don't know that a lot people felt we would have a decent shot at doing anything this year, so I'm just really proud of the fact that the kids have been resilient and have been believing what we're telling them and not necessarily what others are telling them, and staying true to who we are and what we're doing. And now we're 1-0 in the region."
