Published: October 14, 2009 09:22 pm      

In need of a victory

Panthers host Athens Friday night in a critical District 20-3A contest

By SCOTT TYLER

Sports Editor



Going into the second game of the season, Westwood may not be facing a must-win game Friday night — but the Panthers know they need a victory.

Westwood hosts Athens Friday night at Panther Stadium in a matchup of two teams who started District 20-3A play last week with losses. Kickoff is scheduled for 7:30 p.m.

“This is a win that we need to have,” Westwood head coach Kevin Anderson said. “We would like to win out but we have our work cut out for us.”

Already, playoff implications loom large for both Westwood (0-1, 3-3) and Athens (0-1, 1-5) because both teams lost last week — the Panthers, 42-18 to Brownsboro and the Hornets, 21-12 to Crockett.

The winner Friday night will right the ship and move back into the playoff picture while the loser could have their playoff dreams come to an end in only the second week of district.

“We are going to have to bring our ‘A’ game if we want to win Friday night,” Anderson said. “We can’t come out and be lackluster, we have to be ready to play.”

The Westwood coaching staff knows that to get a win this week there has to be an improvement from a Panther defense that allowed 501 yards to Brownsboro last week.

“We did not play very smart,” Anderson said of his defense against Brownsboro. “They did not tackle well and they have to understand technique.”

Westwood faces an Athens team that has had its struggles on offense. The Hornets have only scored 79 points this season, an average of only 13 points a game.

“They are a very big team that likes to run the ball,” Anderson said of the Athens offense. “We are going to have to force three and outs and force them into making mistakes.”

Athens has used two different quarterbacks this season — Nick Monmouth and Jack Barkley. Anderson calls Monmouth a double threat because he can run and throw the football while Barkley is used more in the passing game. Barkley threw a 38-yard touchdown pass against Crockett.

“We just need to be alert to who they have in the game,” Anderson said.

On offense, Westwood looks to get its running game going after stalling out the last three games.

“There is no doubt we need to have to have a run threat,” Anderson said. “That way we don’t have six to eight guys in coverage.”

After starting the season with three straight games of over 150 rushing yards, Westwood has not hit the century mark in rushing in each of the last three games. The Panthers had a season-low 74 yards on 26 carries against Brownsboro.

“We have got to get better up front,” Anderson said. “Brownsboro gave us trouble with their look and we have to get better recognizing the defense’s schemes and adjusting to it.”

While the running game has struggled, the passing attack continues to flourish. Westwood had thrown for over 200 yards in five of the six games this season.

As the season progresses, Westwood quarterback Tevin Watson is getting more receivers involved in the passing game. In the last two games, five different receivers caught a pass in each game.

“We have done a good job spreading the ball around to our receivers,” Anderson said. “The main thing is Tevin has trust in all our receivers to catch the ball.”

Wide receiver Domanick Turner already has surpassed his totals from last year with 35 catches for 642 yards and three touchdowns.

Cameron Shead and Nick Morrow both have more than 10 catches and Des’Mone Williams and Bryce Lyman had combined for nine catches in the last two games.

Notes: Westwood defeated Athens 37-19 last season... The two teams have two common opponent this season — Chapel Hill and Bullard. Westwood lost to Chapel Hill 27-26 and defeated Bullard 47-21. Athens lost to Chapel Hill 35-17 and defeated Bullard 14-7. The win over Bullard is the Hornets’ lone victory this season. ...For both teams, the season has been a tale of two halves. Westwood has dominated in the first half, outscoring its opponents 108-61. Athens has been strong in the second half, scoring 55 of its 79 points in the second part of the game.

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Scott Tyler may be contacted via e-mail at styler@palestineherald.com





Panther Statistics



Team Stats

Offense



First Downs: 84

Rushes-Yards-Yds/Carry: 175-902-5.15

Passing Yards: 1,325

Total Yards: 2,227

Comp-Att-Int: 67-105-1

Fumbles-Lost: 17-7

Penalties-Yards: 29-245



Opponents

First Downs: 96

Rushes-Yards-Yds/Carry: 221-1,465-6.6

Passing Yards: 826

Total Yards: 2,291

Comp-Att-Int: 61-100-3

Fumbles-Lost: 25-8

Penalties-Yards: 40-343



Individual Stats

Offense

Rushing

Att-Yards-Avg-TD

Cameron Shead, 69-490-7.1-6; Tevin Watson, 65-240-3.69-3; Domanick Turner, 22-125-5.65-2; Rodney Watson, 7-19-2.71-1; Bryce Lyman, 5-17-3.4-0; Nick Morrow, 3-9-3.0-0; Mitchell Coleman, 4-2-0.5-0.



Passing

Comp-Att-Yards-Yards/Att-TD

Tevin Watson, 66-104-1-1,274-10; Bryce Lyman, 1-1-0-51-51.0-1



Receiving

Catches-Yards-Avg.-TD

Domanick Turner, 35-642-18.34-3; Nick Morrow, 11-256-23.27-3; Cameron Shead, 10-220-22.2-5; Des’Mone Williams, 9-92-10.22-0; Bryce Lyman, 5-61-0.



Scoring

Cameron Shead, 66 (6 rushing TDs, 5 receiving TD); Domanick Turner, 30 (3 receiving TDs; 2 rushing TD); Tyler Dillon, 22 (2 field goals, 16 PATs); Nick Morrow, 18 (3 receiving TDs); Tevin Watson, 18 (3 rushing TDs); Rodney Watson, 6 (1 rushing TD); Kendrick Reeves, 2 (1 conversion).



Individual Defense

Tackles

Rodney Watson, 43; Cameron Shead, 40; Domanick Turner, 38; Mitchell Coleman, 26; Aaron Stanhope, 23; Nick Morrow, 19; Dustin Brister, 18; Theron Dingas, 18; Bryce Lyman, 14; Tevin Watson, 13; Jacob McKinney, 12; Kyle Carroll, 10; Todd Simmons, 10; Bryce Turman, 6; Rico Harris, 6; Tadarius Edwards, 6; Shaun Anderson, 5; Kendall Calhoun, 4; Kendrick Reeves, 2; Des’Mone Williams, 1; Dennis O’Bannon, 1; Justin Nolen, 1; Tyler Dillon, 1; Jose Munoz, 1; Dustin Campbell, 1; Thomas Largent, 1.



Interceptions

Nick Morrow, 1; Domanick Turner, 1.



Sacks

Jacob McKinney, 1.



Fumble Recoveries

Dustin Brister, 2; Rodney Watson, 1; Jacob McKinney, 1.



Forced Fumbles

Cameron Shead, 2; Aaron Stanhope, 1.

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