money Westerville South defeats Big Walnut in central Ohio football Game of the Week
Leading by a touchdown with more than 6 minutes left in the game, Westerville South’s Craig Horton hit Nate Severs head-on to stop him for no gain on a fourth-and-1 play.
Four plays later, Nassir Phillips scored what turned out to be the winning touchdown in a 31-24 victory over visiting Big Walnut on Sept. 16 in OCC-Capital Division play.
“I just made a play,” Horton said. “I was just like, ‘I can’t let him make a first down.’ He’s got good vision. I was just squeezing and I saw the ball get handed to him, so I just hit him.”
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The Wildcats improved to 4-1 overall and 2-0 in league play, while the Golden Eagles fell to 4-1 overall and 1-1 in the league.
“They made more plays than we did,” Big Walnut coach Rob Page said. “It’s fourth-and-short and we give it to our best back and we don’t get it. That means, tonight, they were tougher than us. We’re going to show up tomorrow, watch the film and we’re going to learn from it. We’re going to do it together and we’re going to respond the way a championship team should respond.”
Ethan Hanna set up Phillips’ 3-yard touchdown with a 47-yard run on the second play of the series. Phillips’ score made it 31-17 with 4:07 remaining.
Severs, who also was stopped by Horton on a fourth-and-1 in the second quarter, had 29 carries for 126 yards and a touchdown. The Eagles were held to 247 yards of total offense.
Horton’s first stop led to a Quentin Sheets 41-yard field goal to give South a 10-7 lead as time expired in the first half.
Hanna made an impact off the bat. After a pair of runs for 19 yards by Phillips, Hanna ran 68 yards up the middle untouched to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead in the first quarter. He finished with five carries for 130 yards and added three tackles on defense.
Phillips finished with 26 carries for 164 yards and two touchdowns for the Wildcats, who lost to Big Walnut 38-7 last season.
“We got crushed by (Big Walnut) last year,” Hanna said. “We were mad. We had a great week of practice. That was our main priority. If we practice well, we’ll have a great game. We came out and executed. We did what we practiced.”
Quan Rhodes-McKee had 8.5 tackles, Jordan Wheeler added 6.5 and Horton finished with three for South.
Jake Nier went 12-for-22 passing for 149 yards and two touchdowns – both to Nicky Pentello, who caught four passes for 84 yards for the Eagles. Big Walnut had a 15-game winning streak in the regular season snapped.
Defensively, Pentello recovered a fumble and Kohen Lyles had 5.5 tackles for Big Walnut.
“I think we’ve been playing hard all year, physically. I think it’s really been that mental effort,” South coach Matthew Christ said. “(Big Walnut) is a heck of a football team (and) that’s a monster win. I’m really proud of these guys.”
Here are three takeaways from Westerville South’s win over Big Walnut:
South ran 36 times for 322 yards and four touchdowns, including two by quarterback Dominic Birtha. Meanwhile, Big Walnut was held to 166 yards rushing on 40 carries and one touchdown.
South won the game despite committing more turnovers, 1-0, and more penalties, eight for 90 yards to Big Walnut’s three for 20.
Birtha threw just 12 passes, completing nine for 109 yards. Jordan Wheeler’s 35-yard screen play, which set up Phillips’ go-ahead touchdown – a 1-yard run to give South a 24-17 lead with 8:50 remaining – was the longest pass play of the game.
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BIG WALNUT: 7-0-7-10—24
WESTERVILLE SOUTH: 7-3-7-14—31
WS—Hanna 68 run (Sheets kick)
BW—Severs 1 run (Gladden kick)
WS—Sheets 41 FG
WS—Birtha 13 run (Sheets kick)
BW—Pentello 33 pass from Nier (Gladden kick)
BW—Gladden 30 FG
WS—Phillips 1 run (Sheets kick)
WS—Phillips 3 run (Sheets kick)
BW—Pentello 24 pass from Nier (Gladden kick)
This article originally appeared on ThisWeek: Westerville South High School takes down Big Walnut
