It was a simple formula executed to perfection.
Rushing the ball 44 times for 7.9 yards a carry, West Marshall’s ground and pound attack paved the way for a 34-6 home victory in the first round of the Class 2A football playoffs on Friday night.
West Liberty entered this game as the underdog as a district third-place team and a 3-5 record against a second-place West Marshall team with a 6-2 record.
The Trojans got the jump on the Comets early in the contest as senior quarterback Vincent Clawson rushed in from 10-yards out after keeping the ball on a read option.
That score came at the 7:07 mark. West Marshall scored again exactly 60 seconds of game clock later, but the special teams unit would get credit with the assist.
After three incomplete passes on offense, West Liberty was forced to punt. The Trojans got pressure through the line, blocked the punt and recovered at the Comets’ 15-yard line.
It took just one rush from senior Ben Gonzalez to put his team up by double-digits.
West Liberty had a response in the first quarter as it trimmed the Trojans’ lead to eight points.
Freshman Braden Bickford got the sequence started by returning the kickoff to the 37-yard line.
However, a disaster nearly derailed the drive from the start as a fumble on the opening play, a pitch handoff, resulted in a loss of 15 yards.
Senior quarterback Ryker Dengler got most of those yards back on second down after a draw play earned 14 yards.
Two consecutive Trojan offsides penalties gave back 10 additional yards, and the Comets converted the third and short with a fullback dive to sophomore Briggs Collins.
After a sack on first down, the Comets dialed up a slant to sophomore Tully Griffith to bring up third and five yards to go.
Senior wide receiver Seth Axsom found a soft spot in the zone for a gain of 11 yards to move the chains.
With the fresh set of downs, Dengler and junior Owen Daufeldt connected on a 23-yard pitch and catch to bring up goal to go.
West Liberty called Daufeldt’s number again on a screen pass and Daufeldt ‘shaked and baked’ defenders for his team’s only touchdown of the night.
The touchdown came at the 2:48 mark in the first quarter. This was the high point on the night for the Comets as the special teams struggles reared its ugly head again.
The extra point attempt was blocked keeping the deficit at eight.
It would only grow from there as the Trojans scored six more points in the second quarter, seven in the third quarter and seven in the fourth quarter to reach 34.
Gonzalez himself rushed 32 times for 281 yards and three touchdowns. As a team, the Trojans rushed 44 times for 349 yards and four touchdowns.
Clawson only attempted nine passes on the night. He completed five and threw one touchdown pass to senior AJ Dee.
Junior Kinnick Geers recorded one interception off of Dengler.
West Liberty did not post its individual statistics for this game as of Tuesday morning.
Full game statistics will be published next week if they are made available, along with a complete season statistical review.
The Comets end their 2024 campaign with three wins, which is an improvement from its one-win season in 2023. West Liberty also won exactly three games in 2022 and 2021.