By Eric Avissar
Robinson High School Senior
** Check below to see highlights from this shootout!! Re-live the entire game in 9 minutes, 20 seconds.**
For West Springfield quarterback Bryn Renner, Friday night’s game at Robinson was about making plays in pairs.
Renner, a standout senior who has already committed to play for the University of North Carolina next season, accounted for four touchdowns — two passing and two rushing. And just for good measure, Renner, who also punts for the Spartans, pinned the host Rams deep twice by placing two punts inside the Robinson 5-yard line.
Renner’s poise throughout the night was a major factor in the Spartans’ high-scoring, 50-27 road victory over.
With the victory, No. 8 West Springfield — which had a brutal early-season schedule — improved to 1-2 overall while No. 7 Robinson — which has faced similarly stout competition — fell to 1-2.
In a rematch of last season’s Northern Region Division 6 semifinal, the Spartans were struck first with a 6-yard touchdown run by Renner, who found a seam outside the tackles after the pass play broke down.
Seeking to respond, Robinson was nearly able to run the following kickoff back for a score, but sophomore Jared Velasquez was taken down by his shoestrings by the last man to beat at the West Springfield 46-yard line. The Rams marched closer after sophomore receiver Matt Zanellato drew a pass interference call in single coverage. The scoring drive was completed with a pass from senior quarterback Tim Meier to fellow senior Xavier Duncan on a short slant route that turned into a touchdown after Duncan broke a tackle.
The two teams later traded touchdowns to again knot the score at 14 on a scoring run by West Springfield’s Dan Collins, who found his way into the end zone virtually untouched, and on the most exciting play of the night for the Rams, when Wynton Fox found a hole and quickly turned an up-the-middle romp into a 70-yard foot race to the end zone.
But that’s when Renner took over the game, even when passing plays fell apart. He rushed for two first downs and completed a 15-yard pass to Andy Stallings that eventually set up Collin’s second rushing touchdown on the night.
“Our O-line really played great tonight,” Renner said. “We had so much of the field open up. We have the ability to force the defense to think, because we can be running the ball or throwing it down-field. And if the pass breaks down, I can still gain yardage running the ball.”
The Spartans finalized the major shift in momentum when Meier was intercepted by Scott Van Buren, who was able to run it back for a touchdown to give the Spartans a 28-14 lead with 7 minutes, 47 seconds remaining in the first half.
The opening drive of the second half came with another improvisational play by Renner, who turned a 3rd-and-20 play into a first down using his legs to gain 22 of his game-high 128 rushing yards. The unsettling scramble for the Rams defensive unit helped set up Renner to score with his arm this time around, hitting Tucker Tobin on a 20-yard touch pass in the back of the end zone.
“It helps us out so much having a player who can make plays both throwing and with his legs,” said West Springfield Coach Bill Renner, Bryn’s father. “If a quarterback can make plays both ways it is huge on every level” of competition.
The icing on the cake for the Spartans came when Renner found Stallings for a touchdown pass that gave the Spartans 50 points on the night. Stallings finished the game with six catches for 137 yards, while Collins was also productive, rushing for 95 yards on 17 carries.
The Rams were led by a solid rushing attack that yielded two 100-yard rushing performances by Fox (15 carries, 116 yards) and Alex Murray (14 carries, 108 yards).
“We have been able to run this offense for four years now, and we have a great understanding of how the offense works — a balance between game-planning and adjusting to what the defense gives us,” Bryn Renner said. “And we were able to take great advantage of that tonight.”
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