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This Devon Smith 79-yard touchdown run, his second rushing touchdown on the night, opened Westlake's lead to 22-0 en route to its 37-0 victory.
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By James A. McCray III
Prince George's County, Content Manager

As a dense fog covered the Friendly Patriots football field Friday night and limited visibility to a mild degree, one thing was evidently clear in its contest with the visiting Westlake Wolverines, Westlake's defense was on a mission.

On a mission to get the ball out of the hands of Friendly in efforts of limiting its offensive weapons, and in turn, give the ball to its own weapons as in running backs Devon Smith, Antoine Reese, and Evan Harris. Mission accomplished, as Westlake defeated the Patriots 37-0 to advance to the 3A South regional title game.

Westlake only allowed Friendly's offense a total of 164 yards on the night, 102 of which came on three big passing plays for the Patriots.

"The defense played very well," Westlake head coach Dominic Zaccarelli said. "I don't think when you have the athletes that Friendly has, you expect to shut them out. I think that the [Friendly] quarterback [Sherrod Baltimore] is a good player, and we wanted to get pressure on him. ... We were more concerned with him throwing the ball."

Reese was a dual threat Friday night as he played well on both sides of the ball. He intercepted a Baltimore pass late in the first quarter and on the very next play ran for a 32-yard score to give Westlake a 15-0 lead.

"It was just the heart and desire to go out and do the best that I could to help the team out," Reese said of his performance on the night. " ... We had a perfect game plan."

"Antoine is a special running back," Zaccarelli said. " ... He had a good night plus the interception; he played well defensively."

The points for the Wolverines came early and often. Westlake got on the board on its second offensive possession of the game as Smith took a handoff 67 yards for the early score.

After Reese's scamper, Smith scored again on Westlake's next possession, this time from 79 yards out, further increasing the lead to 22-0. He would finish with 179 yards on eight rushing attempts and two rushing touchdowns.

"We all had a great game tonight," Smith said. "We practiced so hard this week and we were ready. We are one family, one unit, and we played like that tonight."

After the running backs were done visiting the end zone, Westlake quarterback Chris Istvan contributed to the scoring in his own right.

Istvan found Kendall Jefferson in the end zone for a 19-yard touchdown pass just before the half, and found Smith for a 43-yard connection early in the fourth quarter.

Although passing was minimal in attempts, Istvan was efficient in results as he went 4 of 6 passing for 92 yards and two touchdowns.

Friendly (8-3) was able to get a few big plays to get the ball deep into Westlake territory, however, was just shy of being able to punch the ball in throughout the game.

Although a first-year head coach, John Morgan coached the Patriots to a post-season visit not to be lost in Friday night's defeat.

Westlake (No. 3 seed, 9-2) will now host Lackey (No. 4 seed) Friday night in what will be the fourth meeting in the 3A South regional championship game in the last six years between the two teams.

"I think that the kids played well, they are focused, and that is what it is going to take to win the next game," Zaccarelli said.

tmccray@digitalsports.com


Westlake 37, Friendly 0

Westlake --    15   14   2   6
Friendly   --     0     0    0   0

First quarter:
W    --    Smith 67 run, 5:45 (Smith run)
W    --    Reese 32 run, 7:29 (Koster kick)
Second quarter:
W    --    Smith 79 run, :58 (Koster kick)
W    --    Jefferson 19 pass from Istvan, 8:45 (Koster kick)
Third quarter:
W    --   Safety, Augilliard tackle in the end zone, 4:24
Fourth quarter
W    --    Smith 43 pass from Istvan, :11 (kick failed)


Top individual performers
Rushing
Westlake: Smith 8-179, Reese 11-112
Friendly: Baltimore 10-30
Passing
Westlake: Istvan 4-6-0 92
Friendly: Baltimore 5-12-1 116
Receiving
Westlake: Smith 1-43
Friendly: Haden 2-70