Western Beaver pulls away from Serra Catholic late

Tagged under: District 7, Gameday Hub, News, pfn

Andrew Schaffer | November 4, 2023

For three quarters it was a great game, but in the fourth quarter Western Beaver showed their dominance in their 38-21 win over Serra Catholic. “I think it was an advantage they got a little bit behind we knew they were throwing the football, we could widen our gaps a little bit get up field not be as concerned with the run, I feel like they got a little bit tired, we kind of smelled the finish line, we finished strong down the stretch that helped us a ton” said Coach Busby.

Serra Catholic got the ball to start the game but went three and out. Western Beaver started their first drive on their own 42 yard line. On the first play Tyson Florence had a big run down to the Serra 12 yard line. 2 plays later Florence scored on a 3 yard run making the score 7-0 Western Beaver with 9:48 in the first quarter.

Serra Catholic got the ball for a second time and the drive started at their own 21 yard line. On the third play of the drive Quadir Stribling found Jesere Young for a 73 yard touchdown pass. That tied the score at 7 with 8:20 in the first quarter.

Western Beaver got the ball back for a second time but didn’t move the ball far and had to punt it away. Serra Catholic started their next drive at Western Beaver’s 45 yard line. Despite starting in Western Beaver territory it was a long drive and eventually Serra Catholic took a 14-7 lead on a 1 yard run by Isiah Petty. 14-7 would also be the score at the end of the first quarter.

In the second quarter Serra Catholic had 2 big opportunities. The first one started at the Western Beaver 35 yard line but on the first play the ball was intercepted. The second opportunity was setup by a big punt return down to the Western Beaver 21 yard line but Serra couldn’t move the ball and on fourth down attempted a field goal which was no good and the score remained 14-7 Serra Catholic.

It was twice that Western Beaver was able to get 2 stops near the red zone which was a big factor in the second quarter. “They went on the field confident, they were tough positions, our defense has been criticized a little bit this year and those guys feel like some of that has been some bad spots and some bad breaks we believe in them and we believe in each other and when our back were against the wall tonight those guys answered the bell for sure” said Coach Busby.

After the missed field goal Western Beaver got the ball at their own 20 yard line it was a long drive. A big pass got them into Serra Catholic territory and eventually Jaivin Peel found Dorian McGhee on a 16 yard touchdown pass which tied the score at 14 with 4:28 left in the first half.

Serra Catholic didn’t move the ball on their next drive and had to punt it away. Western Beaver started their next drive at their own 37 yard line. They marched right down the field and later in the drive on fourth down Western Beaver settled for a 32 yard field goal by Jaden Winterhalter which gave Western Beaver a 17-14 lead at halftime.

Western Beaver got the ball to start the second half and they were marching right down the field they were inside the Serra 15 yard line and a play after that the ball was fumbled and recovered by Serra Catholic which was a big and much needed stop. The Serra drive started at their own 7 yard line. Later in the drive Serra decided to go for it on fourth down and it payed off when Quadir Stribling found De’reon Washington for a 62 yard touchdown pass which gave Serra Catholic a 21-17 lead with 5:01 in the third quarter.

Western Beaver started their next drive on their own 20 yard line. A major play on the drive was a big 51 yard run by Tyson Florence, a play after that he scored on a 6 yard touchdown run which gave Western Beaver a 24-21 lead with 2:26 in the third quarter. Florence was a major factor in the win for Western Beaver he had over 200 yards rushing. “Tyson is our guy, Tyson is a football player, you know we’ve got some great athletes on the field, some really skilled kids and Tyson is a skilled kid but he’s a football player, he’s just all guts, tough, works hard, leads by example, doesn’t say much just goes and gets it done every week , that’s kind of who we hang our hat on and when we got to the playoffs we knew five was the guy that we were going to ride and we’re gonna continue to do that” said Coach Busby.

After that score Western Beaver didn’t look back. On the the following drive Serra Catholic had a big kick return down inside the Western Beaver 40 yard line but the drive ended on a turnover on downs.

Western Beaver started their next drive at their own 12 yard line. On the fourth play Western Beaver took control of the game when Jaivin Peel found Dorian McGhee for an 85 yard touchdown pass which made it 31-21 with 8:20 in the fourth quarter. “Dorian is a senior, leader, captain, he’s made plays for us for three years to win ball games, we knew at some point, just give him his touches, and a couple of those for sure are gonna turn into touchdowns and he did it again tonight” said Coach Busby. “I had to put the game away for us, I just had to get in the end zone no matter what” said McGhee.

Serra Catholic got the ball back and on the drive just went backwards because of multiple sacks and they ended up turning the ball over on downs. Western Beaver scored one last time for good measure to make the final score 38-21. Next week Western Beaver travels to play Steel Valley in the 2A Quarterfinals.