Hornets prove their worth with upset over Valle Warriors

Matt George intercepts this Valle Catholic Warriors pass with 50 seconds on the clock to effectively shut down play in favor of the Hornets Saturday.

An estimated 2,000 people were in attendance to watch last Saturday’s much anticipated match-up between state ranked #1 Valle Catholic Warriors and #4 ranked Westran Hornets. The game was played in Washington, MO., a neutral site to test the will of each of the two teams.

Valle Catholic went into Saturday’s game ranked number 1. Largely to their 15-1 record last year and their 5-0 record this year, they showed they were a legitimate threat to return to the state championship for a second straight year. Westran, coming off an 8-3 record a season ago with their only losses coming to also state ranked Salisbury, Marceline, and Wellington-Napoleon, was also thought to be one of the best teams in the state coming into Saturday. Westran, who had already won the respect of many skeptics by shutting out the two largest schools they faced so far this season in Class 3 opponent Eldon Mustangs (43-0) and Class 2 opponent Carrollton Trojans (41-0), now set their sights on the private Catholic school out of St. Genevieve Mo. In preparation, the Westran football team took out early from school Thursday hold its final practice at CMU in Fayette to get a feel for the FieldTurf artificial playing surface they would be playing on at St. Francis Borgia High School.

The Westran football team took the field a few minutes before the scheduled 2:00 kickoff for the coin toss. After Valle Catholic won the toss and deferred to the second half, the action was set to begin. Westran’s first drive began inside their own territory and used the entire length of the field to establish their running game early. Carries from Tyler Hunt, Kalob Dale and Nick Eagan brought them all the way to the Warriors’ 9-yard line which is where the Hornets ran their first pass play of the day. Tyler Hunt completed a dump pass over the middle to wide receiver Drake Buffington and put the Hornets up 6-0 on their first drive of the game after which the two teams would be locked in a defensive battle for most of the first three quarters. Valle Catholic threatened to score on several occasions getting the ball inside the Hornet 10-yard line and each time the Westran defense shut down the Warriors without a score.

The momentum of the game seemed to take a significant shift in favor of the Hornets in the third quarter with the Westran lead still at 6-0 when Valle Catholic yet again approached end zone threatening to score when cornerback Drake Buffington intercepted a would-be touchdown and yet again left the Warriors empty-handed. Westran’s ensuing drive was capped off by a 61-yard punt by Tyler Hunt that put the Warriors on their own 10-yard line. After nearly 3 whole quarters of both teams putting up strong defensive stands it seemed only fitting that the next touchdown would be scored on defense. On the very next pass by the Warriors quarterback Alex Stroll, Westran DB Matt George intercepted the ball and darted into the end zone doubling the Hornet lead.

After three quarters the Westran lead stood at 14-0 which lasted until midway through the fourth when the Valle quarterback fumbled the snap but managed to recover in time to roll out toward the sideline and complete a 30+ yard pass in the corner of the end zone to bring the Warriors to within 7. Westran linebacker Andrew Baxley would make the next big play in the game when he intercepted another Warriors pass which set up a 56-yard touchdown run by Westran’s Tyler Hunt increasing the lead to 21-7. Valle began their clock management offense on their next drive and did so with success driving down the field quickly capping off the drive with a 5-yard rushing touchdown with 1:39 left on the clock. 

The next Westran possession was held to 3 downs but forced the Warriors to burn all of their timeouts. With one minute on the clock Valle Catholic had roughly fifty yards to cover in order to keep their unbeaten hopes alive. With no choice but to pass on 4^th and 10, Valle quarterback threw a pass over the middle but was foiled once again by Westran DB Matt George who had all game long disrupted the passing game for the Warriors. George hauled in his second interception of the game and all but sealed the victory for Westran. After two quick kneel downs the now 6-0 Westran Hornets were able to gather in the end zone to celebrate their win over the soon to be former #1 ranked Valle Catholic Warriors.

Westran quarterback Tyler Hunt completed 2 of his 7 passes for 23 yards and a touchdown and also ran the ball 36 times totaling 194 yards on the ground. Hunt also eclipsed 4,000 total yards for his career in this game midway through his senior season. Kalob Dale rushed the ball 6 times for 46 yards as well. Matt George led the defense with 10 tackles, 2 interceptions, a fumble recovery and a defensive touchdown. Andrew Baxley and Nick Eagen had 8 tackles each.

Westran 6-0 now sets their sights on Class 1 # 13 state ranked Marceline 4-2. Westran will continue their road trip to face the Tigers on their path toward the postseason.

Photos by Kris Childs

Tyler Hunt breaks away for a 53-yard rush toward the final Westran TD winning the game by a final score of 21-14.