It was no ordinary night at Hornet Stadium last Friday as vehicles overflowed school property for great distances bringing in the fans, many in green, many in purple. Even the start of the game was special as a National Guard helicopter brought in the game ball, part of the Veterans Night celebration. All were there to witness which of the long-time rivals would succumb to its first loss of the season.

Going into the game between the Westran Hornets and the Salisbury Panthers it was hard to give an honest answer of any prediction of how the game would play out between the two unbeaten teams. With two of the most devastating defenses going head-to-head on one field, many thought there would be little opportunity for scoring. So when the Hornets scored 5 touchdowns in the first half of the game against a Salisbury defense that had previously only allowed 5 TD’s all season long was a bit surprising to anyone in attendance wearing purple or green.

The Hornets stood true to their No. 1 ranking in Class 1 football in their 35-0 shutout of the Salisbury Panthers which made them Class 1 District 11 Champions and clinched them at least a share of the Lewis and Clark Conference title and will make their third straight trip to post season play. The Hornets also set a record for wins in a season Friday night with nine. Since Hornet football began in 1972 no Westran team had ever strung together a 9-win season.

Salisbury began the game with the ball and went no further than ten yards before the drive ended with an interception by DB Drake Buffington which allowed Westran to begin their first drive in the red zone. Six plays later, a Tyler Hunt touchdown gave Westran a 7-0 lead.

Salisbury’s next drive ended with a three and out which set up Tyler Hunt’s 24-yard touchdown pass to Drake Buffington, which gave Westran a 14-0 lead with 3:06 left in the 1st quarter. The Hornets scored again on their next drive as the time expired in the first quarter increasing the lead to 21-0.

Westran’s next TD would come from a 54-yard touchdown pass to Matt George on their first play of the second quarter. After another Salisbury three and out, Westran was able to drive down the field and punch it in on a 5-yard run by Tyler Hunt for his third rushing touchdown of the game. To this point, the Westran defense had only allowed one first down in the half which came on a fourth and 1 on the Panthers’ first drive. Salisbury’s final drive of the half had a bit more success with short passes over the middle which gained them enough yards to move the chains three times in the drive and crossed into Hornet territory for the first time all night. Salisbury’s drive was ended by another Trent Land interception that preserved the shutout going into half-time with the Hornet lead 35-0.

Westran came back out in the third quarter with the advantage of a continuous clock due to the 35-point lead but was unable to string together a successful drive in the second half. On their first possession of the half penalties played their part in forcing the Hornets to punt for the first time. After Tyler Hunt’s punt put Salisbury on their own 6 yard line they came out with their first play of the half and ran 43 yards down the field but the drive ended shortly after with a fumble that was recovered by Matt George. The lead stayed the same for the remainder of the contest as the Hornets were able to shutout their LCC rival 35-0

Quarterback Tyler Hunt was 10-13 passing with 158 yards and 2 touchdowns and also carried the ball 21 times for 86 yards and 3 touchdowns. Runningback Kalob Dale had 11 carries for 67 yards, Matt George had 5 receptions for 105 yards and a touchdown and Drake Buffington hauled in 4 passes for 51 yards and a touchdown, Drake also had 12 tackles on defense and an interception. Bradley Minor had 10 tackles including a sack with the other 3 turnovers coming from Trent Land who had 2 interceptions and Matt George who had a fumble recovery.