FOOTBALL: West Laurens bounces Beach for first-round win

A 15-day layoff between this and a last game Oct. 30 made it no surprise that West Laurens was a touch rusty in its GHSA playoff opener Friday night. 

Some routine penalties, miscommunications and offensive timing issues were among the mostly minor stumbling blocks that got the fourth-seeded Raiders slightly off-balance at points in a first-round matchup with Savannah’s A.E. Beach. 

None of them, however, took them off their stride as they soundly defeated the Bulldogs, 45-6, to check off an expected win. 

“It was a couple of little things just from not playing football in two weeks,” said West Laurens head coach Kip Burdette. “You get out of the rhythm.” 

Unlike many games with a more predictable and steady tempo on either side of the ball, this one’s irregular flow over four quarters – and the latter two played under a running clock – was kind of difficult to get used to. 

But the beat went right on just as it has since August for the Raiders, who struck up their band at the usual frequency in an offensive effort that eclipsed 400 total yards, with rushers Ty Cummings and Branden Brooks both achieving triple digits with a score each, while quarterback Cason Pollock did same and delivered two touchdowns through the air. 

They didn’t have to punt, but did give over possession once on downs deep in the fourth quarter, just before the game ended on a somewhat sour note with a last-play Beach score to break the shutout. 

Quarterback Jayvion Williams scrambled to hit Derek Campbell on a 29-yard touchdown pass to the back left corner of the end zone against JV defenders as time expired, but the Bulldogs went next to nowhere against West’s defensive 1s, who didn’t let them anywhere close to scoring range before that point in the night. 

That unit’s signature two-note “Jaws” theme resonated throughout another sharky performance that included two tackles for loss and a pressure each for Maxx Chafin and Ethan Cason-Guyton, along with a sack on one of five team-leading total tackles for Shannon Adkins. 

Jamari Blash recovered a muffed kickoff in the first half, and Jayce Blash picked off a pass (for his ninth career interception, tying a school career record held by Eric Scott) in the latter portion.  

“We were a little sloppy to start the game off, but we scored on every drive of the first half, and I think we scored on every drive until we stalled out right here,” Burdette said. “We did a good job on defense. We held them scoreless for three quarters, and one heave right there at the end.” 

“It was a real good job, everybody tonight. All three phases.”

Friday’s victory was not without this season’s continuing refrain of history, marking the Raiders’  first postseason win of the Burdette era and an 11th of the season, to tie the program-best totals of teams in 2019 and 1990 that both hit the high points in wins to advance to the state quarterfinals. 

West Laurens will vie to do for the sixth-time ever with a record-breaking 12th as it welcomes 20th seed Oconee County – a 39-37 winner via last-second field goal at Northwest Whitfield – to the SHU in next week’s round of 16.

“We’ve had a lot of firsts this year,” Burdette said. “We’re excited. We hope we can get this thing into Thanksgiving somehow.” 

Things got off to a slow start, but not in the negative sense, as the Raiders covered 79 yards of ground and took more than five minutes off the clock on a deliberate drive to score their first touchdown after forcing a a quick Beach three-and-out. 

Several Cummings runs, including one to the end zone that was partially called back on a downfield hold, got the Raiders to scoring range before Pollock dropped a GPS-guided pass into the arms of Juvon Hill to get inside the 10. Adkins forced it in from half a yard out on the ensuing third-and-goal. 

That’d be West’s only possession of the opening period, as the Bulldogs used up five remaining minutes on a drive just over midfield that Adkins’ sack halted on the last play. 

Williams’ punt, to start the second, rolled all the way to the Raider 1 to create some foreboding field position. Foreboding, that is, for the Beach defense, which got torched by Cummings on a run from his own end zone, to the other, via the left sideline. 

“He bounced a play that we really weren’t intending to bounce, and outran everybody for 99,” Burdette said. “I thought somebody had an angle on him, but nah… no way.” 

Things picked up quickly from there, as West Laurens got the football right back via fumble on the ensuing kickoff. The Raiders were held to a 22-yard Duggan Malone field goal – after Beach pressure rushed an incompletion on two swing pass plays – on the free possession, but got the most out of their two left before halftime. 

Braylen Robinson runs, the last an easy 3-yard stroll into the paint, headlined a 53-yard trip to make it a 24-0 lead. Pollock screened one to Evan Holmes for a 41-yard catch and run touchdown about a minute out from the break. 

Beach held the football, but failed to advance it, for a good chunk of time in between on two distinct possessions that separated by a turnover via special-teams touching on an awkward punt. 

Pollock and the offense came out of the half with easily their crispest drive of the night. The quick, 52-yard hop concluded with back-to-back receptions by Jeremy Brownlee, who slanted in on a 7-yard grab for the touchdown. 

Brooks, who had scattered several quality carries up to this point in the game, spilled loose to the right for his biggest on the 62-yard touchdown that got the team’s number to 45, and his two-dimensional yardage total to 137, early in the fourth. 

Cummings, whose six carries for 128 were exclusive to the first half, led the rushing count. Pollock was a solid 6-of-10 for 118. 

Jayce Blash picked off a Williams deep shot late in the third quarter to ensure the West Laurens first-teamers would go unscored-on. Beach attributed 73 of its 155 total yards to the final drive.

“It just felt good getting the win,” he said. “We wanted to pitch a shutout. We knew what the plan was, we just needed to execute it.”