New blood leads Warriors past Panthers
PikeView (6) vs. Wyoming East (14)
Written: Oct 08, 2011
By NICK BROCKMAN
for the Daily Telegraph
NEW RICHMOND — Without Marcus Schofield, Wyoming East played a different brand of football, but still found the formula for success against visiting PikeView on Friday night.
Schofield, the Warrior standout, sat out Friday’s contest with a calf injury, and Wyoming East employed a new strategy, with a different set of players in an eventual 14-6 victory.
“It was a little different (without Schofield),” said Gary Poindexter, Wyoming East coach.
Schofield suffered the injury during a 31-28 loss at River View Sept. 30. Poindexter said he hopes to have Schofield for Wyoming East’s next game and that it was different without him Friday.
With Schofield out, Zack Whitten moved from quarterback to running back, and freshman Aaron Griffith stepped into the quarterback role for his first-ever varsity start at the position.
“We had to change a lot of our offensive philosophy with a freshman quarterback,” Poindexter said. “We had to change some of our philosophies and stuff like that, but I thought Aaron Griffith had done a great job considering the circumstances — first game.”
Griffith finished 4-of-6 passing for 22 yards and ran 10 times for 64 yards.
“He did not play like a freshman,” Poindexter said. “He played like somebody who had been there before.”
Meanwhile, Whitten provided both scores for the Warriors (3-3).
Whitten completed a halfback pass to Ty Treadway for a 26-yard touchdown reception minutes into the third quarter for the game’s first score. Chris Cecil provided the extra point to give Wyoming East a 7-0 advantage against PikeView (1-6).
PikeView’s featured playmaker David Keen scored on a 13-yard run with 4:03 remaining in the game to pull within one point.
“I figured we would have a lot of momentum after that,” Keen said of his score. “It’s hard to come back when you’re playing at somebody else’s home field. Us being young, it’s different.”
The extra-point kick attempt was blocked though as Wyoming East maintained a slim 7-6 lead.
The Panthers attempted an onside kick, but it was recovered by Warrior Derek Laxton.
Wyoming East manufactured another successful drive, capped by a 7-yard touchdown rush from Whitten. Cecil’s kick was good, and the Warriors led 14-6 with 1:34 left in the game.
Mickey Byars recovered a fumble on the ensuing kickoff for Wyoming East, but the Warriors failed to run out the clock.
PikeView inherited the ball at its own 20-yard line with 20 seconds in the game. After an incompletion on first down, Warrior Casey Wood intercepted Keen to seal the win.
Neither team produced in the first half, though the lack of success came in different forms.
Wyoming East struggled with just 39 offensive yards before halftime.
Meanwhile, PikeView just failed to execute when within striking distance on three separate drives with a fumble inside the 3-yard line, a dropped touchdown pass on fourth down and an inability to score on three consecutive plays within the 6-yard line.
With Keen taking more snaps at quarterback, Jordan Shrewsbury played a bigger role at running back. Shrewsbury finished with 83 yards rushing on 20 carries.
“He did excellent,” Keen said of Shrewsbury. “Give him the ball every play would be nice. He stepped up a lot. He’s pretty strong. He’s a strong athlete. He’s got a lot of heart.”
Keen played a large role running too, with 103 yards on 19 rushes and one touchdown.
Griffith led Wyoming East with 64 yards rushing. Chase Lowman finished with 44 yards rushing, and Cecil had 41.
Wyoming East will play host to in-county rival Westside at 7:30 p.m. Friday, while PikeView will next play Independence at 7:30 p.m. Oct. 21.
— E-mail: nbrockman@register-herald.com
PikeView....................................0 0 0 6 — 6
Wyoming East...........................0 0 7 7 — 14
Third Quarter
WE — Ty Treadway 26 pass from Zack Whitten (Chris Cecil kick), 7:58
Fourth Quarter
PV — David Keen 13 run (kick failed), 4:03
WE — Whitten 7 run (Cecil kick), 1:34
INDIVIDUAL STATS
RUSHING — PV: Keen 19-103-1, Jordan Shrewsbury 20-83, Hunter Moses 5-29, Nathan Taylor 4-(-2). WE: Aaron Griffith 10-64, Chase Lowman 10-44, Cecil 7-41, Whitten 10-11-1.
PASSING — PV: Keen 1-8 1-21-0. WE: Whitten 1-1 0-26-1, Griffith 4-6 0-22-0.
RECEIVING — PV: Taylor 1-21. WE: Treadway 2-34-1, Lowman 2-14, Kyle Smith 1-0
TURNOVERS — WE: Mickey Byars (FR), Casey Wood (INT).
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