Memorable week for Westminster despite lopsided loss
The result was a 67-0 defeat to Rockford Christian Life, but there were smiles all over Westminster Christian on Friday night.
The Warriors celebrated their first football homecoming with a packed crowd on their sideline.
“It was amazing, something we’ve never had before,” said DeShawn Bloom, who is one of only four seniors on the Westminster roster. “It felt good. It felt prideful, just on top of the world.”
Westminster is playing its first varsity football season. The Warriors had celebrated homecoming during a boys soccer game in the past. They brought in portable lights to light the field. A planned fireworks show did not go off. That — and the final score — was the only disappointing part of an otherwise memorable week at Westminster.
“The kids were excited. The fans were excited,” Warriors coach John Davis said. “It was the most exciting week in school history. One of our coaches had mentioned that in all of his nine years of being a coach here, even through the baseball state championship (in 2010), he had never seen crowds that came out like they did tonight.”
Unfortunately for the Warriors (0-6, 0-6 NAC), the Eagles quickly made sure the result would not be in doubt.
Christian Life (5-1, 5-1) scored on the first play from scrimmage. Brady Pond hit Isaiah Jones down the right sideline for a 62-yard touchdown. The Eagles ran just 14 offensive plays, scoring 6 touchdowns, in the first quarter and got a safety on the final play of the quarter to take a 39-0 lead.
The Eagles scored on every possession with the exception of kneeling down twice to end the first half.
“It was the performance (we wanted), just not the result,” Davis said. “We wanted the guys to scrap every step of the way. They scrapped as much as they possibly could.”
The Warriors had just 1 first down, and that came on a Christian Life penalty, in their 7 possessions. They had negative 10 yards of offense in the first half, and finished with just 53. Bloom caught 7 passes for 24 yards. Freshman Scotty Graziano had 5 catches for 50 yards. Junior quarterback Max Tucker was 19 for 28 passing for 112 yards.