Historic night for Westminster Christian
WILLIAMS BAY, Wis. - Westminster Christian's football program has come a long way in a short time. The Warriors clinched the first playoff berth in their short history Friday, going north of the border to do it, beating Williams Bay (Wis.), 48-6.
Tannor Park threw for 3 touchdowns, 2 to tight end Scotty Graziano. Xavier Brown scored on 2 long runs, and Bobby Scott added a pair of scores as the Warriors improved to 6-2 on the season.
"Seeing how every kid out here, most of them were seventh-graders and most of them had never played a game of football in their life," said Westminster coach John Davis. "And the next thing you know, you're in your third varsity season after losing a lot of games and getting humbled the first couple of years, it feels pretty good to make the playoffs and have an opportunity to do it in a short period of time."
Brown, Zach Anderson, and Sam Huguley led the defense, which came with 6 ½ minutes of posting a shutout. Anderson sacked Bulldog quarterback Braden O'Laughlin twice and Huguley had an interception that led to a Westminster score.
Park was a model of efficiency. He attempted just 8 passes but completed 6 for 221 yards and the 3 scores. One of the incompletions was dropped and the other was basically a throwaway.
Brown ran for 166 yards on just 10 carries, including scoring runs of 46 and 94 yards. Marcus Grasemann added a touchdown run for Westminster.
The Warriors wasted no time taking control, scoring twice before the host Bulldogs (2-7) ran a play. Park threw a 20-yard scoring strike to Graziano to put the Warriors on top for good. Connor James Albrecht then dropped the kickoff in a perfect spot, with Brown zooming in to recover it before it even touched a Bulldogs' player. Four plays later, Grasemann bulled in from the 1 to make it 14-0.
Brown scored his first touchdown late in the quarter, bursting up the middle, breaking a tackle and cutting to the left sideline for a 46-yard score, and the rout was on.
After halftime, the Warriors again struck quickly. On their first offensive play of the second half, Graziano caught a pass, broke numerous tackles and ran from one sideline to the other on the way to an 80-yard touchdown.
Michael Guss returned the ensuing kickoff to the Warriors' 9. The Bulldogs got as far as the 6-yard line before being stopped on downs. On the next play, Brown burst up the middle and raced the length of the field untouched for Westminster's final score.
Williams Bay finally got on the scoreboard midway through the fourth quarter.