Gallery by Ashley Honaker
Shady Spring – Shady Spring’s defense has thrived off of turnovers and when they needed one Jalon Bailey delivered two.
With Westside driving in a 14-14 game early in the fourth quarter, Bailey ripped a ball from the ballcarrier and returned it 77 yards to the Shady Spring 10, setting up the go-ahead touchdown in a 35-14 victory for the Tigers Friday night in Shady Spring.
The fumble and subsequent return halted a Westside drive that amassed 45 yards across 10 plays and had the visitors in position to take the lead with just under nine minutes to play in the game. That coupled with an interception Bailey nabbed on Westside’s next play from scrimmage helped seal the deal for the Tigers.
“Yeah, when he came around the edge I had an open field tackle and he didn’t really go low on me, so I knew I had a chance,” Bailey smiled. “The ball was right in front of me, so I just took it. I do it every week, but if somebody comes at me not running low, I’m going for that ball.”
“It was huge!” Shady Spring head coach Vince Culicerto said. “Jalon came out tonight, no doubt, and made a big play. And right before that series, he said, ‘I feel there’s gonna be a turnover here.’ He didn’t say it was gonna be him, but he made it happen, and he did a super job. But that’s the way he plays. He’s a real savvy, real football smart kid and a big time player, and he made a big time play there that helped us out.”
The play swung the momentum to the Tigers who scored touchdowns on their final four drives of the game. The assault came largely via a ground attack that accumulated 220 yards on 39 attempts. Kaiden Helmer, who led the assault with 148 yards on 20 carries, finished with four touchdowns, including the one immediately after Bailey’s fumble recovery.
“They had their guys wide and were giving us the middle so we took it,” Culicerto said. “The middle was there and we just took advantage of it getting, six, seven sometimes eight yards a play.”
“We’re beat up,” Westside head coach Justin Cogar said. “We’ve got two starters on the defensive line that are out. We got younger guys in there. We started a freshman at defensive tackle. And it’s tough on us right now depth wise because we don’t have a lot of it. I think they kind of dictated the game with their run game there, especially in the second half, under center, and just taking three, four yards a play and that’s kind of been our kryptonite this year.”
As prolific as Shady’s rushing attack was, most of its production came in the second half. The Tigers netted 142 yards on the ground after the break after coming away with just 78 on their first 18 carries. The inability to sustain led to a pair of three-and-outs on their first two drives and a fumble six plays into their third.
They snapped that skid early in the second quarter, compiling an eight-play, 55-yard touchdown drive that resulted in a 7-0 Tiger lead.
Westside, which struggled in its own right sustaining drives early, answered with a 12-play trek that resulted in a 5-yard touchdown run from Kadien Vance. The Tiger offense, aiming to get points before the half, stalled out at the Westside 34, giving the Renegades an opportunity to strike. And they did.
Vance found Kyler Kenneda for both of his completions on the drive with the latter also drawing a pass inference penalty to aid the cause. A 23-yard strike found Kenneda as time expired, giving Westside a 14-7 advantage at the break.
“We moved the ball most of the night,” Cogar said. “Our pass game was good. We had good protection, and so right there before the half, I thought we had great momentum. I thought we came out in the second half ready to play and didn’t capitalize on the first drive out of the half. And that’s kind of the difference in the game.”
A 12-play Westside drive out of the break stalled at the Shady 36 and the Tigers grabbed the momentum from there, kicking off the first of their four consecutive scoring drives.
Bailey’s fumble recovery kicked off the first of three consecutive Westside drives that ended in a turnover. Brody Seabolt joined Bailey in the interception column, picking Vance with the Tigers up 28-14, effectively ending the game.
All three second-half touchdowns came off of Westside turnovers.
“It gets contagious,” Culicerto said. “Guys get interceptions and other people start getting them. (Nathan) Easley’s got eight. It’s just like Bailey’s got, I don’t know he could be around five or six, and then Helmer, with the fumbles, he is always around them and stripping the ball. It’s just something we talk about when we’re watching film. Turnovers are huge. Let’s keep doing it. And I give them stickers for turnovers to put on their helmet. They definitely enjoy that too, but they’re just, those boys are tough players, and we knew we had a special bunch of kids.”
Westside drops to 6-3 and is projected to be No. 15 when the Class AA ratings come out next week. Shady moves to 7-2 and is projected to move up to No. 11 in Class AAA ahead of the final week of the season. Westside will conclude the regular season next week at home against Mount View while Shady will host Wheeling Central.
