Gallery by Heather Belcher
Gardner – Calling the Westside offense efficient would’ve been an understatement Friday evening.
Led by the play of junior quarterback Kadien Vance, the Renegades scored touchdowns on seven of their nine offensive possessions, earning a 49-6 win over PikeView in Gardner.
Vance was stellar in the best outing of his career, finishing 9 of 14 through the air for 214 yards and four touchdowns while adding 49 yards and two touchdowns on just three carries. His lone blemish was an interception that wasn’t his fault with the pass caroming off the hands of his receiver and into the defender’s on a screen pass.
“We’ve worked really hard this week and all season on his decision making,” Westside coach Justin Cogar said of Vance. “He’s pretty good at making a play when the first read’s not there. He does a good job of getting out and finding someone down field so I was pleased with that.”
While Westside’s offense excelled, the opposite applied to PikeView’s battered group. The Panthers entered the game without starting QB Braiden Mullin and the area’s rushing leader in Peyton Mounts who played one snap. They eventually lost their No. 2 running Logan Cook who took a helmet to the ribs in the second quarter and didn’t return.
Still the Panthers had their opportunities early on the strength of their return unit which helped them start four of their 10 drives in Westside territory with a fifth starting at the Westside 34 after Vance’s interception and a sixth starting on the 50.
They struggled to make all but one of those drives matter, with two fumbles, two interceptions and a pair of turnovers on downs capping their six first-half drives.
“It doesn’t help when my next go-to is carted off,” Spears said. “I hate that for Logan Cook because he loves this game and he fights real hard. When you No. 32 come off the field – he’s on both sides of the ball and he’s an animal. He took a helmet to the rib and it didn’t go well. When you don’t have those three guys you have to go with your ninth graders which I feel like they came in and gave me their best effort. That’s all you can ask for.”
Westside struck first after PikeView fumbled on its opening drive with Vance finding pay dirt from 10 yards out. After the interception on their second series, the Renegades closed the half with three consecutive scoring drives that featured Vance scoring on a 26-yard run and connecting with Austin Bishop and Kyler Kenneda on touchdown passes of 32 and 64 yards, respectively, to put the visitors up 27-0 at the break.
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It was more of the same in the second half with Vance leading scoring drives of 10 (after a long kickoff return) and 85 yards in the third quarter, tossing touchdown passes of three and 30-yards to Kenneth Runyon and Kenneda again before he was pulled with the game in hand.
“We emphasized so much this week – he can continue to play when the play breaks down,” PikeView coach Jason Spears said of Vance. “He does a tremendous job keeping his eyes down field. We told them he’s extends the play and he’s great at it and it helps them out a lot. We can’t get ourselves looking in the backfield watching him. We’ve got to get our man. Watching film they love to throw the ball and they have opportunities they connected on.”
Ethan Walls’ 16-yard scoring jaunt in relief on Vance in the fourth accounted for Westside’s final points of the evening while PikeView scored in the final minute of the game on a Josh Hedrick 44-yard run.
Hedrick led PikeView with 57 yards rushing.
The Panthers accumulated 120 years of total offense with a third of those yards coming on their final offensive play.
“This week and all season so far our front six have been really solid at stopping the run,” Cogar said. “Against run-heavy teams it kind of plays into our strength. Those guys are playing really hard and they’re making a lot of plays in the backfield to put people in bad situations.”
Westside (2-2) has a bye next week while PikeView (0-4) will host Shady Spring.
Email: Tylerjackson@lootpress.com and follow on Twitter @tjack94
SCORING SUMMARY:
1st Quarter
W: Kadien Vance 10 yd Rush (TD) 6-0
W: Austin Bishop (PAT) 7-0
2nd Quarter
W: Kadien Vance 26 yd Rush (TD) 13-0
W: Austin Bishop (PAT) 14-0
W: Austin Bishop 32 yd Pass from Kadien Vance (CNV) 20-0
W: Kyler Kenneda 64 yd Pass from Kadien Vance (CNV) 26-0
W: Austin Bishop (PAT) 27-0
3rd Quarter
W: Kennith Runyon 3 yd Pass from Kadien Vance (CNV) 33-0
W: Austin Bishop (PAT) 34-0
W: Kyler Kenneda 30 yd Pass from Kadien Vance (CNV) 40-0
W: Austin Bishop (PAT) 41-0
4th Quarter
W: Ethan Walls 16 yd Rush (TD) 47-0
W: Cole Cline 3 yd Rush (CNV) 49-0
PV: Josh Hedrick 44 yd Rush (TD) 49-6
