Rebels' West bests Vikings
| Saturday, Nov 07 2009 12:07 AM
Last Updated Saturday, Nov 07 2009 12:07 AM
There was a whole lot of West on Friday night at South High. Unfortunately for the Vikings, Lee West plays for the Rebels.
The 6-foot-3, 200-pound senior rushed for 149 yards and three touchdowns, and also returned a blocked field goal for a score, to spark South to a 38-14 victory over West High in Southwest Yosemite League action.
"If you get one of those kids in your coaching career, you're lucky," South coach John Wren said. "I mean what do you do? Give him the ball, tell him to run."
Limited to just eight yards on five carries in the first half, Lee West turned the game around on special teams.
With Vikings kicker Joseph Reyes lining up for 27-yard field goal that would have given them a 10-0 lead, South's Bryant Ayala broke through the line and batted the kick attempt down. Lee West over-ran the ball before going back to retrieve it and then sprinted 60 yards to tie the score at 7 with 1:24 left in the second quarter.
"That got me going," West said. "My team got together and we worked as a team more and we got it done."
Lee West scored on TD runs of seven, 20 and 44 yards and finished with 141 yards rushing in the second half.
"We got the momentum and we just have to role with it and keep it going. That's what we did tonight."
South (6-3, 2-3) scored on its first five posessions in the second half and eventually built a 38-7 on a 2-yard TD run by Odail Crumb with 5:22 left in the game.
"Hey, that's what we've been doing all year," Wren said. "Our kids are never going to quit, I'll tell you what. West High is great football team and (Vikings coach) Chad (Grider) has done a great job and we kind of knew that one team or the other was going to break through. We feel fortunate it was us tonight."
Crumb's scoring run was set up by an interception and return by Ritchie Maestre and capped three Rebels touchdowns in one minute, 31 seconds.
"We did some good things defensively and offensively and that blocked field goal kind of broke our back," Grider said. "(It) took the momentum and some of our guys couldn't regain that focus of keep competing and playing hard."
The Vikings (4-5, 3-2) scored first, capitalizing on a South turnover. Taiyon Jackson caught a 21-yard scoring pass from Franklin Simmons two plays into the second quarter for a 7-0 lead.
