By Chuck Reherman, Sports Editor – Coyle was expected to be an early season challenge for Southwest Covenant.
After all, the Bluejackets were ranked No. 4 in class C and had beaten a top 10 ranked class B team in their season opener.
The No. 7 ranked Patriots were up to the challenge and made the most of things, remaining unbeaten with a 54-32 win over Coyle Friday night at Patriot Field.
And, the game wasn’t really as close as the final score indicated. The Patriots opened a 20-6 lead after one quarter and led 40-12 at halftime in cruising to their third win of the season. And, in all three of those wins, the Patriots have scored 50-plus points.
It was the second straight win over Coyle for the Patriots, who are now 2-3 all time against the Bluejackets. In both those wins SWCS has scored 50 points.
“This was a really good win for us,” SWCS head coach Trey Cloud said. “Coyle was ranked in the top five and had beaten a really good team the week before. We have had a couple of good wins, but this was the best win of the three we have had.
“We started the game fast, then just grinded it out,” he said. “Our game plan was to be balanced and we started out running and throwing the ball about the same amount of times. We stayed more with the run in the second half.”
It was a game that the Patriots controlled the tempo from the start. SWCS took the opening drive and marched in for the touchdown. Nathan Hagan capped the drive with a three-yard touchdown run.
After stopping Coyle on their first possession, the Patriots put together a second scoring drive. Trevor Kelly hauled in a 17-yard scoring pass from Sam Webb and a 13-0 lead less than six minutes into the game.
Webb, who threw for three touchdowns (he has 13 on the season), ran for his first of two scores with just over three minutes remaining in the first quarter to open a 20-0 lead.
Coyle, who also has an explosive offense (the Bluejackets had 330 yards on the night and 282 coming on the ground), scored on a four-yard run by Brenden Weathers after a long drive that cut the lead to 20-6.
The Patriots answered with a drive that was capped by Hagan’s second touchdown run, a four-yard plunge through the right side of the line. Weathers guided the Bluejackets on another drive and scored to make it a 27-12 game.
But, the Patriots answered with a of touchdown passes from Webb to open the 40-12 lead. Webb tossed an 11-yard scoring aerial to Cole Shaw, then followed it up with a 32-yard touchdown strike to Bryce Brown.
Webb rushed for his second touchdown of the night to start the third quarter, scoring from three-yards out, opening a 46-12 lead.
Coyle did make it a 46-24 game a 19-yard scoring pass from Weathers to Robert Taylor and a 22-yard touchdown run from Weathers.
Kelly scored the Patriots final touchdown in the fourth quarter, breaking a 64-yard run to open a 54-26 lead.
Kelly finished the night rushing for 95 yards on seven carries. Haganm had 89 on 17 rushes and Webb 50 on seven. Weathers had 157 yards rushing on 15 carries for Coyle and Taylor had 69 on eight.
Webb completed 10 of 19 passes for 175 yards for three touchdowns. He has now thrown for 565 yards in three games with 13 touchdowns. He has completed 26 of 49 passes.
Kelly caught three passes for 80 yards, Shaw had five for 58 and Brown two for 37.
“We played good on defense, but gave up a little more than we wanted to,” Cloud said. “Two of the scores came late when we had some younger players in. It was a good experience for the younger players and we came away with the W, which is the main thing.”
The Partriots go back on the road to take on Depew in a 7:30 p.m. game Friday.
