Turnovers plague GW in loss to West Forsyth

CLEMMONS, N.C. — With five starters unable to play last night with injury, there was a feeling behind the scenes at West Forsyth that its run as an unbeaten team might just end against George Washington High.

But as it turned out, West played yet another solid, mistake-free game, and pulled away in the second half for a 31-13 win to move to 6-0 heading into an open date in its schedule.

Bobby Clark delivered a big blow with a 72-yard punt return for a touchdown, quarterback Patrick Midkiff had a highly effective game despite missing one of his top receivers, and West’s defense swarmed the visiting Eagles and intercepted three passes.

Midkiff completed 10 of 15 passes for 144 yards and also ran for 44, and the Titans defense made DeVaughn Benion, George Washington’s diminutive shifty tailback, work hard for his 98 yards on 20 carries.

“We knew they were going to try to bloody our nose, and that’s good for us,” West Forsyth coach Adrian Snow said. “There is a method to the madness. You have to play good people and people who do different things, like run and try to run over you.

“(Benion), boy, he plays hard all the time, but the great thing is our kids had respect for that. Our kids had to rally up when that sucker was playing because if they didn’t, he was going to take it to the house.”

The Eagles tightened up the final margin on the final play of the game with a 21-yard touchdown pass from Kevin Shuler to Richard Ferrell.

“We can’t make the kind of mistakes we are making against very good football teams because they will expose your weaknesses very quickly,” George Washington coach Dan Newell said. “We made mistakes on offense as well as defense and I give them credit. They are a good football team. They are very sound in what they do, they don’t take a lot of chances and the things they did gave us a lot of trouble.”

Benion capped GW’s first drive with a 3-yard touchdown run, but West tied the score at 7-7 after Kersey Anthony scored on a 3-yard run.

The Titans’ defense held the Eagles on the next possession, and Clark caught the ensuing punt at the 28 before cutting to the left sideline. Allen Ayuninjam cleared Clark’s way to the corner with a crushing block, and Clark ran 72 yards up the sideline for a touchdown. Clark ran in the conversion on a direct snap
for a 15-7 lead.

Pete Balthrop of West Forsyth intercepted Tim Moore to kill GW’s next drive, and West had a 21-yard touchdown pass called back for a chop-block penalty with 7 seconds left in the half.

West Forsyth got a short field on its first possession of the second half after Ric Thompson intercepted Tim Moore at the Eagles’ 29 and five plays later, Clark scored from the 1 to extend the lead to 21-7. In the fourth quarter, Chris Price kicked a 33-yard field goal and Anthony scored on a 2-yard run to put
the Titans ahead 31-7.

Clark finished with 57 yards on 10 carries and West Forsyth had 119 rushing yards. The Eagles rushed for 157 yards and Shuler was 5 of 15 for 63 yards.

“They were great tackling tonight,” Newell said of West Forsyth. “That’s the best tackling team we have seen, including Amherst.”

West Forsyth 31, George Washington 13
George Washington 7 0 0 6 — 13
West Forsyth 0 15 6 10 — 31
GW – DeVaughn Benion 3 run (Campbell kick)
WF – Anthony 3 run (Price kick)
WF – Clark 72 punt return (Clark run)
WF — Clark 1 run (kick blocked)
WF — Price 33 FG
WF — Anthony 2 run (Price kick)
GW — Ferrell 21 pass from Shuler