No. 5 Collins Hill showed why it is considered among the premier defensive units in the state on Friday.
The Eagles had three sacks, four other tackles for loss and limited a gifted Westlake squad to 24 rushing yards in posting a hard-fought 35-14 win in the first round of the Class 6A playoffs.
“I’m proud of our defense,” said junior Katrell Webb, who had two sacks and an additional tackle for loss. “We shook sometimes, but we practice over and over again. We bend, we don’t fold and we never break. We had seen all their plays on film, we worked all their plays against our scout team. It was a good, good game for us.”
Collins Hill (10-1) will travel to play Colquitt County in the second round. Westlake finished 5-6, with all losses coming to state-ranked teams.
“We’ve been preaching that we’ve got five games to win and we’ve been talking about noting else but going 1-0,” Collins Hill coach Drew Swick said. We were pretty physical, communicate, tackle, pursue the ball. That’s how you win the game. That’s how you play defense.”
Collins Hill broke a tie game by scoring on a 19-yard run by Deuce Geralds, an uncommitted four-star defensive lineman who doubles as an occasional running back. The Eagles got excellent field position after their defense had two sacks — one from Webb and a combined sack from Jayvon Hatch and Jack Hernandez — that allowed them to start the go-ahead drive at the Westlake 34.
The Eagles defense came up big in the ensuing possession when they stopped Westlake on downs inside the 10. That led to Collins Hill putting together its best drive of the game, moving 89 yards on 12 plays and putting it away in a 14-yard touchdown pass from Makyree Cross to Alijah Patillo with 1:51 left.
Collins Hill sealed the victory when Jeremiah Proctor intercepted a pass and returned it for a 93-yard touchdown with 50 seconds remaining.
Cross completed 13 of 25 yards for 165 yards and one touchdown, with one interception. Patillo caught seven passes for 68 yards and Atticus Joseph caught four passes fo 64 yards. Cam Jones rushed 16 times for 140 yards and one touchdown. Geralds had seven rushes for 56 yards and two touchdowns,
Westlake quarterback Sean Smith completed 9 of 23 passes for 148 yards with two interceptions and was sacked three times. Smith also caught a touchdown pass.
The first half ended in a 14-14 tie thanks to a couple of counterpunch touchdowns.
Collins Hill scored on its second possession thanks to some stellar running. The drive was completed when Cam Jones reversed his field and raced around the left end fo a 32-yard touchdown. Damien Sanchez kicked the extra point for a 7-0 lead at 2:16 left in the first quarter.
But Westlake quickly answered when Naeem Odeniyi took the kickoff back for a 95-yard touchdown. Edwin Jose kicked the extra point to tie the game.
Then came a flurry of turnovers. Collins Hill coughed it up at the 11, with Deion Thomas recovering the loose ball. The momentum didn’t really shift as Sean Smith was intercepted by C.J. Hector. But the Eagles turned it over on the next play when Makyree Cross threw an interception into the chest of Smith.
Collins Hill got out of its own way to score with 1:07 left in the half. The big play was a 39-yard heave to Atticus Joseph, who leaped high to catch it at the 4. Big Deuce Geralds powered in on the next play and the Eagles led 14-7.
But Westlake answered again in three plays, scoring when Jones lateralled to Thomas, who threw back to Jones for a 29-yard touchdown to tie the game.
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