Cedar Grove defensive lineman Justin Shaffer (77) tackles Westminster quarterback Rankin Woley. (Photo by Mark Brock)
The No. 3 ranked Cedar Grove Saints Class 3A state playoff run came to an end on Friday night at Hallford Stadium as the Westminster Wildcats led from start to finish in a 24-8 upset victory.
Westminster (10-4) got the football first and facing fourth and 8 at their own 34 went with the fake punt snap to Harrison Jones who rambled for 32 yards to the Cedar Grove 41.
The Saints defense held to force a 45 yard field goal by Blake Gillikin and Westminster took the lead 3-0 with 8:28 to play in the first quarter.
Cedar Grove (11-2-1) had runs of 14 and 17 yards by Labron Morris on their first possession, but a pair of penalties on the Saints forced them into a punting situation.
The Wildcats would put together a 61 yard drive as running back Isaiah Malcome had runs of 21 and 26 yards in the drive to eventually set up quarterback Rankin Woley’s one yard touchdown run. Gillikin’s point after kick was good for a 10-0 Westminster advantage with 1:18 left in the first quarter.
Neither team could get much going on their next couple of possessions until the Saints were forced to punt from their own end zone with just under nine minutes to play in the half.
Malcome gathered in the punt at the Saints’ 35 and weaved his way to the Saints 9-yard line to set up the Wildcats’ next score. Woley would take it the final 9 yards for the score and a 17-0 Westminster lead they would take to the half.
Cedar Grove’s Jesse Reverio (4) eludes a Westminster tackler on a 20-yard catch and run. (Photo by Mark Brock)
Cedar Grove came out of the half moving the football with big plays of 20 and 26 yards as quarterback Jelani Woods connected with Jesse Reverio and Labron Morris, respectively, to move down to the Westminster 29. Facing a fourth and one at the 29 Morris was hit and stopped inches short of the first down as the Wildcat defense held.
The Saints’ defense forced a punt, but on the second play of their possession the Saints would mishandle a handoff and the Wildcats would recover at the Cedar Grove 29. Six plays later Malcome would go the final five yards for the touchdown for a 24-0 Westminster lead with 3:39 left in the third quarter.
A drive early in the fourth quarter had the Saints marching into Westminster territory, but a fourth and 12 pass went incomplete as the Wildcat defense held once again.
The Saints got the football back with 4:33 to play and marched down the field in 12 plays with Morris going the final one yard for the touchdown with 56 seconds to play. Woods added the two-point conversion run to make the final score of 24-8.
Morris finished with 77 yards on 13 carries and one touchdown to go over 1,700 yards rushing for the second consecutive season. Unofficially, Morris has 3,653 yards rushing in his career with 40 touchdowns which moves him into 10th place on the DeKalb County rushing list.