Dyersburg dominance silences Chargers

By MIKE HUTCHENS
Press Sports
If you can’t say something good, don’t say anything.
Westview head coach Don Coady put that age-old adage into practice after his team was beaten soundly by 10th-ranked Dyersburg 49-14 Saturday at J.C. Sawyer’s Stadium in a game postponed from the night before by lightning.
The veteran Charger coach waved off reporters after shaking hands with the D’burg coaching staff and Trojan players following the contest that was played under sunny skies and amid cool temperatures, saying he had no comment.
It was easy to see why.
Westview (3-4, 2-2) was whipped in all facets of the District 13AA contest — especially in the trenches — long a strong suit of Coady-coached teams.
The Trojans (6-1, 3-1) rolled up 293 of their 316 total yards on the ground, while stuffing the Chargers to the tune of 28 rushing yards on just 28 carries and but 132 yards all totaled.
Dyersburg was particularly dominating against the run in the first half, dropping Westview ball carriers for lost yardage on eight of 17 running plays.
The home team got two touchdowns rushing from both Oshawn Smith (15 carries, 110 yards) and Shavon Henderson, the latter of whom had a third score and perhaps the most telling of the game when he scooped up a fumble and rambled 76 yards to paydirt when the Chargers were threatening to tie the game at 7 late in the first period.
D’burg got a second defensive TD in the waning seconds when Jawan Galacia returned a Ryne Vinson interception 45 yards with just 26 ticks remaining.
Vinson, the Charger starter at QB last season and for a few games this season before moving to wide receiver, was forced back into a signal-caller role when Matt Castleman was knocked from the game late in the first game with a lower leg injury.
The Chargers were able to mount just a couple of sustained drives in the contest — the first the aforementioned march that came to an abrupt end when Castleman was sacked, fumbled and watched as Henderson scooped and scored from long distance after a 34-yard pass from Castleman to Ty Brown had put Westview inside the Dyersburg red zone.
Martin was able to finish its other noteworthy offensive series, moving 66 yards in 14 plays with its initial second half possession to cut a three-touchdown deficit to 21-7 on a five-yard scoring pass from Vinson to a slanting Javier Gordon with 2:13 left in the third quarter. Vinson completed three other passes in the drive — two to Gordon and one to R.J. Scott.
Cal Bradshaw made the first of his two PAT kicks to cap the scoring sequence.
The Chargers overcame three penalties in the drive, but were also the beneficiaries of a pair of 15-yard infractions vs. the host team that moved the chains.
The host team quickly stomped out any momentum gained or thoughts of a Westview rally by scoring on their next three series.
Henderson, who had a pair of first-half sacks in addition to his TD return while regularly disrupting the Martin offense from his end position, scored two times as a fullback in the fourth quarter on simple carries in the middle with second effort.
Ty Brown, Westview’s best all-around offensive weapon in the otherwise dismal team performance, returned a kickoff 97 yards for a touchdown with 1:56 to play for the Chargers’ other endzone visit. Brown finished with 175 all-purpose yards and also had an interception defensively.
Both teams continue District 13AA play and their respective playoff pushes this week, Westview (Class 3A) hosting Crockett County, and Dyersburg (4A) playing at Gibson County. Published in The WCP 10.9.12

Print