WS Chronicle

Photo by Timothy Ramsey

BY TIMOTHY RAMSEY 

THE CHRONICLE

Throughout this entire season, West Forsyth has been a perpetual slow starter during the first half of their games.  That trend continued against Reagan last week.  On a chilly Thursday evening, the Titans turned up the heat in the second half and won going away 43-20.

After stopping Reagan on their opening possession, the Titans took the ball right down the field.  Following a fake punt that propelled the drive down inside the five yard line, the Titans came away with a field goal on the drive to take the early lead.

The Raiders answered with a touchdown of their own later in the quarter when freshman running back D.J. Moyer punched it in from six yards out to put Reagan up 7-3.

Reagan attempted to catch the Titans off guard by kicking an onside kick but the ball bounced out of bounds setting them up with great field position to start the drive.

West Forsyth took full advantage of the field position gift, and several plays later, quarterback Shane Jarvis scored the go ahead touchdown. Looking to answer before the half, Reagan went on the attack but penalties seemed to stall the drive.

They overcame their mental mistakes when quarterback Denaje Frasier connected with D.J. Moyer for his second touchdown on a slant pattern that gave them a 14-11 lead right before the Reagan head coach Chris McCoy was pleased with his teams first half of play but said the second half got away from his team.

“In the first half, we had a great half, we came out and we were executing on both sides of the ball,” McCoy said.  “Some plays went our way, and we were making plays.”

On the other hand, Jared Eure, West Forsyth head coach, thought his team was a little tight and was not fully prepared to play during the first half. He says he gave his team a pep talk during the intermission and they came out to play with “fire and energy” in the second half.

Eure said during halftime he told his team about the last time they played on their home field and lost on the last second play to Mt. Tabor.  He asked his team if they wanted that “nasty taste in your mouth again or play West Forsyth football and blow these guys out.”

That seemed to have the desired effect.

West Forsyth scored on their opening drive when Jalen Ferguson ran it in on a quarterback keeper.  The Titan defense quickly forced a punt from the Raiders on their next set of downs.  Several plays later running back G’Mone Wilson scored giving the Titans a 26-14 lead.

Things fell apart for Reagan after this point, throwing a pick six on their next possession that stretched the deficit to 19 points at the end of the third quarter.  Frasier threw another interception on their next drive.

Coach McCoy was weary of a second half push from the Titans and warned his team not to become complacent as they had a whole half of play left.

McCoy went on to say, “I told them at halftime the first six minutes of the third quarter will be very vital to us.  They were happy and I told them to harness in that energy for the third quarter. Unfortunately, we made some mistakes offensively and didn’t help our defense out much and they capitalized on big plays and our turnovers, which is what good teams do.”

The Titans converted that turnover into more points when running back Malik Neal ran it in to put his team up 40-14 midway through the fourth quarter. There was a bright spot for the Raiders as Frasier corralled a bad snap and scampered 45 yards for a late score, but the game was out of range at that point.

McCoy felt the turnovers “took the wind out of our sails.”  He said his team was flying high but the turnovers hurt his team’s momentum.  He thought the second half was about what team made the most plays, and unfortunately, his team did not.

West Forsyth was able to add field goal on their next possession for the final score of the night. Coach Eure  was pleased with the running game and the play of his offensive line.

“If our offensive line is doing their job, we can run on anybody,” said Eure. “We have about four differ-ent running backs and both quarterbacks can run the ball.  I’m happy with the effort in the second half but I thought the first half was