WS Chronicle

photo above: Photo by Craig T. Greenlee  Clifton Mack of West Forsyth puts pressure on High Point Central quarterback John Saunders (7).

BY CRAIG T. GREENLEE

FOR THE CHRONICLE

West Forsyth is the real deal in junior varsity football.

The Titans are still unbeaten and they’re still growing. It’s still too early in the season to tell if this team has a reasonable chance to achieve perfection.

There is one certainty, however.

Now that the non-conference part of the schedule is finished, West Forsyth will get every team’s best shot as play begins in the Central Piedmont 4-A Conference this week.

The Titans improved to 4-0 after beating High Point Central 43-30 last Thursday. There’s no doubt that West Forsyth can score with anyone. What’s not so clear is how sturdy the defense is. The Titans had their bright moments on defense, but Coach Jared Eure is far from satisfied with what he saw in last week’s outing.

“I’m pleased with the win, but not happy about our performance,” he said. “We gave up too many points. However, we did get stops when we really needed to.”

The first half of this game was a shoot-out, with neither team being able to stop the other. The lead changed hands six times before the Titans took control for good  with 1:01 remaining in the second quarter.

Kallai Buyna made a leaping catch of a pass from Drew Latham for a 28-yard touchdown to put West Forsyth back in front at 22-18.  High Point Central attempted to answer with a score, but John Saunders’ pass was picked off by Titans defensive back KeAndre Buyna to end that threat. Three plays later, Latham hooked with Kallai Buyna again, this time for a 25-yard touchdown, and West Forsyth extended its lead to 29-18 at the half.

High Point Central (3-1) managed to stay in contention with much help from its passing attack. The Titans went up 36-18 on Latham’s 29-yard scoring pass to Davis Latham. But the Bison responded and trimmed the deficit to two touchdowns (36-24) on Saunders’ 12-yard touchdown pass to Trent Westray.

The Titans added one more score early in the fourth quarter on Mack Duke’s 40-yard touchdown run. High Point Central closed the gap to 13 points on Isaiah Bagley’s 34-yard touchdown reception.

The Bison got the ball back on the ensuing kickoff by recovering an on-sides kick near midfield. With a little over five minutes remaining, the Titans clinched the victory wen Stephen McBride intercepted a Saunders pass to end that drive.

“I keep telling our defense that if we can get stops and have a lot of three-and-outs, we’ll win ball games,” said Eure. “We have a strong offense that’s operating on all cylinders. I don’t get nervous when our offense has the ball because we have so many different weapons to work with.”

Drew Latham finished the game with three touchdown passes (two to Kallai Buyna) and Duke rushed for two scores. Multi-purpose back Kenyar McPhatter produced the Titans’ first score of the game on a one-yard run.

For the Bison, Saunders passed for four touchdowns and Bagley ran for a score and had two touchdown receptions.