Prep football: West Field starts fast, defeats Logan for first win
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- West Field’s Hinckley Keele (2) is swarmed by Logan tacklers Austin Birch (10) and Raiden Nielson (34) on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Jaden Fowers celebrates a touchdown against Logan on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Treyson Hunt (39) tries to slip a tackle from Logan’s Kolt Redd on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Cash Colohan (21) leads the Longhorns onto the field before a game against Logan on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Treyson Hunt (39) runs up the sideline against Logan on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
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- West Field receiver Phoenix Sandoval runs with the football against Logan on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
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- West Field quarterback Hinckley Keele looks to pass to Tyce Abbott (20) on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
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- Logan’s Skyler Jenson runs the football at West Field on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Caymen Kap (6) celebrates an onside kicke recovery against Logan on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
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- Logan’s Easton Favero throws the football against West Field on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
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- West Field’s Jaden Fowers runs in for a touchdown against Logan on Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
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- A West Field cheerleader cheers at a football game Friday, Sept. 13, 2024, in Taylor.
TAYLOR — You have to start a tradition sometime, but it was somewhat humorous when the public address announcer welcomed fans to first-year high school West Field’s homecoming football game against Logan on Friday night.
The Longhorns then went out and hopefully established another new tradition, a winning streak, with their first-ever varsity football victory, a 27-14 domination of the Grizzlies in a Region 11 matchup.
“I wondered about the homecoming thing, but I’m just excited to go celebrate with my teammates,” West Field junior quarterback Hinckley Keele said.
Keele threw for two touchdowns and ran for another, all in the first half, as the Longhorns raced to a 20-8 lead at the break.
“I had a lot of good blocks from my O-line and it opened right up for me,” Keele said of his touchdown run. Then: “my receivers ran good routes and got open for me; made my job easy.”
Earlier this year, West Field blew a halftime lead against Layton and the Longhorns weren’t about to let it happen again.
“We knew we had a lot of game left and learned from Layton to keep fighting, step on the gas and keep going,” Keele said. We pushed through and expanded on it.”
Mission accomplished, as the Longhorns took the opening possession of the third quarter and worked down the field on six plays, scoring a touchdown on a 10-yard run by senior running back Cash Colohan and stretching the lead to 27-8 with 9:46 left in the period.
“That was huge; it gave us a lot of momentum and confidence,” Keele said.
West Field (1-4, 1-1 Region 11) then got careless, totaling four turnovers over the final 1 1/2 quarters. The Longhorns fumbled four times, losing three of them, and also threw an interception.
But the defense stepped up and, after Logan cashed in the first miscue, cutting the lead to 27-14 on a 13-yard run by Kedin Avila, the Longhorns pitched a shutout the rest of the night.
“I’m proud of our defense; glad they did great. We couldn’t win without them. They did amazing,” Keele said. “We need to be better. We’ll work on that and be cleaner from here.”
The Longhorns opened an early 20-0 lead against the Grizzlies.
They won the coin toss and deferred to the second half, then opted for an onside kick that was successful, giving them a first down at the Logan 48, surprising even Keele.
“I wasn’t aware, but I’m glad it worked,” Keele added.
Alternating rushes by Treyson Hunt and Keele, West Field took seven plays to hit paydirt when Keele scored from 4 yards out with nine minutes remaining in the first quarter for an early 7-0 lead.
“The game plan at the beginning was to run the ball because every other team has run on them, so we knew what to do,” Hunt said. “Hink is also a great runner, so we used both of us to march down the field.”
Keele threw a 7-yard touchdown pass to Phoenix Sandoval, making it 14-0 at the 3:55 mark of the period.
Jaden Fowers caught Keele’s second TD toss of the half, this one a 21-yarder, as the Longhorns’ margin grew to 20-0 four plays into the second stanza.
“Our O-line was doing good getting the ball down the field with the run game, and it opened up the pass for us,” Keele said.
Logan (2-3, 0-2) got on the board with a 78-yard pass and run from quarterback Easton Favero to Skyler Jenson, closing out the half with 3:09 left.
Hunt is a wrestler but was convinced by the West Field coaches last week to come out for the football team.
He did most of his work between the 20s, setting up all four West Field touchdowns with bruising runs.
“I was hoping to get in the endzone, but it didn’t happen,” Hunt said. “That’s OK. I’m happy for the other guys that got in. It’s great to win and hopefully continue to grow as a team.”