Crestwood falls to West Florence 23-0 in opener

FLORENCE - West Florence High School football head coach Jody Jenerette said all preseason that his squad was going to have to rely on its defense early on while the offense caught up.You can't answer the bell much better than a season-opening 23-0 shutout.

West's defense controlled the game pretty much from the opening whistle, and backup quarterback George Floyd scored a pair of touchdowns in the big victory.

WFHS (1-0) will face Darlington next week.

Neither offense found much treading in the first quarter.

For Crestwood, it had a lot to do with West's defense that didn't allow positive yardage in the opening 12 minutes - including a fourth-down stop near midfield.

For WFHS, it was more of being its own worst enemy with seven penalties in three possessions.

West Florence also took a hit when starting quarterback Hale Emerson was shaken up after a run and did not return.

Things started to open up for West in the second quarter behind new QB George Floyd, however. After a fumble negated a promising drive to start the frame, Floyd and Terry McKithen combined for four straight rushes totaling 70 yards - the last 28 of which Floyd ran for the first touchdown of the evening to put WFHS up 7-0.

It was a Crestwood fumble next possession near midfield that helped lead to another score. A 24-yard pass from Floyd to Wyatt Emerson set up West at the CHS 15. Floyd took it the rest of the way up the middle for a 14-0 lead at the break. The junior led WFHS with 91 yards rushing in the half.

Crestwood's Gavin Zimmerman attempted a 47-yard field goal at the break, but it was short. Stephen Smalls returned the kick all the back to the end zone for West, but that is not allowed in high school football.

It was still a two-score game early in the fourth quarter when a muffed punt by Crestwood set West Florence up at the 9-yard line. But two more untimely penalties and a sack of Floyd of third down negated a promising drive.

Fittingly, it was the defense that provided the third score as Nykelius Johnson picked off CHS quarterback Clayton Feagin and had nothing but 10 yards of daylight in front of him for a pick-six.

Steven Snell added a 33-yard field goal later in the quarter to complete the scoring.