On October 1st, the freshman football team came together to defeat the Hutto Hippos with a score of 30-8. With lots of strategy and quickness, the win was a primarily easy task for the Warriors.

Opening the first quarter strong, the Warriors held first possession of the ball. The Warriors quickly completed a first down. Following this quick start, Christopher Polanco ‘29 dodged Hippo defense and scored the first touchdown of the night. The Warriors used their quickness to their advantage, gaining numerous first downs throughout the quarter. Shortly after the Warrior offense cracked the game off with a touchdown, Warrior defense made huge stops to swiftly get the ball back in their possession. With time dwindling down, Kameron Hill ‘29 scored another touchdown for the Warriors. The final score for the first quarter was 16-0. 

“Our defense was working super well shooting the gaps and thankfully the offense just kept scoring,” Henry Lerch ‘29 said. “Kameron did a great job getting us many touchdowns.” 

In the second quarter, Westwood now had to hold a strong foot on defense. Each time the Hippos attempted to run the ball, the defense tackles remained quick to shut them down.Warrior defense held strong and were able to hold the Hippos down, not allowing them to get any points on the board throughout the first half. The Warrior offense, using this lead and momentum to their advantage, prepared a play that resulted in Dereck White ‘29 scoring a touchdown leaving the Warriors with a score of 22-0 to end the first half. 

“Practicing everyday has helped me get better at scoring points for us,” Hill said. “I like to go running and doing drills has helped me pursue my love for football.” 

To begin the third quarter, the Warriors started on offense. Quickly making their way to second  down, the Warrior’s O-Line proved courageous as they cleared a straight path for Hill to run the ball through the Hippos and into the Warriors endzone, making the score a clean shut out of 30-0. However, this shutout did not hold long, as the Hippos offense found a spark of energy and successfully ran the ball downfield to score their first touchdown of the night.   The final score for the 3rd quarter was 30-8. 

“I am very proud of myself and my team and I feel like I did very well today scoring touchdowns,” Hill said. “I love my dad because he’s my biggest supporter and I could hear him yelling my name on the stands. My family definitely influences me to play well during the game.” 

As the final quarter unveiled, aggression started to pick up from both sides with competitive tackles by both teams. Both teams flopped possession many times throughout the quarter, however both the Warriors and the Hippos were unable to convert on their attempts downfield. Ending the game in a lull, the final score of the game was 30-8.

“I think that both sides of the ball were matching each other’s energy and we were doing great with defense and offense,” Lersch said. “We were just scoring, making completions, doing all the small things right and the other team just didn’t pick up on us today.”

The Warriors ended the game with a big victory against the Hutto Hippos. Their next game will be against the Round Rock Dragons on Wednesday, Oct. 16th.