Westfield Hornets sting Vikings in regular season finale

PERRY, Ga. — The Westfield Hornets (5-5, 2-2 Region) knocked off the St. Anne-Pacelli Vikings (8-2, 3-1 Region) 17-16 on fall sports senior night.

It’s been an up and down season for the Hornets, but they managed to take down the top team in the region heading into the playoffs.

Though they did come out with the win, it was not easy.

The Hornets deferred the opening kickoff, and the Vikings managed to move the ball down to the five-yard line. The defense came through and stonewalled the end zone, but the Vikings still came away with three points.

That proved to be the theme for the first half for both teams, and for the Hornets senior linebacker Dean Massy and junior nose guard Matthew Powers anchored the unit.

Unfortunately the offense struggled to start, and the Hornets fumbled giving the ball to the Vikings.

As strong as the Hornets’ defense was, the Vikings were pitching a shutout so far and the offense needed to regroup at halftime to make it a game.

The Hornets took over the ball in the third on their own 24-yard line and with strong running and a short passing attack they moved down to the Vikings’ 20-yard line.

Jackson Hair ran it to the one-yard line and Brayden Gay snuck it in for a touchdown to take a 7-3 lead.

The Hornets’ lead was short lived as the Vikings drove it to the five-yard line and punched it in to take the lead 10-7.

The offense appeared to be in rhythm as Gay moved the ball down the field, eventually hitting Thatcher Reddick to advance inside the Vikings’ five-yard line.

The Hornets got backed up to the seven-yard line to start the fourth, but Hair scored a seven-yard touchdown run to take the lead 14-10.

The Hornets added a field goal with less than five minutes to go to make the score 17-0, but the Vikings had a chance.

On their next possession the Vikings took their drive to the end zone, and they decided to go for two to potentially win the game.

However, the Hornets’ defense made the stop inside the one-yard line to deny the lead, and they were ahead 17-16 with just over a minute left.

The Vikings were out of timeouts and needed to recover an onside kick, and they did just that.

They drove the ball to just outside the Hornets’ 20-yard line, and they brought out the field goal team on fourth-and-five to take the game winning shot.

With less than 30 seconds to go the kicker took the shot — and it missed wide right.

With that, the Hornets took over on downs and came out in victory formation to end the regular season.

UP NEXT

The Hornets will travel on Friday, Nov. 10 to George Walton Academy (6-4) for the first round of the GIAA playoffs. Kickoff is set for 7:30 p.m.

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