By handing visiting Southeastern its first loss, 20-0 on Friday, Sept. 25, West Liberty-Salem stayed undefeated at 5-0 and 2-0 in the Ohio Heritage Conference.
“These guys have some pretty lofty goals,” Smith said. “We have a lot of work to do still. Obviously, we’re not where we want to be yet, but we’re getting better.”
West Liberty-Salem scored two touchdowns in the first quarter on 1-yard runs by Zac Culley and Jarred Merrick, and despite two lost fumbles in the first half, it led 14-0 at halftime.
The Tigers blanked a Southeastern team that averaged 41 points in its first four games. The Trojans (4-1, 1-1 OHC) got the ball into the red zone only once.
“The kids had a chip on their shoulder,” Smith said. “Everyone was talking about how great Southeastern’s offense was, and they took it personal. They executed and did a nice job.
“We felt we gave away some opportunities there in the first half to put it away, and made the game a little closer than it needed to be.”
The Tigers put pressure on Trojan quarterback Reed Florence all night. He was held to 9-of-30 passing for 106 yards. It’s the second shutout of the season for WLS and the fourth time it has held an opponent to seven points or less.
“When we had opportunities, we didn’t capitalize — plain and simple,” Southeastern coach Greg Bonifay said. “They’re a real quick defense and gave us fits up front. We’re young up front. We’ve grown each week. I just told them we’ve got work to do. It’s not over yet.”
At the start of the second half, Smith told his players, “Don’t give up the deep ball.”
They didn’t, and a 3-yard TD run by Merrick made it 20-0 midway through the third quarter.
WLS finished with 291 rushing yards. Culley had 121 on 18 carries. QB Zack Woodruff carried 18 times for 141. Merrick had 30 yards on nine carries.
The Tigers share first place in the OHC with Catholic Central and Mechanicsburg. Both teams won Friday to improve to 2-0 in the league. Central plays at WLS next week.
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