Westerners cruise to 41-0 win over Golden Bears

(Sentinel photo by Jesse Geleynse) A-W's Christopher Carlson stiffarms the defense as he tacks more yards to his run during Wednesday's substate victory in Akron. [Click to enlarge]

There's no time for slow starts in playoff football and the Akron-Westfield football team wasted little time setting the tone Wednesday's Class A substate game against Bishop Garrigan.

Christopher Carlson scored touchdowns on the Westerners' first two possessions and Nathan Easton added a first half punt return for a touchdown as the Westerners got up big early and cruised to a 41-0 win on Wednesday in Akron against Bishop Garrigan (6-4), which was making its 16th postseason appearance.

"It's always nice to get an early lead - you can't complain about that," A-W coach Graham Lundt said. "That's a pretty good tradition they have there and they're pretty elite. For me, it (got me fired up)."

The Westerners advance to the first round of the state playoffs next Monday when they will face defending state champion Southern Cal.

Lundt's team welcomes the challenge.

"They're the defending state champs until somebody beats them," Lundt said. "That's the fun part about football. You have to cram all these games in with a quick turnaround."

On Wednesday, the Westerners forced Bishop Garrigan to punt on five of its six possessions of the first half. Derek Appley intercepted BG quarterback Brett Capesius to end the Golden Bears' only other possession of the half.

Easton's 75-yard punt return helped drive a dagger through BG as the Westerners led 22-0 at the half.

"We take a lot of pride in our special teams," Lundt said. "In big games like this, special teams can be critical and little things can make a big difference."

Carlson added a 26-yard touchdown run and a 28-yard interception return while quarterback Eric Eskra added a 2-yard run in the second half as the Westerners wracked up 221 yards on the ground.

Lundt was pleased with the ground attack that had waned at times during the season.

"We got back to who we are and ran hard," said Lundt, who describes his team as a "run-first" team.

Carlson led the way with 93 yards on 16 carries and Eskra added 86 yards on 11 carries.

The Westerners had little trouble controlling the line of scrimmage, despite a bigger Golden Bears squad that featured one player listed at 290 pounds and another at 270.

"They're big," Lundt said. "That was some beef. I felt like it was a nice challenge for us."

Eskra was efficient when the pass was needed as he completed 6-of-8 attempts for 100 yards and the one touchdown.

Alex Frankl hauled in two passes for 27 yards while Carlson, Easton, Chet Utesch and Tanner Bundy each caught one ball.

Blaise Bursell had five tackles, including one for loss, one sack and an interception to pace the Westerners. Joel Schroeder had 4.5 tackles, including one for loss and a sack and Grant DeRocher had four tackles, including one for loss.

Easton had two tackles for loss.

A-W (8-2) can now turn its attention to No. 3 Southern Cal (9-1), which defeated Alta 28-14 in its substate game. Monday's game will begin at 7 p.m. in Lake City.