TRAVERSE CITY -- Tim Wooer earned his first win as head coach at Traverse City West, as the Titans knocked off defending state semifinalist Kingsford 29-21 at Thirlby Field.
"We had numerous opportunities to put them away and didn't," Wooer said. "But the bottom line is we got the win."
West's defense tightened up after allowing 99 points in its first two games. The Titans (1-2) limited the Flivvers' double-wing offense to 40 yards rushing in the first half and had a key goal-line stand late in the third quarter.
Anthony West drilled Chris Huebner on a corner blitz on fourth-and-goal with 3:57 left in the third to stop Kingsford. Greg Forrester, Mark Zywicki and Craig Wilson also had big stops inside the 10.
West went up 14-0 in the first half before Kingsford struck on a 59-yard middle screen to Dylan Tengesdahl just before halftime to pull within 14-7.
West pounded the ball on the first drive of the second half, running the ball down the Flivvers' throat, keeping the ball on the ground for all six plays of a 66-yard scoring drive.
The Titans went up 22-7 on a Jon Flyyn 17-yard scamper when he reversed field on a pitch toss. Flynn added a two-point conversion run.
"The first drive gave them some troubles," Wooer said. "We gave them some false keys and were able to drive the ball."
Cody Scheuerman put TC West up 29-7 with 7.5 ticks left in the third on a 1-yard plunge up the gut to finish off a 10-play, 97-yard drive following the goal-line stand.
Facing a deficit, the Flivvers came out of their normal double-wing offense and spread it out, going 67 yards in 12 plays, culminating in a Sean Williams 12-yard TD run and Chris Siegler two-point conversion to pull within two touchdowns with 8:29 left.
Jake Russell recovered the on-side kick and the Titans were able to burn off almost three minutes before punting.
The Flivvers took eight plays to go 51 yards, ending in a Williams 10-yard TD run. But Kingsford missed the extra point to remain eight points behind.
Purdy recovered another on-side kick, but the Titans weren't able to run off the remaining 2:36 and a bobbled punt gave Kingsford the ball at West's 31 with 57.5 second left.
The Flivvers completed two passes, but Cam Howard was able to wrap up Siegler in bounds on a quarterback keeper and Kingsford was barely able to get back to the line of scrimmage and spike the ball with less than a second left on the clock.
Flynn knocked down a pass to Nelson Wienke at the goal line as time expired to seal the win.
Print this story
E-mail this story
