Westminster turns away Edgewood for 3A state football quarterfinal berth

Looking to get the ball more into the hands of talented wideout Mason Fisher, Westminster High’s football coaching staff decided to give the senior two-way starter some carries at tailback during Friday’s Class 3A North Region second round contest with Edgewood at Mount Hebron.

Fisher rewarded that decision by giving his best Deebo Samuel impersonation with his exploits through the air and on the ground guiding the 11th-ranked Owls to a 28-20 victory against the Rams as Westminster (10-1) punched its ticket to next weekend’s 3A state quarterfinals.

Like Samuel, a multi-talented wide receiver for the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, Fisher filled up the stat sheet (51 yards receiving, 97 yards rushing) in his various roles and produced two of the biggest runs of the contest, including an 11-yard touchdown jaunt with 2 minutes, 37 seconds left in regulation.

“I just saw a hole. I baited the linebacker, and I just took it,” Fisher said. “I made a couple of kids miss, and I had a touchdown. This was my first week at tailback. I hadn’t done it all year.”

His score came after Isaiah Martin took a kickoff 95 yards down the Edgewood sideline to pull the Rams (8-3) to within a point at 21-20 with 7:56 left in the game. The extra point went wide right following Martin’s electrifying run.

“Obviously, there are ups and downs in a game; that (kickoff return) was unexpected completely, but everybody on offense said, `That’s over. We need a touchdown right here, right now, and we made the drive happen, and we scored on it,” Fisher said. “Our O-line played like dogs tonight. All the credit goes to them. We couldn’t have done what we did without them. They played their (butts) off every game, and I’m proud of the five.”

That offensive line contingent, which includes Jalen Jones, Jackson Clark, Randy Green, Jr., Nicolaus Koumentis, and Ethan Barry, sprung Fisher during his 11-yard scoring run, which came on an end around. They did likewise with about 1 ½ left in the game and Fisher did the rest, breaking tackles and carrying defenders for 35 yards to record the final first down of the game, allowing the Owls to run out the clock on Edgewood’s 3-yard line.

“The O-line did great today,” said Westminster quarterback Kyrece Walker, who threw a pair of touchdown passes and rushed for a score. “Without them, we would not have won the game. They kept going, kept pushing even when we were down. They stuck to it.”

Speaking of being down, the Owls found themselves trailing 14-0 after one quarter of play. Isaiah Megginson (106 rushing yards) produced the first of those two Edgewood scores, bursting around the left side of the line and rolling untouched for a 26-yard touchdown and a 7-0 Rams lead with 9:30 left in the first quarter.

Edgewood quarterback Caesar Travers set up his own 2-yard touchdown misdirection run with a 34-yard pass to Jahmir Torres on third down and nine. Travers then faked a handoff to Megginson and went untouched for a 14-0 advantage with 5:13 remaining in the opening quarter.

The Rams appeared headed for another score late in the second quarter following a 34-yard end-around run by Torres, but a flag for celebrating the run pushed the ball back to the Westminster 38-yard line and then a high snap, resulting in an 18-yard loss, eventually led to a punt.

“We made a lot of mental mistakes,” Megginson said. “We really laid it out on the line, but there were a lot of mental mistakes. We’ve just got to execute better next time.”

Westminster, which moved the ball on its earlier drives but could not finish any with points, finally got on the scoreboard on a 53-yard pass and catch from Walker to Jackson Zaranski with 34.7 seconds left in the first half. Zaranski was all alone in the middle of the field on a busted Edgewood coverage.

“The safety bit for some reason (perhaps on a potential scramble by Walker),” Zaranski said. “I looked back, I see the ball, and I’m like, `It’s my time.’ It was a big momentum shift.”

As was a series of turnovers that helped Westminster knot the score at 14 with 1:37 remaining in the third quarter. The first of those miscues was an interception by Torres at the Edgewood 18-yard line, but the Rams fumbled the ball on the next play, and it was recovered by Zaranski.

Two plays later, Walker found Clayton Dorsey on a seam route from 19 yards out to tie the score at 14-14. Walker found the end zone again with 8:42 left in the game on a four-yard keeper for a 21-14 lead. His scoring run capped a 10-play, 65-yard play that was fueled by 56 rushing yards behind Westminster’s dominant offensive line.

“We should have started off fast, but I blame it on, my missed completions,” said Walker, who recovered from that slow start to pass for 145 yards and rush for an additional 102 yards on 19 carries.

CLASS 3A NORTH REGION PLAYOFFS

SECOND ROUND

at Mount Hebron

NO. 11 WESTMINSTER 28, EDGEWOOD 20

Edgewood 14 0 0 6 - 20

Westminster 0 7 7 14 - 28

First quarter

Edgewood - Isaiah Megginson 26 run (Carson Crouse kick)

Edgewood - Caesar Travers 2 run (Crouse kick)

Second quarter

Westminster - Jackson Zaranski 53 pass from Kyrece Walker (Owen Harris kick)

Third quarter

Westminster - Clayton Dorsey 19 pass from Walker (Harris kick)

Fourth quarter

Westminster - Walker 4 run (Owen Harris kick)

Edgewood - Isaiah Martin 95 kickoff return (kick failed)

Westminster - Mason Fisher 11 run (Owen

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