West Liberty-Salem’s football team took a comfortable lead in the first half and then held on in the second half for a 21-14 win Saturday against visiting Madeira in a Division V, Region 20 playoff opener at Tiger Stadium.
The fourth-seeded Tigers (10-1) move on to the regional semifinals where they will face top-seeded Cincinnati Taft (10-1) on Saturday, Nov. 16 at 7 p.m. The location will be announced later today by the OHSAA.
“I’m just excited and proud of these guys,” said WL-Salem head coach Dan McGill. “It wasn’t pretty. It seemed like we made a mistake every third or fourth play. At the same time, these guys held together and overcame some adversity. Some of that was from Madeira, and hats off to them because they are a good football team, but some of that was self inflicted too.”
WL-Salem built a 14-0 lead by halftime, but
saw Madeira attempt to rally over the final two quarters. The Mustangs outscored the Tigers 14-7 in the third quarter to trail 21-14, but were never able to even the score in the fourth quarter.
saw Madeira attempt to rally over the final two quarters. The Mustangs outscored the Tigers 14-7 in the third quarter to trail 21-14, but were never able to even the score in the fourth quarter.Quarterback Trevor Woodruff led the charge again for the WL-Salem offense. He completed 18-of-26 passes for 205 yards and a touchdown, while also running in a score. Holden Nease led the Tigers on the ground with 150 yards and a touchdown, while Nick Burden had 80 receiving yards and a score.
Defensively, WL-Salem limited Madeira to 138 total yards of offense. The Tigers caused three turnovers and had two sacks.
For a complete playoff game story see Tuesday’s Examiner.