By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer Columbia – The Westwood football team’s offense was lacking at key moments in their 5A Division 2 playoff opener Friday night. Luckily for the Redhawks, the defense put in a clutch second-half effort to beat Socastee 34-14 for its first playoff victory since 2019. Westwood (6-5) is in the lower state bracket and travels to Moncks Corner next week to take on Berkeley. The Stags (5-5) received a first-round bye with a second-place finish in Region 7. “It feels good, for sure,” said head coach Robert O’Connell , who won his first playoff game in his three years as head coach of the Redhawks. “It wasn’t pretty, but it doesn’t have to be. We just talk about being 1-0. That’s all that matters, you just gotta beat the people you’re in front of and keep advancing.” Quarterback Carrington Carter had two touchdown passes, running back Angelo Rios had 102 yards on 14 carries, and Quentin McGill Jr. had a rushing score, but Westwood struggled to sustain drives. Carter threw two interceptions—both to Socastee defensive back Brayden Bolinger —and the Redhawks turned the ball over on downs inside the Braves’ 10-yard line on their opening drive. “We kind of hurt ourselves on some penalties, got off schedule. Nobody’s good in third-and-long,” O’Connell said. “We put ourselves in some bad spots on third down, and we’ve got to keep improving.” The Westwood defense, which held Socastee to 204 total yards, forced two fumbles and three second-half turnovers on downs, all from inside the Westwood 20-yard line. “That’s kind of been our M.O. this year,” O’Connell said. “That ball gets in the red zone, and we bend but don’t break. I’m just really proud of those guys defensively.” D.J. Jones had a solo sack and shared a second sack with Jayce Rios . Rios also had a 36-yard fumble return for his first career touchdown, a drive-ending interception, and another drive-ending pass breakup. “It’s an effort from everybody.,” Rios, a senior and older brother of the sophomore Angelo Rios, said. “Everybody’s always facing some type of adversity.” Westwood scored first, taking over after holding Socastee to a 3-and-out and closing out a quick 53-yard drive with Carter’s 9-yard touchdown pass to Sean Goddard at the 4:27 mark of the first quarter to go up 6-0. The Braves came back quickly, with Brayden Bolinger scoring seconds letter on an 85-yard kickoff return. They took a 7-6 lead on Daniel Devaux’s extra point. Socastee added another score after Bolinger picked off a Carter pass that set up the Braves on the Westwood 12-yard line. Amare Godfrey’s score from six yards out made it 14-6. That lead lasted all of 13 seconds. Westwood’s Cameron Bennett took the kickoff at around the 5-yard line and raced it all the way back for a touchdown at the 6:35 mark of the second quarter. Angelo Rios’ 2-point conversion run evened the score at 14. Westwood capitalized on a Socastee fumble late in the second quarter that set up the Redhawks at the Braves’ 41-yard line. Six plays later Quentin McGill Jr. ran it into the end zone from three yards out to put the Redhawks up 21-14 with 2 minutes left in the first half, a lead they held at intermission. Westwood’s defense led the way in the second half. Rios scooped up a Socastee fumble two minutes into the third quarter. The defensive back returned it 36 yards for a score to give the Redhawks a 27-14 lead. After that touchdown Socastee held onto the ball and threatened Westwood with three long possessions that put the Braves inside the 20-yard line in the third and fourth quarters. Each time Socastee moved into scoring position, Westwood held. First came a turnover on downs at the Redhawks’ 4-yard line after 11 plays beginning at midfield. The Westwood offense went nowhere on the next series and punted from its own 15-yard line, Socastee took the short punt and started at the Redhawks’ 14-yard line after a personal foul. That short drive would have resulted in a 3-yard Haze Weaver touchdown run were it not for a chop block call that set the Braves back at the 18, and an unsportsmanlike conduct flag moved them back to the 33-yard line. Even with those setbacks, Royals completed big passes to Hayes Hardwick and Jonathan Goswick that moved the Braves to a fourth-and-goal situation on the 4-yard line. Once again, Rios crushed the threat with an interception in the end zone. And once again, Westwood’s offense came up short, this time with Carter throwing his second interception of the evening to Brayden Bolinger. By then in the fourth quarter, Bolinger’s return put Socastee at the Westwood 35-yard line, and the Braves moved into scoring position for a third time. Just like the other two attempts, Socastee fell short, and Rios was there for a pass breakup at the goal line on fourth down at the 9-yard line. The Redhawks still could not put together an offensive drive to drain the clock, but Cullen Henderson’s 47-yard punt pinned Socastee back at the 23-yard line, and the Westwood defense picked up another turnover on downs. Westwood’s last score of the game came on fourth down, when Carter inadvertently connected with Bennett, who fell in the end zone but reached for and grabbed the tipped ball to complete a 28-yard touchdown pass play. “We just came together,” Rios said about the second-half defensive effort. “We knew we had to get a stop, and if we got a stop it would end the game. It was a group effort. Everybody played up and physical and it won us the game.” Socastee 7 7 0 0 – 14 Westwood 6 15 6 7 – 34 First Quarter W - Sean Goddard 9 pass from Carrington Carter (kick failed) 4:27 S - Brayden Bolinger 85 kickoff return (Daniel Devaux kick) 4:16 Second Quarter S - Amare Godfrey 8 run (Devaux kick) 6:48 W - Cameron Bennett 95 kickoff return (Angelo Rios run) 6:35 W - Quentin McGill Jr. 4 run (Cullen Henderson kick) 1:56 Third Quarter W – Jayce Rios 36 fumble return (run failed) 10:01 Fourth Quarter W – Bennett 28 pass from Carter (Henderson kick) 2:14 SHS WHS First downs 12 12 Rushes-yds 34-73 31-182 Passing yds 131 85 Att-Com-Int 26-18-1 12-8-2 Fumbles-lost 2-2 0-0 Penalties-yds 6-63 6-55 Punts-avg 2-28.0 3-38.0 INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS RUSHING S – Jonathan Goswick 11-27, Christian Royals 9-13, Amare Godfrey 4-14, David Covalli 4-7, Josh Brown 1-10, Daniel Devaux 1-5, Marcus Brown 1-0, Hayes Hardwick 1-1, Team 3-(-4). W – Angelo Rios 15-102, Quentin McGill Jr. 8-37, Devon Howard 6-37, Kham Cunningham 1-(-1). PASSING S – Christian Royals 18-26-1. W – Carrington Carter 8-12-2. RECEIVING S – Jonathan Goswick 10-68, Hayes Hardwick 3-33, Josh Brown 3-23, Haze Weaver 1-4, Amare Godfrey1-3. W – Kham Cunningham 3-30, Angelo Rios 2-8, Cameron Bennett 1-28, Sean Goddard 1-9, Quentin McGill Jr. 1-10.

By WORTHY EVANS Contributing Writer LUGOFF – Angelo Rios walked out of the locker room at Lugoff-Elgin without his pads Friday night. The Westwood sophomore stood maybe 5 feet, eight inches in the shadows of an emptying stadium, his 160-some-pound frame almost lost in the post-game darkness. Behind him, the muffled sounds of his teammates sounding off in celebration of another Region 5-5A win. “I just want to thank the O-line, without them blocking, none of it could happen,” he said. “and the team in general, just pushing everybody to be their best and have a great game.” When he had his pads on, the spry running back led the Redhawks rushing attack in rallying past the Demons to a 30-24 victory. Rios finished the night with 285 yards and three touchdowns on 37 carries, with two of those scores coming in a second-half surge that tied the game at 24 with about seven minutes to go. Carrington Carter’s 8-yard TD run with 6:08 left gave Westwood (5-3, 3-1) the lead for the first time in the game—and the win. “I’m just really proud of our kids,” head coach Robert O’Connell said. “We were down 12 at the half, and we obviously didn’t play very well defensively in the first half, but we came out and shut ’em out in the second half and we did some offensive things to win. Really proud of our effort.” Westwood’s effort was especially big because with senior kicker Cullen Henderson out because of an injury, the team did it without a kicker. The Redhawks went 0-for-4 in 2-point conversion attempts, and Rios—when he wasn’t rushing—tried an extra point after Carrington’s touchdown, but his kick didn’t reach the crossbar. “Right now we’re down a kicker, and you get behind the points and they (the scores) get funky. We make it a little harder on our part because you’ve gotta do the math and all that, but I’m so proud of the team tonight.” It didn’t look good for the Redhawks early on. Lugoff-Elgin (3-6, 0-5) took a 14-0 lead by the end of the first quarter on two Aiden Fitzgerald touchdown passes. The first was a 10-yard toss to Eric Richardson at the 7:20 mark, and the second was a 31-yard strike to Jeremiah Benson with 1:46 left in the first quarter. Westwood finally got on the scoreboard on Rios’ 8-yard touchdown run at the 9:13 mark of the second quarter, but the defense had problems with stopping the Demons’ offense. Fitzgerald made it 21-6 on his 15-yard run for a score with 6:12 left in the first half. Westwood’s next drive, lifted with a 55-yard pass from Carter to Cameron Bennett , got closed out with Carter’s 11-yard pass to Sean Goddard in the closing minutes of the second half. Just before intermission, Lugoff-Elgin kicker Eli Branham hit a 30-yard field goal that gave the Demons a 24-12 halftime lead. Intermission couldn’t come at a better time for the Redhawks. “We had a talk in the locker room, and that motivated us a lot,” Rios said. “The whole team, the defense came out and played harder, It was just a team effort.” Westwood’s offense stayed with the plan and got a score on Rios’ 41-yard touchdown run at the 6:52 mark of the third quarter. While Carrington and the offense kept on working out the kinks—the quarterback threw an interception on the Redhawks next possession, the defense woke up and kept Lugoff-Elgin from regaining its first-half swagger, holding the Demons to just two first downs. Westwood’s offense turned the corner late in the third quarter with a 15-play, 82-yard scoring drive that straddled the third and fourth quarters. Rios capped that drive with his third touchdown of the evening, a 5-yard run. When the kicker-less Redhawks tried a kickoff that went down more as an onside kick, a Lugoff-Elgin player tried to catch the football about 20 yards downfield, but it bounced to the ground and a Westwood player pounced on it. Gifted an extra possession, the Redhawks made the most of it. Westwood kept the ball on the ground for four plays and 20 yards, with runs from Rios, Carter, and Elon Robinson . Carter’s 8-yard score proved to be the game-winner. The Westwood defense then shut down the Demons, forcing a turnover on downs. The Redhawks picked up two first downs in clock-draining runs, and kneeled in a victory formation twice to seal the win. Lugoff-Elgin plays at Spring Valley Friday in its regular-season finale. The Vikings (0-8, 0-4) had an open date this week. Westwood plays host to West Florence (5-3, 2-2) which fell 41-16 to Ridge View Friday, next week. A win over the Knights could solidify a third-place slot for the Redhawks. Westwood 0 12 6 12 – 30 Lugoff-Elgin. 14 10 0 0 – 24 First Quarter L - Eric Richardson 10 pass from Aiden Fitzgerald (Eli Branham kick) 7:20 L - Jeremiah Benson 31 pass from Fitzgerald (Branham kick) 1:46 Second Quarter W - Angelo Rios 8 run (pass failed) 9:13 L - Fitzgerald 15 run (Branham kick) 6:12 W - Sean Goddard 11 pass from Carrington Carter (pass failed) 1;53 L - Branham 30 field goal. :02 Third Quarter W – Rios 41 run (run failed) 6:42 Fourth Quarter W – Rios 5 run (run failed) 7:22 W – Carter 8 run (kick failed) 6:05 WHS L-E First Downs 22 8 Rushes-yds 55-357 15-37 Passing yds 119 214 Att-Com-Int 15-9-1 20-16-0 Fumbles-lost 0-0 2-2 Penalties-yds 7-43 6-50 Punts-avg. 2-21.0 3-35.3 RUSHING W – Angelo Rios 37-285, Carrington Carter 7-36, Elon Robinson 5-26, Quentin McGill Jr. 2-12, Kham Cunningham 1-(-3), Team 1-1. L-E – Ry’Keez Brown 5-14, Aiden Fitzgerald 2-15, Jar’kese Grant5-15, Eric Richardson 2-(-4), TEAM 1-(-3). PASSING W – Carrington Carter 9-15-1. L-E – Aiden Fitzgerald 16-20-0. RECEIVING W – Cameron Bennett 2-57, Kham Cunningham 2-28, Angelo Rios 2-11, Sean Goddard 1-11, Collen Scott 1-3, Quentin McGill Jr. 1-9. L-E – Eric Richardson 7-123, Shamil Saadiq 4-22, Jeremiah Benson 3-49, Myles Hamilton 2-22.

Third-quarter TD pass from Carter to Lofton gives Redhawks a victory