Travis Russell helped West Catholic take home its fifth straight Regional Title tonight in historic fashion cruising past Reed City by a final score of 56-28.

Right out of the chute running back Collin Hatfield took a jet-sweep handoff and darted 64 yards down field as Reed City looked to prove themselves early. The Coyotes moved all the way down to the 12-yard line of West Catholic where there they rolled the dice, as they have all season long on a 4th and long. The pass by Nolan Patterson fell incomplete in the end zone as the Falcons took over on downs.

West Catholic wasted no time on their first possession of the game as Travis Russell hooked up with Charlie O’Connor for a 52-yard touchdown giving the Falcons a 7-0 lead.

Before West Catholic could get comfortable, and just three plays later, the Coyotes struck back. It was Andre Jones off tackle and into open space where he wouldn’t be caught, 62 yards later and into the barn for a touchdown. Reed City converted on the two-point conversion to take an early 8-7 lead.

West Catholic used a five-play drive to regain the lead as Nick Buursma made use of a 25-yard rush followed by a 28-yard rush leaving Russell at the 1-yard line. Russell punched in the score as West Catholic lead 14-8. The Falcons defense forced Reed City into a three-and-out as the offense got right back at it. Russell took advantage of incredible down field blocking to break loose for a 30-yard gain. Two plays later he connected with Bryce Witham for his first of two receiving scores, from 33-yards out as West Catholic took a two score lead.

Drew Doyle sacked Patterson on the following possession for Reed City as they found themselves going three-and-out again.

Russell went back to Charlie O’Connor for his second receiving score of the game, this time from 8-yards out as the Falcons continued to light up the scoreboard.

The Coyotes wouldn’t go away that easily as Jonathan Green showed a burst of speed of his own into West Catholic territory on a 50-yard run paving the way for Andre Jones and his second score on an 11-yard run. The two-point try was no good but the Coyotes cut the lead to 28-14.

Conner Nemmers got in on the fun for the Falcons as he caught a 41-yard pass, making an athletic grab look easy in Coyote territory. The 80-yard drive was capped off with a Russell scamper from 17 yards out. West Catholic brought defensive heat looking to score once more before the half. Russell and company went 55 yards in 30 seconds as he found Conner Nemmers for six, and a crippling blow for Reed City going into the half facing a 42-14 deficit. 

West Catholic and Reed City traded scores early in the second half as Russell found Witham on a swing pass and Witham did the rest from 36 yards out. The Coyotes showed some grit on the defensive end as their never say die attitude paid off forcing West Catholic into a three-and-out. Green busted off a 35-yard run to get the Coyotes down to the 6-yard line of West Catholic. From there Patrick Jobes finished off the drive with a bulldozing 1-yard score to end the 3rd quarter.

In the 4th quarter, Russell found Nemmers one more time giving the Falcons a 56-20 lead. Reed City put together a prideful drive as Logan Straub found pay dirt on a 17-yard touchdown run to put the final score at 56-28.

West Catholic’s defense held Reed City to under 300 yards of offense as Drew Hernandez led the way with 6 tackles and 6 assists. Helping him was Witham with 5.5 tackles, Ben Sweedyk with 5.5 tackles, Drew Doyle with 4.5 tackles and 5 assists, and Carl Myers with 4.5 tackles.

Leading the way defensively for Reed City was Patrick Jobes with 7 solo tackles, followed by Chris Barton and Taylor Pelton with 5 tackles and 4.5 tackles.

Jonathan Green had a nice game on the ground for the Coyotes racking up 108 yards on 14 attempts, while Andre Jones scored twice and rushed for 75 yards on 10 attempts. Reed City showed big play potential but in the end had a difficult time slowing down the spread attack of West Catholic that totalled 566 total yards.

Witham, O’Connor, and Nemmers each had a pair of touchdown grabs for the Falcons.

Travis Russell made history tonight after racking up 8 touchdowns. Travis has accounted for 50 touchdowns this season, breaking the school’s all-time touchdown record on his 4th score. Russell will look to continue to add on to that total next week as the Falcons await their next opponent.