Prep football: West Park improves to 3-0, off to strong start in second season
Last year, the West Park Panthers became the first school in area history to win a league title in its inaugural season. In Year 2, head coach Jason Tenner’s team is looking for an encore.
“We’re stronger, we’re more experienced,” Tenner said Thursday. “We got some senior leadership, some guys that have been in those battles, understand what it’s going to take and they’re starting to produce for us.”
The Panthers are off to a promising start. They beat Rodriguez of Fairfield, 25-6, Thursday to improve to 3-0. They didn’t notch their first victory as a program in 2021 until their fifth game of the year.
“We made a lot of mistakes but physically we were able to overcome them,” Tenner said. “We’re able to continue to fight, to claw our way back into the position we want to be in, which is up on the scoreboard at the end of the game. Last year, these guys (Rodriguez) handed it to us pretty good, because we weren’t able to bounce back from those mistakes.”
The mistakes came in bunches in the first half of Thursday’s game (which was held Thursday due to the ongoing referee shortage that’s forced games to be moved up in the week). West Park was flagged for 10 penalties in the first two quarters, including five straight on one offensive series.
The Panthers went into halftime leading 11-6 thanks to a 44-yard touchdown run from standout running back Westin Wade, who finished the night with over 100 rushing yards, and a 32-yard field goal from Cade Vickers as the second quarter expired. Rodriguez’s lone points on the night came via a touchdown catch from wideout Jeremiah Hill, though West Park believed he didn’t complete the catch as he rolled to the ground.
“I thought it was a shutout, I don’t think the kid caught the ball down there in the end zone. But the officials didn’t agree,” Tenner said with a rasp. ”That’s why my voice is the way it is right now.”
The biggest play of the game came on a fourth down in the fourth quarter deep in Rodriguez territory. West Park was at the 6-yard line needing a yard for a first down. Quarterback Develle Barksdale faked a pass and kept the ball, sprinting to his left. He made a defender miss and fell into the end zone to make it a two-score game, 18-6, which was all the Panthers needed. Their final touchdown came as the fourth quarter expired. It was another run from Barksdale.
Barksdale didn’t start the game for undisclosed reasons, but he was shifty throughout, gashing Rodriguez’ defense with legs and showing off his quick release. Tenner said the decisive play was a run-pass option, which carries risk on fourth and short. But Tenner had enough faith in his junior quarterback to make the right decision to put the game away.
“He’s the emotional leader of our team, he’s the engine of our offense,” Tenner said. “He’s a phenomenal player, a great young man and he’s a handful for defenses. He’s got a quick release and he’s deadly with his feet, so it’s a lot of fun to call plays with him as your trigger.”
The Panthers also got a big night from fullback/linebacker Braden Shinaut, who converted a 2-point conversion after the team’s first touchdown and forced a fumble with a sack of Rodriquez’ quarterback in the fourth quarter that kept the road team off the scoreboard. The senior sounded optimistic about his team’s chances at repeating a league title after doing so last year in the first varsity season for the program.
Shinaut was asked about what he’s learned about his team during the 3-0 start.
“That we’re not going to go down without a fight,” he said. “We’re not going to quite fighting against anyone, we’re going to come out and we’re going to play our game. We’re not going to let anyone throw us off our game, we’re going to hard, fast and physical. And if anyone wants to try to challenge us, we challenge them too.”
West Park next travels to play Chico on the road before hosting its league opener against Oakmont on Sept. 30.
This story was originally published September 16, 2022 at 7:17 AM.
