Westin Wade helps No. 20 West Park upset No. 14 Pleasant Grove in prep football showdown
On the eve of the season, Jason Tenner wasn’t sure what he had in his football team, except 50 players boasting of energy and upside.
But did the West Park High School coach have players, or as coaches tend to say, “dudes”?
Three weeks into another season of promise, the answers have become a bit more clear. The Panthers of Roseville, still a relatively new player on the varsity block, have talent, and they’re still growing by the week, mostly pleasing their hard-to-please coach.
Three years after opening their doors in Placer County, two years after winning a league championship in their first varsity campaign and one season after going 9-2 with a prolific bunch, the Panthers moved to 2-1 with a big win at home in a battle between ranked teams.
Westin Wade helped West Park, ranked No. 20 by The Sacramento Bee, beat No. 14 Pleasant Grove 35-24 on Friday night in a nonleague contest. Wade, a tough, shifty and driven senior captain with perfect grades, leads the pack. He’s as humble as he is talented, quick to praise his linemen, his defense and his coaches before taking an ounce of credit.
But take a bow, Mr. Wade. You were the difference, young sir.
Wade had 89 first-half rushing yards and two touchdowns. The 5-foot-8, 180-pounder finished with 130 yards on 25 carries and three scores. All of this from a rushing attack that took some time to find its footing in the opening games.
Wade is a three-year starter and a second-year captain. He was beaming afterward.
“I put the team before myself, and if I make plays, it starts with the offensive line,” Wade said. “Most of the guys here are dogs. I’m here for them.”
OK, so not just dudes but dogs, or dawgs, and that’s a good thing, even if its a team named the Panthers.
Emerging sophomore quarterback Jaden Jackson had touchdown passes of 14 and 57 yards to crafty wideout Mason Johnson to balance the attack for West Park, and a defense heavy on juniors and sophomores made stops after Pleasant Grove took a 17-14 lead on Carter Tseu’s field goal.
Jackson’s first scoring pass to Johnson with 10.5 seconds left in the half gave West Park a 21-14 lead, and the Panthers owned the game from there.
“We start nine guys on defense who now have three games of varsity experience,” Tenner said. “We turned over a lot of guys (from graduation). We lost our defensive captain in our first game with an ACL injury. We have three sophomore starters on the offensive line, a sophomore quarterback. We’re young on offense and young on defense.”
He added: “It’s encouraging how we’re competing. We’re not executing the way we want to sometimes and we’re learning things every week. We want to play good football in league.”
If it takes a leader to lead a young pack of Panthers, Tenner says he has that in Wade.
“He’s a hell of a football player, a great leader, and does everything the right way,” the coach said. “A phenomenal young man.”
Pleasant Grove came in 2-0 after going 1-9 last season. Bobby Mitchell opened the scoring for the Eagles with a 5-yard run. Cole Davis threw a 28-yard touchdown pass to Jacob Beals and Cameron Moody scored on a 5-yard run.
West Park will play 3-0 Tokay in Lodi on Friday and host Chico on Sept. 22 before opening Foothill Valley League play at Oakmont.
Pleasant Grove will host upstart Laguna Creek on Friday at Sheldon before opening league play on the road against Jesuit on Sept. 23 after a bye week.
This story was originally published September 2, 2023 at 12:48 AM.