West Johnston football drops rival Clayton

West Johnston finished with a flurry against rival Clayton Thursday night and set up potentially the two biggest regular season games in Wildcat history with a 42-21 victory.

West (5-4 overall) won for the fourth straight time and kept its Greater Neuse River 4A Conference championship hopes fully intact.

The Wildcats (4-1 conference) will meet the other two conference teams — Garner and Knightdale — in the championship chase over the next two weeks. Garner and Knightdale are set to play Friday (Oct. 23) night.

“To come from where we were a month ago and our kids could have tanked, I couldn’t be prouder of a group of guys,” said West coach Jimmy Williams. “Staying together and playing and fighting to be where we are right now.”

Turning Point

West led 21-14 late in the third quarter when Clayton faced a second-and-goal opportunity. Comet quarterback Landen Leiser rolled to his left looking for an open receiver and through he had found one in teammate John Ross Parrish. But West safety Justin Ferrell darted in front of Parrish in the back of the end zone, picking off the pass and racing up the right sideline 107 yards for a touchdown to push West’s lead back to two touchdowns.

They Said It

“My coaches just told me to stick with our assignments and just watch No. 4 (Parrish),” Ferrell said. “And the quarterback threw it. I just had to get in the way and I took it back to the house. … I saw open grass and I just went for it.”

Three Who Mattered

Tony Mack, West Johnston: The junior back ran for 177 yards and three touchdowns on 29 carries to power a very effective Wildcat rushing attack. With quarterback Andre Wilson (105 yards on 16 carries), Mack kept the Comet defense off-balance.

Deandre Blevins, West Johnston: Blevins scored on a 75-yard kick off return for West to open the second half and picked off a Clayton pass to set up the final Wildcat touchdown of the night after a 52-yard return.

Blevins, Ferrell and the rest of the Wildcat defense held Clayton’s offense to seven points on the night.

“We played as a team well and we just executed and played aggressive,” Ferrell said.

Blake Joyner, Clayton: Obviously, West Johnston talked a lot about how to game plan the Clayton standout senior leading up to the game. Joyner did his best to make sure it looked West had never seen him play.

He ran back two kick offs for touchdowns, caught an 80-yard pass for another touchdown, finishing with 357 total yards on the night (150 receiving, 38 rushing and the rest on the two kick returns.

By the Numbers

3: Kick offs returned for touchdowns on the night. Two by Joyner and one by Blevins.

2: Back-to-back kick offs returned for scores to start the second half. Blevins’ return, followed by Joyner’s second return.

100: Official length of Ferrell’s interception return for a touchdown according to National Federation of State High School Associations rule, which states “only the yardage from the goal line to the goal line is recorded statistically” on plays of that nature.

Looking Ahead

Clayton, at 2-3 in the conference and 3-6 overall, probably needs wins in its last two against Rolesville and Southeast Raleigh to get a realistic hope of an at large playoff berth.

This story was originally published October 23, 2015 at 9:12 AM with the headline "West Johnston football drops rival Clayton."