For the second time in as many games against Canton, the West Central Trojans were stopped at the goalline by the C-Hawks defense. This time the stop came in the semifinals of the 11A playoffs in Canton on Friday, November 6th, preserving a 14-6 win for the C-Hawks.
Canton had stopped West Central on the goalline in the last game of the regular season on Thursday, October 22nd. That stop then led to a 99-yard game-winning drive by Canton for a 12-7 victory.
On Friday night the Trojans trailed 14-6 late in the game and had a first and goal from the Canton one-yard line needing a score and two-point conversion to tie the game. The first two attempts by West Central were on successful. On third down, however, the Justin Zirpel and the Trojans thought Zirpel crossed the goalline prior to Zach Richardson of Canton forcing a fumble. After the officials deliberated, the call was a fumble recovered by the C-Hawks in the endzone with just over a minute to play in the game.
West Central did force Canton to punt, but the Trojans were unable to to get a last second score to tie the game, and the Canton C-Hawks advanced to the championship game.
The game was another strong defensive battle between the two teams. Canton scored late in the first quarter, but West Central held them the remainder of the first half. The Trojans’ lone touchdown came on a Zirpel run in the third quarter. Canton responded with a scoring drive of their own immediately after the Trojan touchdown.
Zirpel finished the game 2-6 passing for 34 yards along with 75 rushing yards and a touchdown. Ryan Healy added 78 rushing yards.
West Central has their season come to an end with an overall record of 6-5.