The undefeated West Henderson Falcons stormed the field as they got ready to take on the Enka Jets in their homecoming night matchup. The Falcons were able to leave the victors in a final score of 35-14.
“We were prepared, we came out a little flat in the first half but we were able to make some adjustments at half time and pull out a win,” Head Coach Paul Whitaker said. “It feels great to remain undefeated but we take on North next week so we’re going to continue to focus on what’s ahead.”
The Falcon offense was able to start the night off with a screen pass to senior running back Austin Jenkins who ran in for the touchdown, after obtaining excellent field position after a muffed punt by the Enka special teams. The rest of the first quarter went back and forth between the Falcons and the Jets with the Falcons up 7-0.
“Today we didn’t really play as well as I expected us to play in the beginning, but we needed something to humble us so we could pull it together for the rest of the game,” Jenkins said.
To open up the second quarter the Falcons made a risky decision of going for the first down on fourth and six. That decision paid off as Jenkins ran for his second touchdown of the night. The only other points put up in the second quarter came from Enka with their own rushing touchdown. The Falcons ended the first half being up 14-7.
“I try to prepare myself as much as I can every week and see what I need to improve on after each game,” Jenkins said. “I’d like to think after each game I start becoming more of a leader on the team and that’s big for me coming from an anti-social background.”
During halftime the West Henderson homecoming took the court. The court consisted of two freshman representatives, two sophomore representatives, four junior representatives and six senior representatives.
The freshman representatives were Megan Broome and Emma Wilson, the sophomores were Izzy Gonce and Lauren Young and the juniors were Madison Hall, Lauren Jackson, Julia Parent and Sydney Sousa.
The six senior representatives were Anna Campbell, Makayla Cooper, Cassiya Cox, Julia Gerrer, Remi Shook and Elise Trexler. Cooper was crowned 2019 homecoming queen and was met with many cheers from the crowd.
The Falcons didn’t start the second half with any offensive momentum as senior quarterback Auden Brennan threw an interception on the first play of the half. However Enka gave up their own turnover in the third quarter with a fumble. The Falcons’ offense in the last two minutes of the third quarter rushed in for another Falcon touchdown with junior running back Keyaris Cash. The Falcons continued to lead against the Jets 21-7.
Brennan opened up the fourth quarter with his second touchdown pass of the night to senior wide receiver Kyle Gaither. That momentum continued as Jenkins rushed in for his third touchdown of the night. Enka was able to answer back with their own touchdown, although it did not dent the Falcon lead.
“At the beginning of the season I was nervous to have to lead this team,” Brennan said. “I was going to have such a big influence on the team, but now that we’re really coming together as a team, it’s much easier to try and pull the team together and we’ve all become closer as the season has gone on.”
The Falcons will travel to North Henderson on Friday, October 18 at 7:30 p.m. as they take on the Knights. The student section theme is black out.
By: Stone Hogan, Sports Editor
