Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

Western Boone gave themselves a chance on Friday night against Class 3A No. 8 Tri-West on Friday night. The Stars controlled the clock, and while they weren't able to convert their opportunities into points, they held the high-powered Bruins scoreless for most of the first half. But the Bruins scored in the final minute of the first half to take a 7-0 lead, then gradually pulled away in the second half in a 35-7 win to claim the Sectional 29 title. "We fought toe to toe with them," Western Boone head coach Justin Pelley said. "Their quarterback got loose in the second half, and that's what made the difference." Both teams had opportunities to score in their opening possessions, but turned it over on downs deep in opposition territory. Western Boone twice drove inside Bruin 30 (and once inside the 15), but couldn't finish off drives. But they were able to possess the ball for 16 minutes in the half. But the momentum of the game turned at the end of the second quarter. Tri-West faced a third-and-20 from its own 17, when they got a pass interference penalty to make it third-and-five. After a false start, it looked like Western Boone got off the field on an incomplete pass, but were called for a questionable hands to the face penalty on the rush, keeping the Bruins drive alive. The Bruins capitalized on the extra set of downs, with Wanson Hall rushing for 54 yards on the ensuing play, then scoring from three yards out to make it a 7-0 game heading into the half. "We can't control that," Pelley said. "They end up going up 7-0, and you can still come back from that, it's not insurmountable. But it was momentum for them, they got the ball to start the second half and score. It's just one of those things of what can you do." While it was the Bruins passing game that hurt the Stars in the regular-season opener, with Wisconsin commit Jack Sorgi throwing for 310 yards and four scores, it was Sorgi's running ability that hurt the Stars in the second half. He took the third play of the second half 42 yards for a touchdown to make it 14-0, and added touchdowns of 37 and 6 later in the half. While the Bruins only threw for 110 yards in the game, they were able to rush for a season-high 252. "It's tough to defend it all, and that's what they do well," Pelley said. "It's tough to take everything away. We did a heck of a job of making them change their game plan, but unfortunately their second option we couldn't keep up with." Western Boone had a final chance to stay in the game in the middle of the second half. After forcing a Tri-West punt, they went 58 yards in four plays, scoring on a 2-yard run by Carson Nicley with 6:27 left in the third quarter. But the Bruins returned the ensuing kickoff to the WeBo 40, and Sorgi ran it in two plays later to make it 21-7. "Our kickoff coverage wasn't great tonight, and credit to them, their second level guys are pretty good," Pelley said. "We didn't want to kick it deep to them, and were trying to kick it to different people, but they had kids step up and make plays." WeBo went three-and-out, and Tri-West increased the lead to 28-7 with a nine-play drive. The Bruins added another touchdown in the fourth quarter to provide the final margin. WeBo's Jack Mallory carried the ball 19 times for 109 yards. Nicley ran for 30, and was 3-of-4 passing for 17 yards. Quinn Westerfeld added 22 yards rushing and 62 through the air. Beau Sawyer had four catches for 37 yards. The Stars finish the season 8-4. Pelley said he is thankful for the senior class and their contributions to the program. "These guys played together, and that's the biggest thing with this group," Pelley said. "They aren't the biggest group, and that's hard in football. They struggled in junior high because they didn't have the numbers. But they stuck together, they hung around, and they all ended up contributing. We lost a couple of them along the way, which is tough, but that's football sometimes." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on X @Will_Willems.