ABERDEEN — For the third straight year, and seventh time in the last eight seasons, the West Side Pirates are district champs.
The Pirates (6-1, 3-0) had to get through a tough Aberdeen Tigers squad Friday night to claim the 3A South East Idaho Conference crown, and did so in impressive fashion, with a 21-0 victory at Aberdeen High School. West Side’s effort, despite dealing with significant injuries up and down the roster, was enough to earn praise from longtime head coach Tyson Moser.
“We played with a lot of heart,” Moser told EastIdahoSports.com after the game. “Aberdeen is a really good team — 21-0 doesn’t really show how tough of a game that was. … That’s a really good win.”
It wasn’t the most efficient night for West Side’s star running back Drake Sage, who came in averaging well over 100 yards per game. The junior took the ball twice on the Pirates’ opening possession and lost two yards as Aberdeen (4-3, 1-2) forced a three-and-out.
Sage carried the ball 14 times on the night, gaining just 21 yards, but did get into the end zone once.
That is the way the Tigers have played all season, slowing potent runners — like Ririe’s Kolter Lewis — and limiting opponents’ scoring. Entering the game, Aberdeen had allowed more than 20 points just once all season (21 to Declo on Sept. 5), and was surrendering 13.7 points per game.
The Tiger defense was as stingy as ever, slowing a West Side offense that had averaged 30.2 points per game coming in. But a trio of short fields was Aberdeen’s undoing.
After forcing the opening three-and-out, the Tigers moved the ball to midfield before their opening drive stalled. And when they attempted to punt the ball away, the snap went over the head of the punter for a big loss.
West Side took over possession at the Aberdeen 23-yard line, and was in the end zone nine plays later on a Micah Benavidez carry.
Then after once again being stopped near midfield, the Tigers attempted another punt. This time, it was blocked by senior lineman Chet Ward.
“I was trying to block it, but I didn’t want to hurt my fingers, so I kind of flinched and it whacked me in the chest — so that was good. I was just happy they didn’t pick it up and run with it,” Ward said.
Once again, the Pirates took possession with a short field — starting at the Aberdeen 22-yard line this time. And once again, the short field yielded a Pirate touchdown.
While Sage could find no room in the run game, he made his presence felt at linebacker when, two Tiger possessions later, he picked off All-State quarterback Lupe Ortiz to give West Side yet another short field.
The Pirates needed to go just 18 yards this time, and did, taking a 21-0 lead with just 50 seconds left in the first half.
As Moser said, the defensive effort and a couple big special teams plays, made all the difference in the game. The three short-field possessions, as he pointed out, led to the only points scored all game.
Aberdeen was never able to get back into the game, as anyone not named Lupe Ortiz found precious little room to run.
Ortiz turned his 20 carries into 121 yards, including chunk gains of 20 and 23 yards — adding an interception while playing safety. Everyone else in a black Tiger jersey combined to carry the ball 22 times for 53 yards.
Aberdeen senior Lupe Ortiz (4) runs the read option during the Tigers’ loss to West Side. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoSports.com
West Side’s defensive effort, according to Moser, was made all the more impressive given injuries that hurt, among other areas, the defensive line. Several players, the coach said, were forced to switch positions or asked to come off the bench and start.
Two of those players were Ward, who played out of position to make several tackles and block the punt, and fellow senior Jaxxon Bastian, who, filling in as a starting defensive tackle, left his imprint on the game.
“Chet made some humungous plays,” Moser said. “And Jaxxon, stepping in and filling somebody else’s shoes, I thought he did a great job for us. … The entire defense was very keyed in and did a very good job.”
Bastian seconded his coach’s opinion regarding the Pirate’s next-man-up mentality.
“We had a lot of injuries this week, and we did really well,” he said.
West Side’s Jaxxon Bastian (left) and Chet Ward were nominated for the East Idaho Sports Game Ball by head coach Tyson Moser. | Kalama Hines, EastIdahoSports.com
Because they have already beaten Declo (5-3, 3-1) the only team in the conference with just one in-conference loss, West Side claimed the conference title with the victory.
“Every year, we feel like we should be in that game,” he said. “We’re guaranteed to be playing in November now, so we’ll see where that gets us.”
This year, though, it was especially important, given the injuries issues.
“We need that desperately, the kids knew that,” Moser added.
The win will likely give the Pirates a first-round bye when the state tournament starts in two weeks — just another week to of rest and rehabilitation.
Asked what his team will need to bring another banner back to Dayton, the coach said it will need “the stars need to align.”
“It always takes some luck, and we’ve been very unlucky so far this year — we’ve had some injuries, but the kids just keep battling,” Moser said.
The Pirates will finish their regular season next week when they visit the Malad Dragons (3-4, 1-2)
Aberdeen will also finish on the road, looking to secure an at-large berth into the state tournament, when they visit Soda Springs (1-6, 0-3).
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