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- West Field defeated Viewmont 41-34 in their first playoff win Friday.
- Caden Judy's late touchdown secured victory; Viewmont's final drive fell short.
- West Field's defense had four interceptions including a touchdown by Logan McClure.
TAYLOR — West Field's football team had mixed success against Viewmont's pass game in Friday's 5A first-round home playoff game.
In particular, Vikings receiver Jayson Dunroe had nine catches for 224 yards and three touchdowns, per unofficial tallies. But West Field had four interceptions, one of which defensive lineman Logan McClure took back for a touchdown.
Yet when it mattered most, West Field held on.
The No. 11 Longhorns beat No. 22 Viewmont 41-34 in a thriller for the first playoff win in school history.
Caden Judy scored a go-ahead, 1-yard touchdown on fourth down with 1:18 left to put West Field ahead 41-34. Viewmont drove to the West Field 10-yard line with 3.8 seconds left, and Jack Savage's pass found Benji Tolman, but Tolman was tackled far short of the end zone with no time left.
"It was scary, man; it was nerve-wracking. They're a really good team, they're definitely not a 22 seed, for sure. They put up a good fight. Emotions were really high, but we pulled through," West Field receiver Gavin Ortegon said.
West Field (7-4) quarterback Easton Eilertson threw three touchdown passes to Ortegon in the first quarter alone. Two of them followed interceptions by Drew Combe and defensive lineman Isaiah Rodrigues on Viewmont's first two drives.
The Vikings (4-7) called a double pass on their third drive, and Brett Tovey launched a 75-yard touchdown pass to Dunroe. Tovey also ran untouched for a touchdown that cut the West Field lead to 21-14, and finished an 80-yard drive.
West Field drove to the red zone before two holding penalties made the Longhorns settle for a field goal. Jaden Fowers' 44-yard attempt was short, and Viewmont cashed in.
The Vikings finished another 80-yard TD drive with Savage's scoring on a toss to Dunroe that tied the score 21-21 at halftime.
"We've struggled with that all year, where when bad things happen, we tend to let it snowball. … To the boys' credit, they found a way to come back, and punch back and get it done." Jones said.
A disastrous sequence for West Field nearly turned into a two-touchdown lead for Viewmont. The Longhorns dropped two sure first-down catches, then botched the snap on the punt, giving the Vikings the ball at the West Field 28-yard line.
On fourth down, Tolman ran for a 21-yard touchdown as Viewmont took its first lead of the game with 9:52 left in the third quarter. Critically, West Field blocked the ensuing extra point, leaving the score 27-21.
Viewmont blocked Fowers' 36-yard field goal attempt on West Field's next drive, then blitzed down the field on offense before Combe's second interception of the game stopped the drive.
The Longhorns capitalized with Eilertson's fourth TD pass to Ortegon, leading to a 28-27 lead late in the third. Ortegon had 65 catches for 1,086 yards and 13 touchdowns in the regular season, stats which went way up after this game.
"Me and Easton have a really good connection, he's a really good quarterback, he can get the ball to anyone really," Ortegon said.
McClure picked off a screen pass and returned it for a touchdown and a 34-27 Longhorns lead early in the fourth.
Viewmont tied the game on the next drive on fourth-and-goal, as Savage rolled to his left and hit Dunroe for a wide-open score with 6:35 left.
West Field responded with a near-perfect drive. It had two third-down conversions, used up more than 5 minutes of clock and took the lead on Judy's TD run, which Ortegon said was supposed to be a QB sneak.
Even Viewmont's final drive was a wild microcosm of the game as a whole.
West Field chased Savage out of bounds on third down for a loss of six yards, setting up a fourth-and-12, which Viewmont converted with Draylon Jensen's 15-yard catch.
Ultimately, the Longhorns got the stop they needed when they tackled Tolman short of the end zone.
"I'm a little torn, it's exhilarating to win a playoff game the way that went down. My heart breaks for (Viewmont), it's always tough to watch kids play their last high school football game and to do it against one of my best friends (Viewmont head coach Dru Jones)," Jones said.
West Field heads to No. 6 Box Elder for a second-round playoff matchup next week. The Bees won the regular-season meeting 39-12 last week.
