I have a couple of exciting announcements: Josh Hill signed a letter of intent to attend and participate in football at the United States Air Force Academy this coming season. Josh signed his letter of intent amongst a small gathering of friends, family and coaches. He joins 4 other Metro League players in committing to Division I football programs. Congratulations, Josh!
In addition, both Josh and Robert Casteel have been selected to participate in this summer's high school football showcase, The Les Schwab Bowl. They are very excited and we are all looking forward to watching them get out there on the playing field to represent Westview with Oregon's best high school football players. The Les Schwab Bowl will be played @ PGE Park on Saturday, June 20th (kickoff slated for 7:00 p.m.). We hope to see a large showing from the Westview Community in support of both Josh and Robert.
Lastly, Josh and Robert will be selling tickets to help raise funds to participate in this exciting event. If you are interested in purchasing tickets for the game, please contact me and I will begin generating a ticket order list. Thanks for your attention and continued support of Westview Football.
Sincerely,
Greg Fisher Business Education / Head Football Coach Westview High School greg_fisher@beavton.k12.or.us (971) 570-5257
The Metro League must be pretty mighty, because its No. 4 team routed the Mt. Hood Conference champ Friday at PGE Park.
Westview racked up 598 yards offense and scored on a bevy of big plays to beat the Rams, 42-7, in the first round of the Class 6A football playoffs.
Quarterback Josh Hill completed 10 of 16 passes for 233 yards and three long touchdowns and added 118 yards on eight carries on the ground, including a 70-yard sprinting score. Running back David Aguilar, sidelined for the first quarter after missing two practices with sickness, ran for 170 yards and two touchdowns on 15 carries.
The Wildcats (6-4) let Central Catholic score only once, tying the game 7-7, and then rattled off 35 unanswered points. It wasn't like Central didn't move the ball; the Rams got into Westview seven other times, but left without points after three interceptions, three unconverted fourth downs and a missed field goal.
The Rams (9-2) saw their nine-game winning streak end. It wasn't a fluke, this No. 4 team beating that league champ.
"They have some explosive kids," Central coach Steve Pyne says. "We ran up against a team that was physical and fast, and I don't think we matched up well. Give them credit, they played well."
The Wildcats were coming off a 54-14 loss to Southridge, only the second time Westview has lost to its Beaverton School District rival. The Wildcats had a good week of practice, capped off by a night of bowling and pizza on Thursday.
"Finishing fourth place in Metro, maybe nobody was looking at us," the 5-11, 195-pound Hill says. "But, it's the best league in the state; coming out four, we're probably as good as a one or two in other leagues. It's a playoff game every week in the Metro."
Westview advances to play defending state champ Sheldon next weekend. The Irish beat Tigard 29-14.
Hill, Aguilar, Hayes Garrity and Robert Casteel shined for the Wildcats, who turned a close game into a rout in the second half.
The teams traded some defensive stops and missed field goals, and then closed the first half with scoring.
Casteel caught the ball over Central defender Seth Downes and scored on a 30-yard pass play to put Westview up 7-0. But the Rams responded with a well-executed passing play, as QB Derek Bowen rolled out left and threw back across the middle to hit Marcos Montas on a 63-yard scoring strike.
But the Wildcats came right back as Hill hit Garrity, who outleaped a Central defender, for a 23-yard reception. On the next play, Garrity caught the ball and cut between two defenders and a blocker by the sideline and ran for a 45-yard score, putting Westview up 14-7 at halftime.
Westview made a defensive stop to start the second half and then scored quickly, as Hill ripped off a 28-yard run and Aguilar found a big hole on a sweep and scored on a 52-yard run.
Central still felt good about its chances, and decided to use injured running back Luke Onderko in the second half; he tweaked his sore hamstring in pre-game warmups, and Rams coaches wanted to be cautious. The 5-11, 220 Onderko pounded ahead for 39 yards on five carries, as Central moved to the Westview 25.
On the next play, defensive back Hill telegraphed a Bowen pass and made an interception.
Hill then found Casteel again on a 41-yard catch-and-run, with Central's Jordan Perry saving a touchdown with a tackle.
Four plays later, Aguilar scored on a 3-yard run and the rout was on.
Daniel Keel picked off Bowen, and the very fast Hill outsprinted the Ram defense on his 70-yard TD run, making it 35-7.
Early in the fourth quarter, Hill and Casteel hooked up again on a 45-yard score. Later, driving for pride, Central got stopped again as Westview's Grady Garrett picked off backup Ram QB Perry.
Running the spread offense, Hill has been known to tuck and run with the ball too much. But he showed off his passing ability, after throwing low, behind and high to receivers early in the game.
"We had some miscommunication and I was a little jittery," Hill says. "My senior year, I want to do big things. Once we settled in, it was all good."
Westview's domination started at the line of scrimmage, Hill adds. "We were getting five and 10 yards without getting touched," he says. "When we do that, big things happen."
Westview coach Greg Fisher says his team has athletes, it's just been matter of putting things together.
"It is a game of momentum. You get one (score), and you're trying to get another if you get a team down who's a half step behind," he says. "All season long it's been us working on us as a team, the maturity level, because we have athletes."
Garrity, substituting for Aguilar early, rushed for 50 yards on seven carries, and he added three catches for 75 yards and a touchdown. Casteel had four catches for 123 yards and the two scores.
Bowen, fairly crisp in the first half, finished 19 of 33 for 189 yards. He was 7 of 17 for 61 yards in the second half, as Westview's pressure got to him. Nick Aguas and Onderko combined for 85 yards on 16 carries, and receiver Downes caught seven balls for 65 yards for Central.
"Our guys who made plays for us all year long struggled," Pyne says. "It's what you expect out of kids — they struggle sometimes — and it's tough to win football games. We moved the ball, we just couldn't finish drives.
"It's unfortunate, but our seniors accomplished more than anybody thought they would, being 9-2 and winning the league. It hurts, it's disappointing, but I'm proud of them."
The Wildcats entered tonight's contest at Canby High School at 3-0 and ranked sixth in the state but left in considerably worse shape after the Cougars (3-1) pounded out 271 yards rushing and scored 21 straight points in the second and third quarters to beat Westview 35-28.
"I think the big thing now is we know we can play better and we need to get better," said Westview senior tight end Christian Magdaleno, who had four catches for 60 yards, including two touchdown receptions. "We missed a lot of assignments and we’ve just got to play as a team and do what we need."
"We’re still suffering from growing pains," said Westview head coach Greg Fisher. "It’s a team game -- you can have 10 guys doing something right and one guy doing something wrong and it could be the difference between a fumble or a sack or a touchdown, so we’re still working on that."
The Wildcats looked good early, getting a 61-yard TD pass from senior tailback David Aguilar (14 carries for 105 yards and a touchdown) to senior wide receiver Robert Casteel (three catches for 131 yards and a TD) on their first offensive play from scrimmage, and they led 21-7 early in the second quarter when quarterback Josh Hill connected with Magdaleno for a 30-yard score.
Click on this Picture to Read the Full Story by the Tribune
This Game started out with the Cats driving 80 plus yards up field for a Touchdown and PAT to take the early lead. The Cat "D"Fense held tough as Grant could not get much going. The Cats Drove again in the Second as the O'line man handled the Generals and scored again to take a 14-0 lead into half time.
But one of the most exciting things about High School Football is that anything can happen at anytime and it did as a fumble on punt return on about the 7 yard line turned into a General Touchdown in One play and the game went on to 14-7. Grant was pumped up and soon had the ball back making some noise of their own. The Generals scored again and after that had 2-3 chances to score near their own Goal Line in the 3rd but the Cats "D" stood the test. It took almost 10 minutes of the second half but Josh Hill and the Cat Offense drove the field and scored on a beautiful Acosta Field Goal to go up 17-14. The Generals tried but could not score and the Cats hang on to win in week #2. This young Cat team learned some great lessons and will have things to build on off of this game. Next Up David Douglas! See you all there at David Douglas for week three!
It was an exciting night at Wildcat Stadium as the Greg Fisher era began. A Tough Barlow Bruin Team led by the #1 running back in the State in Malcolm Johnson came in to beat the Cats in this 2008 Opener. It was an exciting game right from the start and after a shaky start the Cats got on Track. The Cats young line stood up to the Bruins on both sides of the ball and the defense kept Johnson in check other than two plays where he was able to score.
The Cats Offense scored several times behind the leadership of Josh Hill and the nifty running of David Aguilar who went for 153 yards. Robert Casteel hauled in a great touch down pass deep in the corner of the end zone in double coverage as well. Most exciting was the 90 yard kick off return by Daniel Keel as this Junior showed his blazing speed! It was a hard fought win and a good start to the 2008 season. Surely there is work to be done but Players and Fans alike left with the sense that the Cats are on track! Now on to week #2 and the Grant Generals!
