Northwest shuts down West

With his offense averaging almost 50 points since a season-opening loss to Bishop Carroll, Northwest coach Steve Martin wasn’t satisfied with the Grizzlies’ production in a 38-0 victory over West on Friday.

But Martin was clearly pleased with his defensive unit, which limited West to 80 yards and eight three-and-outs in posting its first shutout.

“I can’t say anything bad about our defense,” Martin said. “They were all over the place. I thought they played great.”

Northwest (4-1, 4-1 City League) did plenty in all three phases of the game to deal West (2-3, 2-2) its second consecutive lopsided loss. Junior quarterback Kevin Folsom passed for 186 yards, ran for 54 and had a hand in two touchdowns.

Senior Karol Williams reeled in a one-handed catch for a 32-yard touchdown in the first half, then opened the second half with a 94-yard kickoff return that stretched Northwest’s lead to 31-0.

The Grizzlies ran 79 plays for 424 yards.

“Coach Martin does a real good job with us in practice,” said Folsom, who completed 15 of 19 passes. “It just makes things real easy for us when we get into games.”

Williams’ touchdown reception and Adam Travis’ 33-yard field goal gave Northwest a 10-0 first-quarter lead. KeShaun McGaugh, who entered the week as the league’s leading rusher, added a 4-yard touchdown in the second quarter. McGaugh finished with 72 yards on 19 attempts.

Folsom then went 5 for 5 on a 68-yard drive, capping it with a 4-yard touchdown run to give Northwest a 24-0 halftime lead.

“Our offense follows Kevin’s lead,” Martin said. “He’s the heart and soul of what we do.

“When he’s on, we’re on. When he’s off, we’re off.”

Folsom threw one interception and had an errant lateral that West recovered. They were the type of plays that added an edge to Martin’s critique of his offense.

“I wasn’t happy with our tempo tonight,” Martin said. “I thought we had a deer-in-the-headlight look. I’m not real happy offensively. Not at all.”

But Martin wasn’t as exasperated as his coaching counterpart, West’s Weston Schartz. Schartz’s team has been outscored 80-13 in losses to Kapaun Mount Carmel and Northwest. He sternly addressed his team before the players boarded buses and departed.

Martin, meanwhile, pondered what his team needed to accomplish with one game to play before districts begin Oct. 17.

“When we lost to Carroll, we knew the City League championship was out the window,” Martin said. “After we lost that, we went back to basics and a lot of fundamentals in practice. We’re looking forward to playing in a very tough district. We’ll have three very tough games to get in.”

This story was originally published October 3, 2014 at 11:01 PM with the headline "Northwest shuts down West."