Western Boone Jr. - Sr. High School

The Western Boone football team found success from all three phases on Friday night against Southmont. While the Stars had just 200 yards off offense, but played on a short field most of the night because of defense and special teams during the 36-6 win. "Defensively we played really, really well tonight and special teams too," Western Boone head coach Justin Pelley said. "When you can return the opening kick-off for a touchdown, that really sparks your team and keeps them going. It was a good start and good finish." The Stars took the lead just seconds into the game when Dylan Sheets returned the opening kick-off for a touchdown. After a Southmont punt, the Stars went 93 yards in 12 plays, scoring on a 21-yard pass from Brandon Potter to Marcus Fortner. The Stars defense then forced a turnover in Mountie territory, and just two plays later scored on a 19-yard pass from Potter to Fortner to make it 22-0 at the end of the first quarter. Sometimes after an early big play, it can cause teams to take their foot off the gas. Pelley said he liked that his group didn't have that issue. "You worry about that and whether you still have that edge," Pelley said. "But our defense showed up and made sure that didn't happen. The forced turnovers, got a touchdown and whenever you can get a defensive score and a special team score, you going to win the game a lot of times." freestar Western Boone made it 29-0 on a third touchdown pass from Potter to Fortner. It looked like the that would be the score heading into the locker room, but the Stars special teams and defense stepped up again in the final minute of the half. First Marco Velazquez punted to pin Southmont at the 3 yard line. Then, with Luke Adkins in pursuit to get the safety, the Southmont quarterback threw it right into the hands of Levi Adkins, so scored to make it 36-0 at the half. Mason Amich ran for 68 yards on 14 carries. Potter was 6 of 10 for 65 yards and the three scores for Fortner. "We chose good times to throw it tonight, it wasn't just on third down when we needed to," Pelley said. "Amich had a quiet game stat wise, but he does so much more with the little things that open up things for Marcus and the passing game. Marcus made some great catches today and Brandon made some good throws and the protection was good." Western Boone faces Danville next Friday for senior night. "All you can do is play your schedule and we have two big ones in the conference to go," Pelley said. "On paper, it looks evenly matched, but you never know until you get on the field. There are a lot of similarities, they know what we do and we know what they do, so we'll see what happens." Will Willems is the Sports Editor of the Lebanon Reporter. Follow him on Twitter @Will_Willems.