Fort Worth Western Hills explodes in second half during shutout of FW Eastern Hills

The Western Hills Cougars forced five Eastern Hills’ turnovers and put together a big second half Thursday night to pitch a 27-0 shutout over the Highlanders in a District 6-4A Division 1 zone-seeding game at Farrington Field.

Western Hills (3-3, 3-1 in 6-4A D1) has won three of its past four games and earns its first district shutout since 2016. The Cougars have their most wins in district since 2012.

The district elected to turn into two four-team zones to help during the COVID-19 pandemic. After playing three zone teams, Thursday night was meant for a playoff spot. The Cougars finished second in their zone while the Highlanders (2-3, 1-3) were third in theirs.

The district won’t be able to finish all of their games, which means Western Hills clinches a spot for the first time since 2010. Kennedale, Benbrook and Castleberry are the other playoff teams.

In a game that was almost dead even statistically, Eastern Hills just couldn’t get out of its own way. The Highlanders put the ball on the turf three times and gave away a pair of interceptions to a Cougar defense that was swarming all night long. On only four of its 15 possessions did Eastern keep the ball for more than four plays.

In addition, the two teams were continually marching backwards as a result of 24 combined penalties for 169 yards.

With Eastern just one big play away from tying up a 7-0 deficit in the third quarter, the Highlanders lost their third fumble of the night at their own 25. The Cougars cashed in four plays later on a Jason Green 5-yard run to make it 14-0. Green finished the night with 16 carries for 98 yards to lead a Western offensive attack that piled up 283 yards.

With 9:45 remaining, a short Highlander punt set up the Cougars 47 yards away and they used nine rushing plays and 3:45 off the clock to make it 20-0 on a 1-yard sneak from quarterback Keyon Butler. After another stop, Green broke loose on a 48-yard run to put the game well out of reach.

Eastern Hills had 237 yards rushing, led primarily by Lance McCoy Sauls, who ran 13 times for 110 yards. Looking for a second-half spark, freshman quarterback Davionte Collins came off the Highlander bench and gave some excitement for Highlander fans with a 45-yard run.

The Cougars’ Butler finished the night completing 10 of 20 passes for 108 yards and a touchdown.

This story was originally published October 16, 2020 at 12:33 AM.