Cavaliers Lose County Title, Advance to Playoffs After Westminster High Football Controversy

saw their county winning streak stopped at 17 games Friday night as Westminster won 39-6.

The Cavaliers dropped the game, but advances to the Class 2A west region playoffs next Friday. South Carroll will be on the road for the first round at Walkersville.

Westminster won and lost Friday. The Owls won the game, but lost an appeal for using an illegal player against Manchester Valley and had to forfeit that win. The decision to use a junior varsity player twice in a week cost Westminster a chance to advance to the playoffs.

"It’s a shame, you know that their season has to end like this," said Westminster coach Brad Wilson after the game. "A 57-7 forfeit game, I don’t understand it, but that’s not my call. I love my kids. They are great young men.

"You know with the exception of three plays in the second half against Urbana, they played perfect football all year. What more can you ask from a group of young men, class act, worked hard," said Wilson.

The Owls were led Friday night by Romie Cheese, Dan Johnson and their defense. Westminster held South Carroll to only 106 offensive yards in the game. They also held Cavalier running back Dan Mullen to 42 yards and one touchdown.

The Owls out scored their county opponents 289 to 33 this fall.

Johnson ran for 128 yards in the game and scored three touchdowns. Two on the ground and one on a 29-yard pass play.

Cheese used his legs and his arm in the victory. He ran for 205 yards and collected another 98 yards through the air.

"We played tough but they have a good team. They are big all the way through. Cheese is better on the field than he was on film. He’s tough to tackle," said South Carroll coach Steve Luette.

The Owls jumped out to a 19-0 lead for Mullen scored on a 27-yard run with four minutes left in the first half.

South Carroll was down to the Owls 21-2 last year at halftime, but there would be no comeback this year as Westminster scored they first time they had the ball in the third quarter to stretch their lead to 25-6.

The last two Owl touchdowns came on a blocked punt that Justin Sommerville ran in for six. With 2:10 left in the game Cheese scored on a 73-yard run.

"We just have to stay focused and get ready for them this week and put that behind us. At least we have another week to play, so we can turn things around and get better now," said Luette looking ahead to next Friday.

Westminster ends the year at 6-1 in the county and 8-2 overall. South Carroll advances to the playoffs for the third straight year under Luette. The Cavaliers were 6-1 in the county and 6-4 overall.

In other Eldersburg action, Century downed Liberty 26-20. Both teams ended the county schedule at 3-4 and 4-6 overall.