Home > Forums

[triswykes]

Western Branch Beats Bayside 23-8

Story and file photos by Tris Wykes

CHESAPEAKE_Western Branch ended the standout high school career of Bayside quarterback E.J. Manuel (above) on Friday, knocking the Florida State recuit and his Marlins teammates out of the Eastern Region playoffs with a 23-8 home triumph.

The Bruins, who advance to face Beach District champion Salem in a Division 6 semifinal next week, sacked Manuel eight times, forced a safety and returned a punt for a touchdown. It was Western Branch's 10th victory in 11 games this seaosn and one of its best defensive efforts.

``They just kind of overpowered my line at times,'' said Manuel, who completed 12 of 25 passes for 134 yards and a touchdown. ``My guys studied film a lot during the week to try and stop the blitzes but their defensive ends played contain real well and it's just a real sound defense.

``They didn't come with anything we hadn't seen before but it was just a matter of getting them blocked up front and that was tough.''

Western Branch took the opening kickoff and drove 59 yards in 10 plays, eight of them rushing calls, to take a 7-0 lead. Quarterback Kevin Newsome ran three yards for the score and Donald Chattin added the first of his three extra points.

Bayside came alive late in the first half when Manuel completed consecutive passes of seven, 16 and 40 yards, the last a touchdown toss to a wide-open Jaquan Glover down the left sideline. Manuel pump-faked once and the Bruins bit so hard on the motion that Glover would have had time to crawl into the end zone after his catch.

Manuel ran for a two-point conversion to put the Marlins up 8-7 with 50 seconds left in the half, but the visitors' offense was all but done for the night.

Western Branch went up 14-8 a minute into the third quarter when Newsome capped another run-dominated drive with a 2-yard push across the goal line.

The Bruins pushed their lead to 16-8 less than a minute later when Lloyd Blake's high punt snap sailed over Mike Satterwhite's head and he was tackled by Chris Allen and Kiman Edwards in the end zone for a safety.

Bayside then executed a successful onsides kick, but its subsequent drive ended with a fourth-down incompletion at the Western Branch 49-yard line. Forced to punt on their next possession, the Marlins surrendered a 40-yard return for a touchdown by Michael Brown.

Bruins coach Scott Johnson said his gameplan was to have his defensive ends push upfield but not automatically cut in towards Manuel if they beat their blocks. It was more important, the coach decided, that Manuel not be allowed to scramble, than to be able to bring outside pressure in addition to that provided by the interior linemen and linebackers.

``We just had to trust that the pressure would be there and that our secondary could cover all night,'' said Allen, one of the ends. ``It's tough keeping contain when you could go to tackle him, but you have to stay under control so you can make smart decisions and plays.''

Bayside managed just 27 rushing yards while Hykeem Brodie (above) led Western Branch with 83 on 15 carries and Newsome added 40 rushing yards and two touchdowns in 12 attempts. The junior completed 3 of 11 passes for 44 yards.

[Baby-D]

WB GAVE BAYSIDE A GOOD GAME.BUT BAYSIDE JUST COULDNT BLOCK THAT WELL & S.TEAMS WAS HORRIBLE. ONLY GOOD NEWS FOR BAYSIDE IS THAT THEY RETURN 18 STARTERS FOR NEXT YEAR 2008 TEAM!

[nurodic]

I DONT SEE THEM DOING THIS TO SALEM.......THEY'RE ABOUT TO SEE THE REASON WHY SALEM IS NATIONAL/STATE RATED SO HIGH..... THIS IS GOING TO BE A LESSON LEARNED IF THEY THINK THAT THEY CAN TRY TO BRING THE SAME GAMEPLAN THEY DID ON OC TO TRY IT ON SALEM.....2 DIFFRERENT TEAMS.....THEY ARE ABOUT TO GET SLACKED............44 TO 21( HOPEFULLY THEY SCORE THAT MUCH) SALEM HAS ONE OF THE FASTEST D'S IN THE STATE!!!!!!

[Jeff Cunningham]

Originally Posted by nurodic

SALEM HAS ONE OF THE FASTEST D'S IN THE STATE!!!!!!

That's the biggest thing that strikes me about this Salem team. Talk all you want about how one-dimensional the offense is or what not, but with the speed that defense has, I don't see much of anyone outside of Oscar Smith being able to do anything with the SunDevils. I don't expect Hykeem Brodie to get many yards and the secondary could very well have a night against Kevin Newsome like the second half of the Maury game (four picks). Speed and aggression are Salem's defensive bread and butter, and it works better than some might expect.

[wbbruin]

It's interesting the comments made by "nurodic" about how Salem is going to put it on Western Branch. I think WB has speed on both side of the ball. They match up pretty well in most positions. QB Kevin Newsome vs. Brian Robinson. Who has the edge? Hykeem Brodie has about 1,300 yards rushing. Kevin Whaley has about 1,300 yards rushing. The WB rushing defense is ranked #1 in the ER allowing about 43 yards per game. I think Salem beat Bayside 19-12 this year. WB scrimmaged Salem in August. I was wasn't much impressed with their team. I don't make predictions about who is going to win, or the score. The players will decide that.

WB is not intimidated by rankings and polls, or Lyndell Gibson doing his karate kicks before the game.

Western Branch has been in the playoffs too. I think they went to the state semi final in 2002.

[wbbruin]

Originally Posted by nurodic

I DONT SEE THEM DOING THIS TO SALEM.......THEY'RE ABOUT TO SEE THE REASON WHY SALEM IS NATIONAL/STATE RATED SO HIGH..... THIS IS GOING TO BE A LESSON LEARNED IF THEY THINK THAT THEY CAN TRY TO BRING THE SAME GAMEPLAN THEY DID ON OC TO TRY IT ON SALEM.....2 DIFFRERENT TEAMS.....THEY ARE ABOUT TO GET SLACKED............44 TO 21( HOPEFULLY THEY SCORE THAT MUCH) SALEM HAS ONE OF THE FASTEST D'S IN THE STATE!!!!!!

Bring it on.

There is a picture of Hykeem Brodie in this article.

"Meet Hykeem and the Bruins!"

[wbbruin]

Originally Posted by Jeff Cunningham

That's the biggest thing that strikes me about this Salem team. Talk all you want about how one-dimensional the offense is or what not, but with the speed that defense has, I don't see much of anyone outside of Oscar Smith being able to do anything with the SunDevils. I don't expect Hykeem Brodie to get many yards and the secondary could very well have a night against Kevin Newsome like the second half of the Maury game (four picks). Speed and aggression are Salem's defensive bread and butter, and it works better than some might expect.

Just like Lloyd Bensten told Dan Quayle he was no Ted Kennedy. Maury is no Western Branch. You're comparing a #7 seed Maury against a #3 seed WB. I would think in that game, Maury could not move the ball against Salem rushing and then went to the pass. This is not WB type offense. They run and mix in the pass the entire game. I think they run pretty effectively too - #1 rated total offense in the ER.

Why you do say "I don't expect Hykeem Brodie to get many yards?"

Hykeem has 1,300 yards rushing and had over 100 yards against Oscar Smith. Are you saying Salem has a better run defense than OS?

You can't stop a freight train.