SWEETWATER — Westbrook coach Homer Matlock said his Wildcats don’t care who scores or who handles the ball.
That mentality was on full display in the Region II-1A Division I final Saturday at the Mustang Bowl, where WHS pulled away in the second half to beat Borden County 110-65.
It marked the first time in Matlock’s career that he had a team score in triple digits.
The two-time defending state champion Wildcats outgained the Coyotes 767-373 and took advantage of multiple recovered onside kicks and two turnovers by Borden County.
“Usually our defense carries us, and (Saturday) our defense was struggling because (Borden County) had a really good game plan,” Matlock said. “Our offense had to step up and carry the load, and I’m proud of them for doing that.”
Keegan Gilbreath and Grayson Jeffrey were the main attack points for the Wildcats as the duo combined for a total of 13 touchdowns.
Jeffrey dominated the first half with 123 yards on 11 carries with four rushing touchdowns before Gilbreath took over in the second half.
In just over 15 minutes of play after halftime, before the game ended on the 45-point rule, Gilbreath ran for 212 yards on five carries, scoring on each of his touches.
Gilbreath also had a first-quarter touchdown pass and caught one in the second quarter.
The scoring effort by the pair is not something that Matlock keeps up with during the game.
“I never know who has the touchdowns and I don’t call the game based on wanting it to be fair or anything like that,” Matlock said. “Our motto is ‘Whatever makes the Wildcats successful’ and all of our kids buy into that.”
Borden County came out firing on all cylinders, scoring on its first five possessions after opening the game with a defensive stop. The Coyotes used that to take a 23-14 lead after the first quarter. Koda Bigham had two touchdown passes in the quarter while Ishmael Rodriquez had the first of his five touchdown runs in the game.
The second quarter saw Jeffrey start to steal the show.
The junior had touchdown runs of 14 and 27 yards in the first 2:23 of the quarter, the second of which gave the Wildcats a 26-23 lead after they recovered an onside kick following his first score.
When Rodriquez gave the Coyotes the lead back with a 38-yard touchdown run, Parker Matlock hit Gilbreath with a 48-yard touchdown pass just eight seconds later, making it 34-31 Wildcats — a lead that Westbrook would not relinquish.
The Wildcats recovered another onside kick after that score and turned it into Jeffrey’s third touchdown run of the quarter, this time from 1 yard out, pushing the lead to two possessions as 40-31.
Rodriquez added another touchdown run to close the gap to 40-37 before Damien Stewart blocked the extra point attempt to give Westbrook the momentum right back. The Wildcats blocked three extra points in the game.
It took just two plays for Jeffrey to score from midfield after Brannon Larson had a 19-yard kickoff return to set Westbrook up at its own 22 to start the drive, giving the Wildcats a 48-37 lead that they would take into the locker room.
Westbrook had 34 points in the second quarter — their first of three consecutive quarters scoring at least 30 points.
The two squads traded touchdowns 14 seconds apart in the opening minutes of the third quarter.
Once the Coyotes closed to 56-51 midway through the quarter, Gilbreath took over.
The senior singlehandedly pushed the lead to 80-57 by the end of the quarter after added touchdown runs of 28, 61 and 18 yards in the final 3:55 of the third quarter.
Gilbreath and Jeffrey then helped the Wildcats ice the game as they each scored a pair of rushing touchdowns in the fourth quarter.
Jeffrey’s scores came from 4 and 43 yards out and were bookended by 76 and 29 yard scores from Gilbreath.
Westbrook will face Happy at 6:30 p.m. Friday at Lubbock Christian High School in the state semifinals with a berth in the Dec. 13 state championship game up for grabs.
REGION II-1A DIV. I FINAL
NO. 4 WESTBROOK 110, NO. 9 BORDEN COUNTY 65
| 1st | 2nd | 3rd | 4th | Final | ||
| Borden County | 23 | 14 | 20 | 8 | — | 65 |
| Westbrook | 14 | 34 | 32 | 30 | — | 110 |
FIRST QUARTER
BC — Rhett Kingston 9 pass from Koda Bigham (Josh Torres kick), 6:55
WES — Parker Matlock 24 pass from Keegan Gilbreath (kick failed), 5:10
BC — Ishmael Rodriquez 38 run (Logan Briley pass from Rodriquez), 4:58
WES — Aiden Sullivan 32 run (Bo Payne kick), 4:43
BC — Datch Flanigan 17 pass from Bigham (Torres kick), 2:37
SECOND QUARTER
WES — Grayson Jeffrey 14 run (kick failed), 9:53
WES — Jeffrey 27 run (kick failed), 7:37
BC — Rodriquez 38 run (Torres kick), 6:40
WES — Gilbreath 48 pass from Matlock (Payne kick), 6:32
WES — Jeffrey 1 run (kick failed), 4:24
BC — Rodriquez 4 run (kick blocked), 2:22
WES — Jeffrey 40 run (Jeffrey kick), 1:58
THIRD QUARTER
BC — Rodriquez 18 run (kick blocked), 7:19
WES — Sullivan 60 pass from Matlock (Jeffrey kick), 7:05
BC — Flanigan 7 pass from Bigham (Torres kick), 5:02
WES — Gilbreath 28 run (Jeffrey kick), 3:55
BC — Rodriquez 29 run (kick blocked), 3:42
WES — Gilbreath 61 run (Jeffrey kick), 2:34
WES — Gilbreath 18 run (Jeffrey kick), 1:22
FOURTH QUARTER
WES — Gilbreath 76 run (Jeffrey kick), 8:54
WES — Jeffrey 4 run (Jeffrey kick), 5:16
BC — Flanigan 44 kickoff return (Torres kick), 5:11
WES — Jeffrey 43 run (Jeffrey kick), 4:55
WES — Gilbreath 29 run (no PAT attempt), 4:46
| BC | WES | |
| First downs | 16 | 26 |
| Rushes-Yards | 28-230 | 38-575 |
| Passing | 143 | 192 |
| Comp-Att-Int | 10-12-1 | 8-9-0 |
| Punts-Avg. | 0-0 | 0-0 |
| Fumbles-Lost | 1-1 | 0-0 |
| Penalties-Yards | 7-30 | 6-56 |
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
RUSHING — Borden County: Ishmael Rodriquez 18-202, Rhett Kingston 8-34, Garrison Proctor 1-2, Team 1-(-8). Westbrook: Keegan Gilbreath 15-294, Grayson Jeffrey 18-231, Aiden Sullivan 3-53, Conner Holt 1-6, Parker Matlock 1-(-9).
PASSING — Borden County: Rodriquez 5-6-1—90, Koda Bigham 5-6-0—53. Westbrook: Matlock 6-6-0—155, Gilbreath 1-2-0—24, Jeffrey 1-1-0—13.
RECEIVING — Borden County: Kingston 2-41, Hagan Gordon 1-38, Datch Flanigan 3-21, Rodriquez 2-20, Bigham 1-20. Westbrook: Sullivan 2-73, Gilbreath 2-62, Jeffrey 3-33, Matlock 1-24.
RECORDS — Borden County 11-2; Westbrook 12-1.