Southwestern's season ends in first round of playoffs

NICHOLASVILLE — The Southwestern Warriors for the second year in a row traveled to Nicholasville on Friday to take on the undefeated West Jessamine Colts in the first round of the KHSAA Class 5A football playoffs. And for the second time in a row, they saw their season come to an end after a 35-8 defeat at the hands of one of the top two teams, in terms of RPI, in the class. With the loss, the Warriors finish with a 2-9 record on the season. The Colts lived up to their lofty ranking, completely dominating the game on both sides of the ball all night long. West Jessamine came in with one of the most prolific offenses in the state lead by quarterback Caleb Spann, wide receiver Eli Scott and running back Caleb Jones and the three put on a show in a dominating first half for the Colts. Scott hauled in seven passes for 77 yards including a 13-yard touchdown in the first quarter alone and was a one-man wrecking crew in the quarter. Jones added a first quarter touchdown of his own and West raced out to 20-0 lead at the half. Jones finished the night with more than 100 yards rushing and a pair of touchdowns. Spann had four touchdown passes to four different receivers in the contest. The Warriors’ offense could not get anything going all night. One bright spot for Southwestern on offense came on its next to last possession in the fourth quarter as they kept battling despite the game being in a running clock situation. Junior running back Aiden Whitson showed the coaching staff what he was made of and what he brings to the table next season as he took over for the Warriors. Whitson started off the drive with punishing runs of six and seven yards through the heart of the West defense. Whitson carried the ball a total of seven times on the drive and gained 66 yards as the Warriors drove down field into the West red zone for the first time all night. Unfortunately the drive stalled after a fumble kept Southwestern out of the end zone. The Warriors finally managed to avert a shutout in the final two minutes of the contest when Jordan Lewis broke free for a 72-yard touchdown run. Whitson’s two-point conversion made the final score 35-8. On the night, Lewis finished with 100 yards on 11 carries while Whitson had eight carries for 67 yards and the two-point conversion. Southwestern managed only 163 yards of total offense in the contest.