Trojans win 2 straight for first time since 2019 but
even third in a row wouldn’t likely net playoff bid
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By CHRIS HOBBS
HobbsDailyReport.com
Unofficial game totals from Bandys High’s 35-28 home victory over West Caldwell in a Catawba Valley 2A Athletic game on Friday night that improved the Trojans’ all-time record against the Warriors to 17-5:
BANDYS 35, WEST CALDWELL 28
W. Caldwell 0 7 14 7—28
Bandys 7 13 8 7—35
SCORING SUMMARY
First quarter
B—Nolan Jones 20 run (Fletcher Harris kick), 10:49
Second quarter
B—Jones 5 run (Harris kick), 10:28
B—Jones 9 run (kick failed), 1:20
WC—Chris Gibbs 35 pass from Jaylen Patterson (Jayco Castro kick), 48.1
Third quarter
WC—Zykobien Morrison 12 run (Castro kick), 9:04
B—Logan Williams 3 pass from Wyatt Wesson (Wesson run), 3:17
WC—Mason Anthony 59 pass from Jaylen Patterson (Castro kick), 1:20
Fourth quarter
B—Elliot Spicer 5 run (Harris kick), 7:41
WC—Jordan Patterson 12 pass from Jayden Patterson (Castro kick), 6:03
WC B
First downs 16 30
Rush-yards 12-31 68-382
Passing 15-20-1 7-11-1
Passing yards 335 37
Total offense 366 419
Fumbles-Lost 0-0 0-0
Penalties-Yards 12-121 7-65
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS
Rushing
WC: Jaylen Patterson 7-20, Morrison 5-11. B: Jones 16-128, Spicer 33-162, Scotty Milley 15-84, Wesson 4-8.
Passing
WC: Jaylen Patterson 15-20-1 335. B: Wesson 7-11-1 37.
Receiving
WC: Gibbs 4-109, Razjae Allah 2-9, Jordan Patterson 4-81, Mason Anthony 4-138, Morrison 1-minus 2. B: Jones 1-4, Williams 4-33.
GAME HIGHLIGHTS
First quarter
Jones opens game with three carries for 34 yards and a TD for Bandys … Jaylen Patterson’s first completion – to Chris Gibbs, goes for 41 yards for West Caldwell but the Warriors are forced to punt atat Trojans’ 42.
Second quarter
Bandys 60-yard drive for a Jones TD run of 5 yards includes a 12-yard run by Jones … The Trojans go 97 yards to open a 20-0 lead in a drive that involves a 50 rushing yards by Jones, including the final 9 on a first-and-goal…The Warriors score their first points on a 45-yard pass from Jayden Patterson to Cibbs… Bandys misses a 40-yard field goal with 7.5 seconds in half after Warriors’ Anthony Polk sacks Wesson for minus 9 yards a play before… Jones makes an interception at the first-half buzzer.
Third quarter
Jaylen Patterson throws 33 yards to Mason Anthony early in a drive that ends with 9-yard gain by Jaylen Patterson and 12-yard TD run by Zykobien Morrison, making it 20-14 with nine minutes, four seconds left in the quarter … Bandys drives 65 yards, rushing for all but final 3 yards (TD pass from Wesson to Logan Williams with five rushing first downs, two by Elliot Spicer … Two plays after an interception by Morrison gave them possession at the Bandys 47, the Warriors scored on a 59-yard pass, Jaylen Patterson to Anthony, and PAT by Jayco Castro pulls West Caldwell within 28-21.
Fourth quarter
Trojans cap a 12-plsay drive that began late in third quarter with a 5-yard TD run by Spicer, gaining five rushing first downs and 12 or more yards on each of them (two by Spicer, two by Scotty Miley) to lead 35-21 with 7:41 to play…. West Caldwell scores with 6:13 to play, pulling within seven points – on back-to-back passing plays, Jaylen Patterson goes 51 and 12 yards to Jordan Patterson… Bandys has the ball the rest of the game, taking over at its 20 and driving to the Warriors 16 on a drive that includes first down runs by Wesson, by Sicer (on fourth-and-2 at the West Caldwell 29) and by Spicer on a 7-yard gain as time ran out.
GAME NOTES
Bandys improves to 3-3 in the CVAC 2A (fifth place) and 4-5 overall… West Caldwell is 0-9, 0-6 sharing seventh place with East Burke, and has lost 20 straight games (hasn’t won since beating Patton for third straight win in 2020)… Jones left the game early in third quarter, playing only defense, and strained a 
peck muscle and could be a game day decision for the Trojans’ regular-season finale at Bunker Hill… The Warriors’ regular-season finale is at East Burke… The Trojans have 50 first downs in their last two games, the previous a 21-14 win at Newton-Conover… Bandys has won back-to-back games for the first time since Game 2-3 wins over Fred T. Foard and South Caldwell in 2019… The Trojans have not won three straight since beating North Lincoln, Franklin and West Stokes in 2018, part of a 9-game win streak that season … Even if Bandys upsets Bunker Hill to get to 5-5 overall, its RPI is not likely to improve enough to get into a 32-team bracket as it goes in at No. 41… Unofficially, Spicer is at 98 carries for 602 rushing yards this season; Jones at 135 for 782, Wesson is 83-144-9 for 1,057 yards ad Williams has 33 catches for 488 yards.
SERIES NOTES
Bansy is 17-5 against West Caldwell, including 9-2 in Butler Stadium … The Trojans have won two straight, six of the last eight and 11 of the last 14… West Caldwell won at Bandys in 2010 and in 2016 … Friday’s seven-point margin was the 10th game in the series decided by eight or fewer points.
BARNES
UPDATING
Bandys head coach Jason Barnes, who suffered multiple injuries in the Trojans’ home loss to Lincolnton on Sept. 29, has not missed any games and says he will not undergo any surgeries until after football season… Among Barnes’ injuries were an anterior cruciate ligament tear and LCL tear in his right leg and his post lateral ligament detached from his tibula… He said Friday that he was injured when he ran toward the parking lot side of Butler Stadium when it appeared a second skirmish between the Trojans and Wolves might develop…He said he did not get far out of the field until he went to the ground and knew something wasn’t right… Barnes remained on the sidelines the rest of the game and then went home, going to see doctors the next morning and hearing the full extent of his injuries… “I’m just gettin’ old,” the former Trojans football star said…. In an earlier encounter in the final seconds of the first half, a fight developed that had one player from each team ejected (and miss the next game).
