High school football: Westlake puts a major hurt on Timpanogos

SARATOGA SPRINGS — As playoff time nears, Westlake needed to rebound in a big way from a demoralizing loss to Timpview last week.

It did.

Westlake's 60-20 drubbing of Region 7 foe Timpanogos Wednesday night wasn't even as close as the 40-point margin might suggest.

"We think we can play with any team," said Westlake running back Nick Waitkick. "It was sad [to lose to Timpview], but our goal was to rebound and just execute."

Goal accomplished.

Westlake (7-1 overall, 4-1 in conference play) wasted no time in putting the hurt on Timpanogos (5-4, 2-4). On the game's second play from scrimmage, Waitkich took a handoff and darted for an 83-yard touchdown.

Waitkich finding the end zone was the theme of the night. He also scored on a 32-yard pass from John Ursua 30 seconds before halftime, and he used his third carry of the second half to score an 11-yard rushing touchdown.

All told, Waitkich tallied 194 offensive yards — including 162 rushing on only seven carries. He scored three touchdowns on a mere eight touches.

"Our goal was to score every time we touched the ball and not turn it over," he said.

In the first half, that's almost precisely what Westlake did. The Thunder scored on six of its seven first-half possessions to take a 40-6 cushion into halftime. Along the way, Westlake capitalized on four Timpanogos turnovers in the first half, with Ursua marching the Thunder down the field in short order each time.

Ursua carved up the Timberwolves with crisp passes and his elusiveness in the open field, piling up 150 yards and two touchdowns passing with another 97 yards and two touchdowns rushing before giving the offensive reins to his understudy, sophomore quarterback Anthony Ennis, for the entire second half..

With a comfortable lead, Westlake continued to force turnovers in the second half, picking off Timpanogos quarterback Zac Larson and recovering three fumbles.

On a night when the team's seniors were honored in their final home game, senior backup running back Curtis Cowden got into the action with a 33-yard touchdown run midway through the third quarter.

Larson struggled to get into a rhythm until the game was well out of reach, but he finished 14-for-28 for 273 yards and three touchdowns. The bulk of that production came on a pair of fourth-quarter touchdown passes: 57 yards to Damian Rivers and 75 yards to Dyson Rivers.