By Brandon Shields
COLLINSVILLE — West Lauderdale got its revenge.
Behind another stellar rushing attack of Travion Mosley and Kayden Peoples along with a stingy defense the Knights got past Houston 25-7 in the second round of the MHSAA Class 4A playoffs at “The Kingdom” on Friday night.
Houston had ended West Lauderdale’s season each of the last two seasons.
West Lauderdale (9-3) will host Shannon in the third round of the MHSAA Class 4A playoffs next Friday night.
“The biggest thing is how everyone bought in to try to win this ball game. We talked about all week long is to defend the kingdom,” said West Lauderdale coach Brock Clay. “We capitalized on some mistakes and I’m very proud of these group of kids.”
After a scoreless first quarter West Lauderdale scored first off a Houston fumble as Peoples scored on a 3-yard run and a failed extra point gave the Knights a 6-0 lead with 4:08 left in the second quarter.
Houston scored on their opening drive of the second half as Takoda Harrell found Braylin Rogers on a 6-yard touchdown pass gave the Hilltoppers a 7-6 lead with 3:38 left in the third quarter.
The Knights answered as Travion Mosley raced to the end zone from 16 yards out to regain the lead at 12-7 with 15 seconds left in the third quarter.
After Houston fumbled for the second time Peoples powered his way into the end zone from seven yards out to extend the lead to 19-7 with 10:34 left in the fourth quarter.
Peoples then added a 57-yard touchdown run with 9:26 left to give West Lauderdale the 25-7 lead.
“Our defense played great against a really good offense. I wouldn’t have guessed we’d hold them to one touchdown and I am super proud of them,” Clay said. “There’s only four teams left in the North in 4A, and we’re blessed to be one of them.”
The Knights rushed for 344 yards total. Peoples had 127 yards on 16 carries with three touchdowns, while Mosley had 217 yards on 25 carries for a touchdown to lead West Lauderdale.
“Going into this week we had some guys hurt and younger guys stepped up and worked hard in practice and it showed tonight,” Peoples said. “Defense was very big with two big turnovers. Me and Tre work well with each other and both do great. Excited to get another home game.”
Harrell went 15-of-30 passing for 170 yards with a touchdown to lead Houston. The Hilltoppers end the season 8-3.
“You can’t turn the ball over against a good team and they did a really job on defense and had a good plan,” said Houston coach Baylor Dampeer. “We’ve played them three years in a row, and we’ve beaten them twice and now they got, so hats off to them. We just didn’t do enough on offense to execute and get the ball in the end zone.”