Seth Sloan, who played last season with a torn ACL, showed his knee has healed nicely as he ran for a team-high 108 yards on a four carries Friday night. The junior also passed for three touchdowns to help the Wolverines to a 54-6 blowout win over Westville at Akin-Langley Field.
"I can't say enough about having Seth healthy again," said Vian head coach Brandon Tyler. "He throws the ball well and you can't blitz him, because he'll get out of there and run the ball."
In addition to his scampering, Sloan also completed 10-of-14 passes for 201 yards without an interception. His 30-yard completion to tight end Timmy Hart set up the first score of the night. Vfastv Locust got the touchdown on an eight-yard run to cap the Wolverines' opening drive and Manny Sallee's point-after kick made it 7-0 with 10:10 left in the first quarter.
Sloan fired a 19-yard TD pass to Locust, followed by a 35-yard strike to Londell Taylor later in the period. Sallee booted both extra points and Vian took a 21-0 lead into the second quarter.
Vian piled up 297 yards rushing as a team and scored three touchdowns on the ground during the second quarter. Demarqua Pratt scored on runs of two and six yards while fellow tailback Locust found the end zone on a one-yard run. Sallee converted all three extra-point tries and the Wolverines opened up a 42-0 advantage with 2:39 left in the half.
Westville quarterback Mark Rowan got the home team on the scoreboard, passing 31 yards to Eric Rowan with 37 seconds left before halftime.
Sloan tossed his final touchdown pass of the night midway through the third quarter, connecting with Pat Davis for a 30-yard strike.
Vian used its reserves extensively and freshman quarterback Tyren Samuels got the final TD of the contest on a 23-yard run early in the fourth quarter.
The Wolverines did not punt the ball until late in the game when Westville stopped the Vian reserves. However, Tyler still saw room for improvement from the offensive unit.
"We had almost 500 yards of offense and you can't complain about that, but we still have a long ways to go," said Tyler. "We're blowing some assignments and not holding onto our blocks, but those are correctable mistakes."
On defense, the Wolverines held Westville to 49 yards rushing and did a more effective job of keeping the Yellowjacket passing attack under control than a year ago.
Tyler said middle linebacker Nick Albertson, defensive end Jarrett Tyler and defensive back Pat Davis all played well.
"Pat Davis had an interception and we had preached all week about our secondary having to step up," said Tyler. "Last year, Westville threw for about 300 yards on us and this year we held them to 178. We were worried about the passing game, but our secondary played very well except for the one play at the end of the first half."
Vian spread the ball around on offense with no one gettimg more than nine carries. Locust ran nine times for 39 yards and Pratt picked up 22 yards on five totes. Fullback Garrett Ford ran for 33 yards on seven tries, Londell Taylor had a 25-yard gain and Samuels picked up 54 yards on four carries.
Taylor was the the top receiver with three catches for 63 yards, while Locust also caught three passes for 48 yards.
Zeke Robinson was Westville's leading rusher with eight carries for 19 yards. Eric Rowan completed 14-of-23 passes for 178 yards and Matt Rowan led Westville in receiving with five catches for 97 yards.
Vian moved to 1-0 with the non-district win. Westville, which is in Class 2A, dropped to 0-1 and Tyler was happy to come out on top against the Yellowjackets.
"I'm glad to go up there and get a win, because that's not an easy place to play," said Tyler. "We knew we could control the game once we got ahead and that's what we did."
