PIEDMONT — Despite running the ball effectively for most of the game, the West-Oak Warriors were unable to put a single point on the board and continually shot themselves in the foot with penalties and defensive breakdowns in a 28-0 loss to Woodmont on Friday night.

West-Oak’s combination of Brandon Hoover, Gerrad Holbrooks, and Austin Doyle put up 162 yards on the ground, but the Warriors committed five penalties on offense and also lost a fumble.

“Offensively we never really found a rhythm,” Warriors head coach Jay Brannon said. “They had a good scheme, but it wasn’t anything we weren’t expecting and it wasn’t anything that we haven’t worked on all week in practice. We just didn’t execute very well. We made crucial penalties in crucial times.”

After a holding penalty negated any possibility of points on West-Oak’s first drive, Woodmont (5-2, 1-1 Western AAA) took advantage immediately.

Six plays after taking over on their own 42, the Wildcats’ Shundrez Smoot punched the ball in from two yards out and gave Woodmont an early 7-0 lead.

West-Oak (4-3, 0-2 Western AAA) attempted to answer back on the ensuing drive, but a bad exchange between quarterback Evan Blackwell and Hoover resulted in a lost fumble and one of many lost opportunities.

“We talked about penalties all week,” said Hoover. “That’s the only thing that beat us. We would go down the field and then we would mess up and then we would get mad at each other. That’s what messed us up tonight. Penalties got everybody mad at each other.”

Woodmont senior quarterback Johnnie Houston was a problem all night for the West-Oak defense, as he showed off his athletic ability numerous times with his legs and through the air.

Houston made a brilliant throw after avoiding the Warrior pass rush on Woodmont’s drive following the fumble that resulted in a 63-yard touchdown to Vintize Strong.

“Their quarterback did some great things,” Brannon said. “We had him pinned up a couple times and he broke some long runs. You see a lot of quarterbacks who want to scramble and just run and he was actually looking downfield. He hit us when he broke contain.”

After Houston completed a 50-yard pass to his younger brother Okoye Houston on Woodmont’s fourth drive, he scampered the final yard himself on a quarterback sneak for the Wildcats’ third touchdown.

Woodmont’s last touchdown again came on a quarterback sneak by Houston. On fourth-and-six, Houston eluded a slew of Warrior defenders and ran 10 yards for the game’s final points.

The loss was the second straight region defeat for West-Oak, and does nothing to help the sting of a crushing defeat at the hands of Belton-Honea Path last week.

“We’ve got to get that win,” said Brannon. “We’ve got to get that first (region) win under our belt. We played well last week against B-HP. We did not play well tonight. Next week will be a good opportunity to figure out which team we’re going to be.”

Life doesn’t get any easier for the Warriors as they have to travel to seventh-ranked Pickens for a date with the Blue Flame next week.

Woodmont 28, West-Oak 0

W-O 0 0 0 0 — 0

WHS 7 14 0 7 — 28

SCORING SUMMARY

First Quarter

WHS — Smoot 2 yard run (Byers kick), 7:31

Second Quarter

WHS — Strong 63 yard pass from J. Houston (conversion failed), 10:45

WHS — J. Houston 1 yard run (Curenton run), 0:33

Fourth Quarter

WHS — J. Houston 10 yard run (Byers kick), 5:25

TEAM STATISTICS

W-O WHS

First Downs 13 18

Rushes-Yards 37-162 37-278

Passing Yards 16 174

Com-Att-Int 3-17-0 6-20-1

Punts-Avg. 5-28.4 2-39.5

Fumbles-Lost 2-1 1-0

Penalties-Yards 10-95 8-70

INDIVUDAL STATISTICS

Rushing — West-Oak, Hoover 14-81, Doyle 10-44, Holbrooks 8-32, Blackwell 5-5. Woodmont, Curenton 10-92, J. Houston 11-90, Smoot 8-59, Suber 3-13, Garnett 4-16, Collins 1-8.

Passing — West-Oak, Blackwell 3-17-0 16. Woodmont, J.Houston 6-19-1 174, Suber 0-1-0 0.

Receiving — West-Oak, James 1-10, Doyle 1-7, Holbrooks 1-(-)1. Woodmont, Strong 2-104, O. Houston 1-50, Curenton 1-13, Byers 1-11, Suber 1-9.