WESTMINSTER — First-year West-Oak head coach Jay Brannon made an observation about his inaugural experience with a homecoming game.

“I hate it,” he said with a grin. “There are way too many distractions.”

Brannon’s West-Oak football team was able to block out those distractions, shake off some early rust, and pull away late for a big 33-14 home victory over Liberty.

The name of the game was ball-control; neither offense threw the football very much at all, with the two quarterbacks going a combined 9-of-14 through the air. But West Oak quarterback Evan Blackwell made the most of his opportunities, throwing for three touchdown passes and running for a fourth.

“Evan’s our leader,” Brannon said. “I told him coming in here that he might not throw it much with our offense but that he would still get touchdowns. Tonight, he got some.”

Blackwell’s first touchdown toss showed why Brannon speaks so highly of him. Facing a difficult fourth down and a good pass rush, Blackwell stepped up in the pocket and hit a wide open Austin Doyle for a 49-yard strike that got the Indians on the board early in the second quarter.

After Liberty answered with a scoring drive of its own to end the half, Blackwell responded at the start of the third quarter, hooking up with tight end Dustin Burton for a 19-yard score to give West-Oak (3-1) the lead for good.

Gerrad Holbrook rammed into the end zone from three yards out to give the Indians a 21-7 lead, then Blackwell extended it once more with a two-yard quarterback sneak on the first play of the fourth quarter.

Blackwell’s third touchdown toss capped the scoring, as he threaded the needle to find Jake James across the middle for a 25-yard scoring play.

Both teams relied heavily on the running game throughout. Liberty was led by Ethan Ladd, who carried the ball 13 times for 84 yards. The leading rusher for West Oak was workhorse Brandon Hoover, who finished the night with 15 carries for 99 yards.

Despite winning by a significant margin, Coach Brannon expressed concern about the way his team came out in the first half.

“I felt like we took a step back in that first half,” he said. “But we went back to the basics at halftime and the kids really responded.”

The game maintained a frenetic and chaotic pace throughout, as possession changed hands multiple times on fumbles and there were plenty of penalties to go around. Liberty had the football in West-Oak territory twice in the second half with chances to score and could not seal the deal, instead fumbling the football over to the Warriors.

Late in the game, the grinding misdirection West Oak offense began to wear down the Liberty defense, which pleased its head coach.

“I give Liberty a lot of credit,” Brannon said. “They are a good, scrappy team. But these kids are starting to believe. We’ve got good kids that work hard, and they were able to fight off all the distractions from tonight and win the football game.”

West Oak 33, Liberty 14

Liberty 0 7 0 7

West Oak 0 7 14 12

Scoring Summary

Second Quarter

WO – E. Blackwell 48 yard pass to A. Doyle 11:00 (Keiger kick)

LIB – E. Ladd 19 yard run :26 (Smith kick)

Third Quarter

WO – E. Blackwell 18 yard pass to D. Burton 9:00 (Keiger kick)

WO – G. Holbrook 3 yard run 2:16 (Keiger kick)

Fourth Quarter

WO – E. Blackwell 2 yard run 11:56 (Keiger kick blocked)

LIB – M. Whitworth 1 yard run 9:39 (Smith kick)

WO – E. Blackwell 25 yard pass to J. James 5:54 (Keiger kick failed)

Liberty West Oak

First Downs 13 16

Rushes-Yards 39-194 40-308

Passing Yards 103 119

Comp-Att-Int 5-7-0 5-9-0

Punts 3-32.7 0-0

Fumbles-lost 4-2 1-1

Penalties-yards 9-87 5-61

Rushing: Liberty, M. Whitworth 14-48, E. Ladd 13-84, J. Dixon 5-7, Ju. Smith 5-42, B. Wiles 1-3, P. Rainwater 1-10. West Oak, B. Hoover 15-99, A. Doyle 6-73, E. Blackwell 4-41, G. Holbrook 12-92, C. Dimitroff 1-(-4), K. Jenkins 2-7.

Passing: Liberty, Ju. Smith 4-6-0-103, Ja. Smith 0-1-0-0. West Oak, E. Blackwell 5-9-0-119.

Receiving: Liberty, N. McQueen 2-38, M. Whitworth 2-65. West Oak, D. Burton 2-33, J. James 2-38, A. Doyle 1-48.