The floodgates opened up in the second quarter.

That refers to the heavy rain coming down at Dragon Stadium, but it also refers to the West offense.

The Rebels scored 27 points in the quarter on their way to a 41-3 victory at Clinton on Friday night.

It was a big win for West in relation to the postseason. With the Rebels entering the contest 1-2 in the Region 2-5A standings and a game at Powell still to play, a loss on Friday would have made it hard for the Rebels (3-4, 2-2) to reach the postseason.

A win for Clinton (3-4, 3-2) would have guaranteed a winning record in league play.

“They prepared really well this week. I think they understand the situation they’re in, pretty much it’s a playoff game every week, just to continue the season in November. I think that really got their attention and they responded tonight,” West coach Barron Chandler said.

With the rain at its heaviest, all of the scoring, multiple stoppages to sort out unsportsmanlike conduct penalties and trying to keep the ball dry, it was a wild second quarter that nearly took up as much real time as the other three combined.

It started with a pair of touchdowns from quarterback Jack Harrison to his top receiver Silas Monroe.

The first was on a screen that Monroe — aided by some great blocking — took 45 yards for a touchdown to give West a 7-3 lead with 10:27 before the half.

The senior duo linked up again about four minutes later for a 71-yard score. Monroe caught the play-action pass at midfield, the defender closest to him fell and Monroe took it to the house.

“Silas has put in a ton of work, offensively and defensively he’s been great for us this year. Big playmaker, there’s always big plays out there for him,” Chandler said.

After the Rebels forced a punt, running back Dominique Bingham scored from five yards out to extend the lead to 20-3 with 1:56 left.

But the half wasn’t over yet. On the ensuing Clinton possession, a West sack forced fourth down, but a West defender appeared to taunt Dragons quarterback Mason Eckerson. Some shoving happened in response by Clinton and the penalties offset.

Facing fourth-and-12 on their own 18-yard-line with less than a minute to play in the half, the Dragons surprisingly went for it and were stopped.

On the next play, West receiver Maddox Moffitt ran the ball in.

“For whatever reason when we come up here it always seems like there’s strange things that happen,” Chandler said.

“We’ve had some crazy games up here, whether it be weather, or stuff on the field. That’s something that we try to preach to the kids week in and week out, that if you get into it with a guy on the other team that’s kind of selfish of you.

“You may win the argument, but it’s going to cost us 15 yards. We want to preach to our kids that if you keep your composure when other people are losing their heads you’re going to come out on the good end of that.”

Wytier Nelson had two rushing touchdowns in the third quarter for West, including one for 60 yards up the middle on the first play of the second half.

After a 42-10 loss last Friday against Halls, the West defense stepped up.

Although the game started with a long Clinton drive resulting in a field goal, including a few chunk plays negated by penalties, the Rebels settled in on that side of the ball.

Eli Bohanan had a sack. Jax Ferrell was in on several tackles. Defensive back Brayden Livingston had a nice pass breakup on a long pass.

Chandler, who was the defensive coordinator for the Rebels before taking over as head coach in June 2025, said the turnaround on defense started with tackling.

“I think it was a team effort. We started out slow, they drove the ball down the field, but we got them stopped and they got to feeling good.

“When you’re feeling good you start tackling better. What I would say the biggest change was is we tackled better than we have in the previous games.”

Article written by Matthew Lutey/5Star Preps. To read more on area high school sports or to see photo galleries, videos, stat leaders, etc., visit 5StarPreps.com — and use promo code HAMMERS for 30% off your first year or month subscription.

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