For the first time in 686 days, the Western Guilford Hornets won a varsity football game, defeating the North Forsyth Vikings by a score of 24-6 at Doug Henderson Stadium on Friday night.
The win came on an important night, as the Western Guilford High School Sports Hall of Fame class of 2018 was inducted and honored on the field at halftime, a group that included the 1977 3-A State Championship football team.
Things started well for the Hornets, as they opened the scoring in the first quarter with a 38-yard field goal from Robbie Boyd.
The Vikings came back, scoring on their opening drive of the second quarter after starting in Hornets’ territory for the first time in the game. Five plays later, Vikings quarterback Richard Ryce connected with Nasir Lawrence for a touchdown. The extra point attempt failed, and the Vikings were on top 6-3.
Western couldn’t score for the remainder of the second quarter, but at halftime, something changed.
After members and coaches of the 1977 Western Guilford state championship team and the rest of the Western Guilford Sports Hall of Fame class of 2018 members took the field to be honored, the charged-up Hornets came out and forced the Vikings to three-and-out.
On the ensuing drive, the Hornets drove 79 yard downfield in just eight plays, and regained the lead 10-6, a lead the Hornets wouldn’t relinquish.
The Vikings tried valiantly to get back to the end zone, but the Western defense held strong.
The Hornets next score came early in the fourth quarter from a drive that began at the 10 yard line. The Hornets’ quarterback duo of Boyd and Kam Page both made big passes to Kevin Boele to get them into Vikings’ territory. Once they were there, the running of Page and Dante Bovian got the Hornets down to the four. Page took the ball around the right side and extended his arms as far as he could to get the ball over the goal line for the score. Western fans went crazy.
The touchdown put the Hornets up by a score of 17-6, and with the defense holding strong, a Western win seemed possible.
When the Hornets scored with 4:35 remaining, the win was all but secured as Western led 24-6. All the Hornets had to do was stop the Vikings one last time.
North Forsyth’s final drive of the game lasted six plays, but the Vikings couldn’t get past the penalties that put them twenty yards behind the chains early in the drive, and the Hornets regained the ball.
Boyd took a knee thrice, and the wait was over. Western Guilford was victorious by a score of 24-6.
Once the players celebrated on the field, the game ball was handed to Hornets Head Coach Brian Terwilliger.
“It’s unreal, it hasn’t even hit me yet,” Terwilliger said of receiving the game ball and the victory.
“It’s not about me,” he said. “It’s about how hard have worked for the past several months, and to finally taste victory … is just such a great feeling for our guys and our school. We needed this, bad.”
Junior quarterback Robbie Boyd was just as pleased to get the victory.
“It feels amazing,” he said. “The last time I got a win here was the last game of my freshman season. It’s been something we’ve really wanted and have been trying to get. It feels really great.”
“We got it done tonight, and I’m just glad we finally won a game, honestly,” Boyd said.
Coach Terwilliger prepared his team by doing something out of the ordinary on Wednesday.
“(The ’77 Champions being honored at this game) was something that we talked about all week,” Terwilliger said. “This was not just an important night for us, but for the history (at Western), so we sat in the film room on Wednesday, and we watched the film of that 1977 State Championship game. What you saw tonight was what they saw in that state championship game, where they had so many things go wrong, but they just kept fighting, clawing, and flying to the football. That’s what I saw tonight and I couldn’t be more proud of the team for wanting to embrace the tradition of the past.”
The Western Guilford Hornets are now (1-5) on the season with the win and (1-0) in Piedmont Triad 3A Conference play with the victory. The Hornets travel to Winston-Salem to play Mt. Tabor next Friday night.
The North Forsyth Vikings are now (0-6) on the season and (0-1) in conference play. They are off next week.
SCORING PLAYS:
(WG) Robbie Boyd 38 FG
(NF) Nasir Lawrence 8 pass from Richard Ryce (kick failed)
(WG) Kam Page 4 run (Boyd kick)
(WG) Boyd 1 run (Boyd kick)
(WG) Dante Bovian 6 run (Boyd kick)
WESTERN GUILFORD STATS:
Robbie Boyd: (3-7) 100yds; 4 rush -2yds, TD; 38yd FG
Dante Bovian: 13 rush 102yds, TD
Kam Page: (2-3) 21yds; 8 rush 26yds, TD
Kevin Boele: 3 rec 112 yds
NORTH FORSYTH STATS:
Richard Ryce: (18-39) 122yds, TD
Nasir Lawrence: 1 rec 8yds, TD
1977 Hornets were great . Print and publish a roster with a where are they now. Congrats to Western.
Charlie Pannell
If somebody can get a copy of that Western Guilford roster from 1977 and where they are now, we will sure publish it….Great idea….