The Westwood Lumberjacks maintained a first place league finish after taking a 72-18 win over the Herlong Vikings on a cold Friday, Nov. 6 evening in Westwood, Calif.

The win pushed Westwood’s record to 5-0 in league play and 7-3 overall on the season. Herlong dropped to 1-4 in league play and 2-7 overall.

Westwood quarterback Dalton Stadelman put together a huge passing offense with 12 completions on 16 attempts for 241 yards on the night. Stadelman was able to find a wide-open Derick Vega throughout much of the game.

Vega had seven receptions for 121 yards on the night followed by teammate Johnny Peters with 79 yards on three catches and Brian Melendrez with 41 yards on two.

Defensively, Stadelman led the way with 15 tackles and one interception on the game followed by Vega with 14 tackles and two sacks and Peters with 11 tackles.

The short-staffed Viking squad fought hard the entire match to keep up with a much deeper Westwood bench.

Viking running back TJ Haggerty put up a dazzling show for Herlong rushing for 191 yards on 16 carries. Haggerty received two passes for 28 yards on the night, ran an 80-yard kickoff return back for a touchdown, and led the team in tackles with 8.

“We conditioned a lot over the last nine to ten weeks we have been playing football,” said Haggerty. “We started pulling it together in the first quarter, they started scoring touchdowns and we started losing it from there. Westwood is a talented team and they played a good game tonight. We are talented too, we just couldn’t pull it together tonight,” Haggerty said.

Herlong quarterback Shane Townsend rushed for 57 yards on the game, and had four completions on 19 attempts for 47 yards. Townsend also stepped up defensively for the Vikings with six tackles, one of which was a sack for a loss of three yards.

“We really didn’t play our game tonight,” said assistant Viking coach Chris Holt. “We let them beat us on the outside and let their guys get deep on us. Westwood’s defense had a really good pass rush tonight and our linemen were having trouble picking that up.

“You know, you win some and you lose some, unfortunately this year we lost more than we won. Next year we are hoping we can turn this program around.

“We have a lot of good players moving up next year and we are looking forward to what the future holds for this Herlong program,” Holt said.

“We have the utmost respect for Coach Townsend and his team,” said Westwood Coach Phil Bryant. “We knew that TJ Haggerty was an outstanding runner and he proved it again tonight.

“He is definitely one of the best players in the entire division and the same goes for Shane Townsend.

“Both of these guys spent a lot of time with our players at the end of the game and that is what it is really all about. They knew they gave it their best shot and they knew that we did the same.  They deserve all the recognition they have received," Bryant said.

Westwood tops the northern section’s south league, above Loyalton and Champion Christian. The Jacks will now prepare for a playoff match up against Dunsmuir, who beat Butte Valley 64-0 the same night.

The playoff game is tentatively scheduled for Friday, Nov. 20 at home.