Westminster football coach Brad Wilson had a busy day Friday. In one way, the day ended how he wanted. In another, Wilson and the Owls learned a hard lesson in life.
On the field, things couldn't have been better, as the No. 12 Owls defeated rival South Carroll, 39-6, to win the unofficial Carroll County championship.
Off the field was another story.
Wilson learned at 3:30 p.m. that he had lost his appeal to the Maryland Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association to have a forfeit of a 57-7 win over Manchester Valley overturned. The Owls were penalized for using a quarterback for three plays in a that week's varsity game after he played in a junior varsity game the same week.
Losing the appeal leaves no chance for the Owls to advance to next week's regional playoffs.
Wilson said his players did not want to know the outcome of the ruling, so he waited until after the game to tell them.
"They didn't want to know. How grown up is that?" an emotional Wilson said. "Tonight on the field we showed what kind of team we are. [The ruling] is not fair, but what can you do? The effort has always been there. That's why I love these kids."
On the field, Dan Johnson rushed for 138 yards and four touchdowns to lead the Owls (8-2, 6-1). Dan Mullen's 53 yards rushing and one touchdown paced the Cavaliers (6-4, 6-1).
The win snapped South Carroll's 17-game win streak against Carroll County opponents. The last time the Cavaliers lost a county game was Oct. 2, 2009 against Century.
Johnson opened the scoring, taking a handoff from quarterback Romie Cheese and running off left tackle untouched from two-yards with 7:23 left in the first quarter.
The Owls got the ball back late in the quarter and went on a 75-yard drive to double their lead. Johnson again scored the touchdown, this time going off right tackle and slipping past several defenders to raise the lead to 12-0 on the first play of the second quarter.
Two possessions later Johnson's five-yard plunge capped an 81-yard drive in which Westminster chewed a sizeable chunk off the second-quarter clock and stretched the lead to 19-0 with 6:22 left in the first half.
The Cavaliers finally mounted a drive of their own near the end of the half. Benefiting from several Owl penalties, South Carroll cut the deficit to 19-6 on a 27-yard Dan Mullen run with 4 minutes left.
The Owls closed out the scoring with another Johnson scoring run of 29 yards, an 18-yard return of a blocked punt by Justin Sommerville and an 80-yard scamper by Cheese with 2:10 left.
"I have a lot of mixed feelings right now," Johnson said. "I don't think we should be punished and stripped of an opportunity, but we proved we were the better team tonight. We showed everyone what we were made of."
No. 12 Westminster 39, South Carroll 6
W 6 13 6 14 -- 39
SC 0 6 0 0 -- 6
W -- Johnson 2 run (kick blocked)
W – Johnson 30 run (pass failed)
W – Johnson 5 run (Carder kick)
SC – Mullen 5 run (run failed)
W – Johnson 29 run (kick blocked)
W – Sommerville 18 return of blocked punt (Lauer run)
W – Cheese 80 run (run failed)