Westside High football’s youth movement continues on the gridiron

AUGUSTA, Ga. (WRDW/WAGT) – The youth movement continues on the gridiron at Westside in 2023, with the junior and sophomore classes leading the way.

After having a nine-win season in 2021, things didn’t go according to plan for Westside last year after finishing two and eight overall and missing the playoffs.

A total of ten sophomores and five freshmen started for the Patriots last year, and when many young players see the field, it typically means the future is going to be brighter than the present.

The Patriots hit the ground running this offseason by attacking the weight room and diving into the X’s and O’s in the film room to make sure they learn from last year’s mistakes.

Losing is never easy, but the young Westside team says they’re ready to put last year in the rearview mirror and kick it into a whole new gear this time around.

“It gave us a lot of maturity because we had a lot of young kids. Young kids starting, freshman, sophomores. So, I think they saw the struggles we had last year, and they were like, man we don’t want to go through that again,” said Xavier Goss, senior quarterback.

Malachi Moreland, senior offensive tackle, said: “I hope that we could do better than what we did last year, because last year wasn’t how this program is, and that’s not how we handle business.”

Lee Hutto, head coach, said: “Our kids understand the importance of studying film, being focused, being locked in at practice, getting the mental reps when you’re not actually getting a physical rep. So, just the mental maturity and the physical maturity of our kids is going to go a long way.”

The Patriots are scrimmaging Greenbrier on Friday before kicking off the season against Hephzibah on August 18.

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