Westwood anticipated a knock-down, drag-out battle with East Valley Region rival and sister school Dobson on Friday night. The Warriors did most of the knocking down and used big plays from the running game and passing game to dismantle Dobson, 45-13, ain a 6A contest at Westwood.

The victory was Westwood's third in a row and leaves the Warriors 3-2 at the season's midpoint as well as 1-0 in the region.  Dobson dropped to 1-4, 0-2 region and had several players shaken up who did not return in the course of the game, most of those in the second half.

Westwood's standouts doing the actual scoring were senior running back Manny Collier, senior wide receiver-defensive back Will Driggs and quarterback Jerry Stayner. Collier picked up where he left off last week. Collier rushed for 385 yards in the Warriors win at Cibola on Sept. 7 so bettering that was going to be a tall effort. He did reasonable well vs. Dobson with 229 yards rushing on 18 carries and four touchdowns. Collier had two TD runs of 50 yards or more called back by penalty on drives he eventually found the end zone anyway.

Stayner didn't pass often, but was sharp with the the six throws he attempted. He completed all of them for 147 yards and two TDs -- both to Driggs on connections of 46 and 33 yards. Both were picturesque throws and receptions.

What may have been the glowing piece of news for the night for Westwood was the health of the Warriors' offensive line. They had the line they envisioned for the first time with Blaise Palmer, Carlos Pena, Reshard Antone, Jose Morales and Matthew Eager (playing football for the first time), doing the dirty work up front.

"Good stuff," Westwood coach Kyle Ide told his team as they huddled shortly after the win.

Ide of course was pleased with the line play knowing at times with a back like Collier they don't need to be perfect to help unleash a big gain.

"Our line did a great job," Ide said. We'v had a couple of them out with injury or gone during the summer, so it was nice to have them togther for the first time. Manny (Collier) is such a weapon. We did a nice job when we threw it."  Westwood finished with 301 yards rushing and 448 in total offense. 

Dobson hung in for a half, but couldn't keep healthy players on the field. The Mustangs, under coach Pete Wahlheim who is in his second season at the helm, converted a turnover into a touchdown in the final minute of the first half to pull within 24-13. Quarterback Nicolas Saro flipped a 6-yard TD pass to tight end George Lupe to give the Mustangs momentum heading to the second half.

Dobson played three and a half quarters without their top offensive threat and two-way player Damyian Duarte. Duarte, a sophomore, was shaken up by a hit on Dobson's first possession and did not return. At least a half dozen more Dobson players left the field in the second half with various injuries. By the start of the final period, Westwood was up 45-13 thanks to three third-quarter TD runs by Collier -- scores of 16, 59 and 39 yards. The teams played the final quarter without a running clock, but both employing vanilla offenses.

Westwood continues region play on the road next week at Skyline while Dobson remains on the road at Hamilton.