Down 7-0 at halftime to region rival Elkmont, West Limestone coach Shelby Davis challenged his players to focus and find a way to win. The Wildcats responded and rolled off 27 unanswered points to take a 27-7 victory.

“I just challenged them at halftime to find some guts and find a way to get the win,” Davis said. “I felt they responded well. That just comes with being young. They don’t know how to go out and take care of business from the beginning of the game right now.”

The game was scoreless for most of the first half until Elkmont quarterback Davis Hobbs tossed a 10-yard touchdown pass to Peyton Lovell in the final seconds of the second quarter to give the Red Devils a 7-0 halftime lead.

“In the first half we just weren’t ready to play,” Davis said. “We weren’t focused. I thought our defense played well and kept us in the game, we just lacked focus.”

The difference in the second half was the West Limestone running game, as Nick Martindale and Brett Beckworth combined to rush for 209 yards on 24 carries. Martindale had 135 of those yards with three touchdowns while Beckworth had 74 yards.

Martindale had a huge second half after missing much of the first half after taking a helmet to the back during a tackle.

“He started having back spasms and got worried about his back because of his previous injury that kept him out of most of last season,” Davis said. “The doctors checked him out at halftime and said he was OK. I challenged him and our starting guard who had a banged up ankle to suck it up and get it done. They both responded well, so we were glad to see that.”

But it was a different running back who finally got the scoring started for West Limestone, as Preston Miller scored on a 30-yard burst just 1:15 into the third quarter. Elkmont still led after the missed extra point, but that lead would only hold until near the end of the quarter.

West Limestone took its first lead of the game when Martindale scored on a 9-yard run with 1:44 remaining in the third. Miller ran for the 2-point conversion and the Wildcats led 14-7.

West put two more touchdowns on the board in the fourth quarter. Martindale scored on an 8-yard run early in the quarter, and then put the icing on the cake with a 72-yard scoring run midway through the period.

Davis Hobbs led Elkmont with 61 rushing yards and 99 passing yards with a passing touchdown. Seth Coffman was the Red Devils’ leading receiver with two receptions for 76 yards.

Davis Hobbs led Elkmont with 61 rushing yards and 99 passing yards with a passing touchdown. Seth Coffman was the Red Devils’ leading receiver with two receptions for 76 yards.

Gage McKelvey had 74 yards passing for West Limestone, with Christian Clemmons hauling in a reception for 33 yards.

West Limestone (2-1, 1-0 Class 4A, Region 8) will host Central-Florence next Friday while Elkmont (0-4, 0-2) has an off week.