DAYTON — Much to the delight of head coach Tyson Moser, there was no letdown from his undefeated Pirates.

Instead, West Side shined in all three aspects of the game en route to a 40-6 drubbing of Firth in the opening round of the 2A state football tournament on Friday night at Lyle S. Henderson Field. It was the Pirates’ eighth victory of the season by at least 28 points.

“A good all-around win,” Moser said.

“All three aspects of the team played well. I was a little worried about the kids starting to get complacent after some of the blowout wins they’ve had, but I think they came out and executed very well. And Firth was more physical than the teams we’ve been playing, and I felt like our kids matched the intensity and the physicalness, so I thought we played well.”

The Pirates (9-0) jumped out to a 33-0 halftime lead and coasted to their second win over the Cougars (3-5) in 2018. West Side rolled to a 36-6 road triumph over Firth in the season opener for both teams.

Firth had no answer for West Side standout senior Enoch Ward, who found paydirt four times in the opening half to increase his single-season school record to 24 touchdowns. Ward racked up 107 yards receiving and an additional 104 rushing in the first two quarters alone.

“It’s cool, but I’ve got to give all of my credit to my (offensive) line,” Ward said. “Honestly, the holes are huge and they give me a lot of space to run and make stuff happen.”

The Pirates scored touchdowns on five of their seven possessions in the first half. It only took the hosts five plays to find the end zone on their opening drive, which was capped off by a 3-yard scoring run from Stockton Brown.

Ward then proceeded to bury the Cougars. The senior deftly bounced off a tackle and stiff-armed another would-be tackler en route to a 57-yard jaunt to the end zone for a 13-0 Pirate lead.

Ward scored three times on receptions in the second quarter. He hauled in a 19-yard pass from Brown over the middle, scored on a 55-yard catch and run and snared a well-executed double pass from Ryan Beckstead for a 34-yard TD with seconds remaining in the half. Ward was the recipient of a big block from Beckstead on his second TD reception from Brown, and made a cheeky cut back on the play, to boot.

“I was actually a little nervous because I tripped when I was going out for my route, so I thought it was going to be a blown play,” Ward said of the double pass. “But it was really fun. We ended (the half) on a good note. I think that really put Firth in a hole.”

Meanwhile, the Cougars never really got anything going offensively against West Side’s stingy defense. Beckstead, Jake Moser and Dillon Robinson intercepted passes in the first half for the Pirates, who got a second-half INT from Robinson.

Additionally, defensive end Brigham Cook and the rest of the West Side defensive front put constant pressure on Firth signal caller Jace Erickson, who completed 5 of 24 passes in the contest. The Pirates finished with a huge 336-71 edge in total offense in the opening half.

“We had some batted-down passes and, of course, the interceptions,” Cook said. “And the D-line’s been tough all year and then when our D-line’s tough, our secondary has chances to make big plays, and that’s what we’ve been doing all year long, and that’s what we’ll keep doing.”

A huge special teams play allowed the Pirates to take a 40-0 advantage late in the third quarter. Riley Smith blocked a punt, giving the hosts the ball on the Firth 5-yard line. Jaxon Moser powered his way into the end zone from 1 yard out two plays later.

“Yeah, I think I’ve had five (blocked punts this season) and Riley had one tonight, and that’s just a huge momentum swing when you get them pinned deep, you stop them, you deflate their drive, and then you just cap it off, put the cherry on top with a punt block,” Cook said.

The Cougars avoided being shut out when they scored on a hook-and-ladder play as time expired in the fourth quarter with West Side’s backups in the game. West Side’s first-string defense has given up three touchdowns this season.

Up next for West Side is a quarterfinal matchup against an opponent to be determined. The second round of the state playoffs is re-seeded according to the RPI of the remaining squads. West Side has the No. 4 RPI in 2A.

WEST SIDE 40, FIRTH 6

Firth 0 0 0 6 — 6

West Side 13 20 7 0 — 40

Scoring summary

First Quarter

WS — Stockton Brown 3 run (Marino Vedova kick), 8:31.

WS — Enoch Ward 57 run (kick missed), :27.7.

Second Quarter

WS — Ward 19 pass from Brown (Vedova kick), 8:27.

WS — Ward 55 pass from Brown (Vedova kick), 1:37.

WS — Ward 34 pass from Ryan Beckstead (kick missed), :8.3.

Third Quarter

WS — Jaxon Moser 1 run (Vedova kick), 2:46.

Fourth Quarter

F — Grayson Nelson 9 pass from Teague Shook, Nelson pitches to Clayton Gain for 12 run, 0:00.

Rushing — Firth, Jace Erickson 3-(minus 3), Clayton Gain 13-51, Colton Mecham 5-13, Canon Carpenter 2-(minus 1), Teague Shook 1-11. Team 1-(minus 2). West Side, Enoch Ward 10-107, Stockton Brown 4-34, Jake Moser 7-45, Cyrus Rindlisbaucher 1-4, Jaxon Moser 3-9, Ryan Beckstead 2-8, Dustin Sparrow 3-(minus 3), Karson Chugg 1-2, Parker Henderson 1-4, Zarrick Westover 1-5, Taze Stegelmeier 2-(minus 7).

Passing — Firth Erickson 5-24 (4 INTs) 35, Shook 1-3-0 9. West Side, Brown 4-8-0 (2 TDs) 101, Beckstead 1-0-0 (1 TD) 34.

Receiving — Firth, Shook 2-33, Carpenter 1-4, Gain 1-(minus 2), Grayson Nelson 1-9. West Side, Ward 3-107, Dillon Robinson 1-25, Beckstead 1-3, Westover 1-3.