Westgate High School saw a rash of game-changing injuries in its Class 4A second-round playoff game Friday nigh at Neville, falling to the No. 4 seed 53-34.

Neville High scored three second-quarter touchdowns to break open a 7-6 game and added four more TDs in the second half at Bill Ruple Stadium.

But injuries were the big news for the visiting Tigers (6-4). Coach Ryan Antoine said Westgate lost Zyion Madison for the game in the first quarter with what seems to be a torn ACL. The Tigers lost their best defensive lineman, Bradley Lewis, in the second quarter, also with a torn ACL.

“Once we lost those two guys right there, they were able to run at will on us and just overpower us,” the coach said. “We knew going into it we would kind of be overmatched size-wise, but I feel we just broke down from the season.”

WHS also lost quarterback Brennan Landry, who had returned from injury this week, to a possible fractured ankle on a late hit after throwing a TD pass to Danny Lewis. Backup quarterback Ja’Quialen Allen later suffered a separated shoulder, so Lewis ended up playing quarterback from there. The Tigers had lost their kicker earlier in the week because of COVID tracing, forcing Westgate to do some different things on special teams.

“Our kids played hard,” Antoine said. “They played hard all year. They battled all year. They were smaller than everybody we played all year. Playing that way with four seniors, I was very excited about how we played as a program as well.”

Neville (6-2) was able to convert for scores on third and fourth down, Antoine said.

“They scored four touchdowns either on third or fourth down, which was humungous for them,” he said. “It put us in a bind all night. We played catch-up all night. We had a big turnover on a muffed punt.”

The Tigers return most of the team next year, with only four seniors on the roster. Those four reached the playoffs every year of high school, which Antoine said is a sign the program is headed in the right direction.

“For the next couple of years we’ll have a strong team as well,” he said. “Just making sure guys are healthy, taking care of their grades and making sure that they’re working on their strength and their size, and also their speed, in the offseason. The offseason will be real key for us in how we prepare, but we’re definitely expecting big things from these guys going forward.”

Because of the threat of the coronavirus and frequent tropical storms, it was the most exhausting season ever, he said, just trying to make sure the team was able to make it to Friday — or Thursday in some cases, and Wednesday in another case.

“Just hoping you could make it, just hoping you could have a season,” Antoine said. “That was the toughest part about this year, just trying to get through it and just trying to make sure these kids had an opportunity to play. I’m glad that we were able to do that.”