​MINFORD — Throughout the 2026 season, there’s been little doubt for those who have watched the West Senators’ defense that the Senators, are indeed legit on that side of the football.Todd Gilliland’s group again showed up in that area on Friday evening, as West gave up just 61 yards of total offense on 38 plays by the Minford Falcons’ football program while the offense and special teams put together one explosive play after another with four of its six touchdowns coming from 30 or more yards out, including a 43-yard touchdown run from Westyn Ratcliff on West’s first offensive play from scrimmage to start the scoring and Keagan Salem’s electrifying 77-yard kickoff return for a touchdown to end it in the Senators’ 43-0 road win over the Falcons Friday evening at Minford High School.Both of West’s calling-cards throughout the 2026 season — a swarming defense that has now pitched three shutouts and only given up 41 points in six games for an average of 6.9 points per contest as well as a potent offense who has shown the ability to convert the smashmouth, old-school Senator drives while also hitting on big plays — were evident throughout the 48-minute contest as Todd Gilliland’s group moved to 5-1 on the year, 2-0 in SOC II action and moved to the top overall unit in Division VI, Region 23 with another big-time performance.”We’re excited about the way that we played,” Gilliland said. “There’s still some things that we’ve got to clean up — some little mental mistakes that we’ve got to fix — but we talked all week about playing up to our standard each week. For the most part, I felt that throughout the game, I felt that we did a pretty good job of that.”Minford, who dropped to 3-3 overall and 2-1 in SOC II play in 2026, simply couldn’t generate much traction on Friday.Of the 61 yards that it gained offensively on Friday, 22 of those came on its opening offensive possession of the third quarter after the contest had ultimately been decided. Minford seniors Bryce McLaughlin and Izaiah White and Falcon sophomore Wyatt Swick ultimately combined for each of Minford’s 61 yards gained in the contest on the ground.Minford’s Jaheim Henderson also gained nine yards on the ground himself, but his yardage was erased in the team column on plays that ultimately resulted in negative yardage by the Falcons.”Us as a team, we’ve got to do better,” Bailey said. “We definitely didn’t play at our best. We’re looking forward to getting back to work on Monday.”The Senators scored 14 points off of two turnovers by the Falcons in the first half, including a 55-yard pick-six by Ratcliff, while West scored on each of its first four offensive series in the contest.”We knew coming in that it was going to be a tough task,” Bailey said. “West has a very aggressive defense. Coach G does a great job over there. We just didn’t play our best (on Friday).”After forcing an early three-and-out, West wasted little time striking early on. Getting the handoff out of the shotgun forma