Western Hills quarterback Dylan Curry holds up the ball to the crowd after the Wolverines beat Shawnee 34-22 in the first round of the Class 3A playoffs Friday. (State Journal/Chase Sewell)

Another victory, another milestone.

Western Hills’ football team defeated Shawnee 34-22 Friday at WHHS in the first round of the state Class 3A playoffs, posting the first playoff victory in the history of Western Hills.

The Wolverines, who set a record for the best single-season record in school history last week and have posted back-to-back winning seasons for the first time ever, are now 8-3.

Next up for Western Hills is a trip to Louisville this coming Friday to take on defending state champion Central.

 There will be no last-minute changes this week. Central (6-5) defeated Spencer County 56-26 Friday to set up the game with WHHS.

The Wolverines were originally scheduled to play Elizabethtown in the first round, but eligibility issues that forced Shawnee to forfeit a district game knocked the Golden Eagles to third place in their district and into Friday’s game at WHHS.

“We’d already done a lot of preparation for Elizabethtown,” WHHS coach Don Miller said. “I picked up film on Saturday, and we broke film down Saturday and Sunday. We had a coaches’ meeting Sunday at 2, then we called the players in Sunday to go through the scouting report and watch film so we could have a full day of practice Monday.

“We found out Monday morning due to the forfeits we’d be playing Shawnee. We had to do the same thing for them, and we had to change everything we’d explained and shown to the kids. We had to turn around and get ready for Shawnee.”

And that’s just what the Wolverines did.

“It was very hectic,” Western Hills senior lineman William Riddle said about the change. “On Sunday we were preparing for E-town, and on Monday we found out we were playing Shawnee. Coach was mad because he had a hard time getting film, but he got the film, we broke it down and figured out their weaknesses.”

The Wolverines took advantage of them immediately, scoring on two of their first three possessions.

The first touchdown came with Dylan Curry taking the ball in on a quarterback keeper from less than a yard out with 9:29 left in the first quarter. Curry completed the conversion pass to Cody Hecker to make the score 8-0.

Western Hills’ next scoring drive started at the Shawnee 14-yard line when a bad snap forced Shawnee’s Joe Slaughter into a hurried punt that hit the back of a player.

The Wolverines scored on a 5-yard run by Justin Wright, and when Curry was sacked on the conversion attempt the score was 14-0 with 5:01 left in the first.

Just before the first quarter ended Curry scored on a 4-yard run to cap an 86-yard drive. The big play of the drive was a 34-yard pass from Dylan Curry to Logan Curry.

Dylan Curry hit Jacob Sharp with the conversion pass to make the score 22-0 at the end of the period.

“We were more excited than nervous,” Riddle said about the Wolverines’ demeanor before the game. “We’d watched game film. They’re nothing to underestimate, as you could see, but we felt pretty confident.”

Shawnee (4-7) pulled within six points in the second quarter. The Golden Eagles’ first touchdown came on a 67-yard pass from Slaughter to Mike Carr with 10:15 left in the period.

Romero Brown scored the two-point conversion on a pass from Slaughter to make the score 22-8.

SHS made the score 22-16 with 7:36 left before halftime when Antawan Fields scored from 3 yards out and Slaughter hit Brown with the conversion pass.

WHHS quickly regained some breathing room as Sharp returned the ensuing kickoff 80 yards for the touchdown. The conversion pass was incomplete, leaving the score at 28-16.

On the Wolverines’ next possession, Curry connected with Hecker on a 76-yard touchdown pass to make the score 34-16 at halftime.

The only score of the second half came on an 11-yard pass from Slaughter to Carr with 6:43 left in the game.

The Golden Eagles were driving late in the game, with first down on the WHHS 33-yard line, when Ken Holbrook sacked Slaughter. There was a fumble on the play, which Western Hills recovered.

“I knew we had to do something before they scored again,” Holbrook said, “so I pushed myself through the line and ended up making the tackle.”

The Wolverines gained two first downs after recovering the fumble and kept the ball for the remainder of the game.

“The offensive line did a great job firing off at the end when we were running the ball so we could get the first downs and run the clock out,” Miller said.

And advance to the second round.

“I was terrified,” Holbrook said about the game. “It’s the first game I’ve ever played in the playoffs.” He missed last year’s playoff game with an injury.

How did he feel after Friday’s game?

“I have a headache, I’m very tired, but I feel good still,” he said.

Now the Wolverines are headed to unknown territory with their first second-round appearance in the state playoffs.

“It’s been a great year so far,” Miller said. “We beat our cross-town rivals, we came out with back-to-back winning seasons, and we get our first win in the playoffs.

“It’s been a great year, and hopefully there’s a lot more to play.”