Quarterback Max Cho throws a dot to junior Enzo Ferrero for 25 yards. Another to junior Colin Coyle for 17 yards. Cho was slinging the ball left and right, landing Westfield at the Phillipsburg 18-yard-line. His ball control was impeccable. He could have threaded a needle with his eyes closed. Two short gains and a Stateliner penalty later brought the Blue Devils to the 8-yard-line. They line up for the snap. Cho takes it. Ferrero immediately turns toward his quarterback. A quick screen pass; Ferrero slips through defenders into the endzone. His third receiving touchdown of the game. Westfield trailed 35-24, but the offense seemed to be back in it. They had a chance.
Immediately after the PAT, Ferrero lined up to kick off. He booted the ball to the other end of the field. The Phillipsburg returner brought it in then sprinted through incoming Blue Devils, shifting between them. He took it for a touchdown. 42-24. The game was finally out of reach.
Westfield’s 42-24 loss to Phillipsburg in the North 2, Group 5 Sectional Tournament semifinals was defined by turnovers. They had four total. The 21-point deficit was mostly due to mistakes and failed to convey Westfield’s great offensive effort. On the first play of the game, Westfield fumbled on the kickoff return and Phillipsburg recovered it deep in Blue Devil territory, which led to the Stateliner’s first touchdown of the game.
“The turnovers hurt us. I think we’re a little bit better than that,” said head coach Jim DeSarno. “When [you let up] a kick return for a touchdown plus a fumble on a kickoff, you just can’t win games this late in the year if you have those little breakdowns.”
On Westfield’s next drive, they marched down the field but were stopped near the endzone and settled for a field goal. 7-3, Stateliners in the lead.
After a strong Phillipsburg drive, Westfield’s defense made a vital stop deep in their own territory on a fourth down to force a turnover on downs.
A quick fumble gave the ball right back.
The Stateliners responded with a passing touchdown in the back left of the endzone. 14-3.
After a rough first kickoff return, Westfield’s special teams bounced back. Senior Peter Del Re swerved through defenders and took the team down to the Phillipsburg 30-yard-line on the kickoff return. The Blue Devils had a beautiful opportunity to bring it to a one-score margin.
Fumble on the first play. Recovered by Phillipsburg. Heartbreak echoed through Westfield fans. The Phillipsburg band erupted into song as their fans leapt from their seats.
DeSarno said it right: “The turnovers killed us.”
The Stateliners took possession back and pummeled the Westfield defense with their dominant run game. They took it down to the Blue Devil goal line and ran it in. 21-3 late in the second quarter. It was getting out of control. Westfield’s offense needed some energy.
Cho never let his team give up. On a clutch third-and-9 play, he threw an 8-yard pass to junior Sebby Magherini to set up a fourth-and-1. A Phillipsburg offsides penalty gave them a first down. Cho then lofted a 20-yard pass to Coyle who leapt up over two defenders to bring it in. This long play set up a 20-yard touchdown pass to Ferrero. 21-10, one minute left in the first half. There was still hope.
Ferrero was always open for Cho. Cho said that Ferrero is “something I can rely on 24/7.” Every time he looked for the receiver, he knew “it’d be open.”
With three touchdowns on the day, everything came together for Ferrero. “I felt like it was just the holes. I saw the holes open up and Cho put it in the perfect places for me. That pretty much just let me do my thing,” he said.
DeSarno noticed this connection and attributed it to the team’s recent success. “They’re confident right now… We felt like we could throw the ball on them.” He also said that the Stateliner’s strong run defense contributed to his pass-heavy gameplan: “They really stacked the run well.”
The offense was phenomenal once they got started, matching most of Phillipsburg’s scores. Neither team punted all game. It was not enough.
“You get into big games like this, you’ve got to be sharp, and we just weren’t sharp today,” said DeSarno. He did note the offense’s frequent success. “We didn’t punt. So we were moving the ball on offense, but you just can’t turn the ball over, [and] defensively, just too many breakdowns. We just weren’t solid on all three phases,” referring to both sides of the ball, along with special teams.
The defense did make a huge stop at the end of the first half. The Stateliners put together a strong drive that set them up inside Westfield’s 20-yard line. However, the Blue Devil defense stood strong. Instead of opting to take a field goal, Phillipsburg took a shot for the endzone with three seconds left in the half for their last play. The Westfield secondary broke up the pass to keep the score at 21-10.
Senior captain Chris Rossetti said that the defense’s unity after early diversity helped them make big plays like this. “We came together after the opening play where we fumbled. We had to make up for that. Towards the end we knew our only chance of staying in the game was coming together and [fighting for] more after that,” he said.
The defensive front, led by seniors Max Romano and Julian Montez, fought hard against the Stateliner’s seemingly unstoppable run game for all four quarters. The secondary, led by Del Re, seniors Steven Csorba and Luke Jordan and junior Nick Russo, defended a semi dormant Phillipsburg passing game.
The second half started with an eight-minute Phillipsburg drive full of runs. It ended with a 15-yard fade pass into the corner of the endzone. 28-10.
Westfield’s next drive saw more strong passing from Cho. A short pass to Ferrero converted a third down. Then, Cho threw a dime to Ferrero again, who ran after the catch for a 38-yard gain. This set them up at the Phillipsburg 10-yard line. Senior Josh Caramagno bowled through defenders for seven yards to place them at the 3-yard line. A short pass to Ferrero gave him his second score of the game and put the Blue Devils only down two scores, 28-17.
Phillipsburg’s offense was unrelenting. A few run plays got them to midfield on their next drive. A 47-yard run brought them to the endzone. 35-17. Both offenses were unstoppable. Phillipsburg just stayed ahead.
After the Stateliner’s game-ending kick return in the fourth quarter, Westfield’s offense was just looking to close the margin as much as they could. A return off of a squib kick from Jordan brought the Blue Devils to the Phillipsburg 47-yard line. Down 42-24, Cho once again led the offense down the field. On a third-and-10 play, rolling out to his left, he darted the ball to Ferrero as he was getting tackled and the receiver brought it in for a first down. A 20-yard pass between the same players brought them within scoring range. However, with Cho’s first and only true mistake of the game, he threw an interception to a defender standing on the goal line as he was rolling out under pressure.
Phillipsburg took the ball back and ran the remaining time out to advance to the sectional finals.
DeSarno said that their struggles today were not ones they saw before in the season: “We haven’t really made turnovers like that all year… We had four today. I think we had six in the previous nine games. So that’s not us. Unfortunately, that just happened in the wrong stage.”
