It all seems, at times, like a prelude. A formality. The mandatory walkthrough before the main event.
Westfield on Wednesday persisted in its unbothered cruise through the sectional tournament. The No. 1 seed Blue Devils dissected No. 8 Livingston in the North, Group 4 sectional quarterfinals at Gary Kehler Stadium, building a massive early lead and cruising to a 13-8 win.
Shocker.
This followed a 20-1 first-round shellacking of No. 16 seed Bergen Tech on Friday. Next is the semifinals, against No. 5 seed Montclair, which beat No. 4 Hunterdon Central, 9-8.
The teams have already played this season. Westfield throttled Montclair. It was 12-2 at halftime. The final score was 15-7. It was never that close.
So a berth in the sectional final feels like destiny. Which is why this all feels like a prelude to a likely showdown with No. 2 seed Bridgewater-Raritan or No. 3 Ridgewood.
But Westfield players and coaches shake their heads at that assumption.
“No,” said William Wertheimer, Westfield’s head coach, before explaining why.
“I don’t think it’s gonna be a free path to the state championship at all,” said attackman Ryan Waldman.
“We gotta take these seriously,” said defenseman Trey Brown.
Westfield certainly did Wednesday. The Blue Devils carved up the Lancers. It was 8-2 at the first quarter’s conclusion. It was 10-2 at halftime’s merciful arrival.
Cody Lam scored a nifty behind-the-back goal early in the third quarter. That gave him nearly as many behind-the-back goals (2) as Livingston had total goals to that point (3).
The day, though, marked a significant milestone for an individual Westfield player. Danny Hazard recorded his 500th career faceoff win early in the game. He entered with 497. It took him four faceoffs to gather the three wins he needed. A referee whistled him for a false start on one of the four, delaying the inevitable moment.
“I guess it was a false start,” Wertheimer said, with a dubious expression. “Ref called it, so you gotta go with it.”
Livingston quickly capitulated. A moment early in the third quarter exemplified that.
A Livingston shot struck the crossbar and rocketed toward the sky, angling out of bounds. Loitering behind the goal, Livingston’s Ari Roitman stood closest. He jogged toward the ball as it bounced over the line. But here came Paul Tilyou. Sprinting across the turf, lunging, diving. The referee signaled Westfield ball.
Roitman shrugged helplessly.
“We followed the game plan well,” Waldman said. “We played hard. I think we played looser than we normally do, and we started off the game really hot.”
Livingston, through some administerial oversight, wears jerseys embossed on the back with an “L.” It’s the school’s identifying letter, but embracing that sports scarlet letter seems an odd choice. In plentiful times, it’s probably a source of humor. On losing days, like this one, it seems more like a bad omen.
The Blue Devils settled to a simmer after halftime. The reserves filtered in. Livingston possessed for much of the fourth quarter, outscoring Westfield, 4-0. It meant little.
Westfield had dominated the faceoffs, first with Hazard, then with Josh Caramango. It had rebuffed shots, first with Quinn Wojcik, then with Mike Pedersen. It had reeled off a string of goals, first with Colin Coyle, then with Dylan Wragg, then with Lam scoring four in a row, then with some other players.
Lam finished with 5 goals, Coyle scored 3 and Wragg had 2. Billy Gerne, Anthony Buoscio and Patrick Ryan each scored 1 goal.
Waldman, who typically leads the offensive brigade, never scored. He had 2 assists, apparently content to supplement Lam, the other side of Westfield’s double-edged offensive sword.
“That’s why they work so well together,” Wertheimer said. “They’re not selfish. If one’s doing well, they realize it, and then they just push the ball to the other guy.”
But Westfield played less than a perfect game.
“We gotta shoot the ball better,” a serious Waldman said. “We gotta finish our looks in big games. That’s gonna make the difference.”
Brown rattled off a list of possible improvements. The items ranged from ground balls to shooting to defensive communication. All that will factor in against Montclair.
“Montclair is more of an athletic team,” Wertheimer said.
Athletic enough to beat Hunterdon Central. Barely.
The prelude rolls on.
Written by Michael Liebermann
Live tweeting by Emily Weinstein
