Westfield Clobbers Elizabeth in First Half, Cruises to Decisive Victory

The Elizabeth fans stayed to watch the halftime band performance. 

Then they left.

The game, by then, was over. Fans filtered out gradually, then in droves, as Westfield put the finishing touches on a 38-20 thrashing of Elizabeth. The final score was far kinder to the Minutemen than the game itself.

The stunning halftime score: Westfield 38, Elizabeth 0. The Blue Devils posted their highest single-half points total since dropping 40 in the first half against Watchung Hills in 2016. 

Westfield’s first-half evisceration of its rudderless opponent came swiftly. 

Peter del Rey returned the opening kickoff for a touchdown. Then Elizabeth muffed a punt, Paul Tilyou recovered it, and a moment later Peter Meixner scored Westfield’s second touchdown. Dylan Wragg drilled a field goal to pad Westfield’s lead. 17-0, and the first quarter was only halfway finished.

“I think [the fast start] just gave us confidence,” quarterback and co-captain Trey Brown said.

With each big play, the sparse Westfield crowd produced a ragged cheer. Those cheers came frequently in the first half.

Westfield’s defense, impregnable in the first half, beat a brutal rhythm. Daniel Hanlon, Brandon Love and Jack O’Connor sliced through the Elizabeth line with regularity. Westfield keyed heavily on the run in the game’s opening stages.

“We knew what they were gonna run,” O’Connor said. “We practiced it all week.”

This was Westfield’s second away game, and the differences between it and the 17-7 loss to Watchung Hills were pronounced. Nowhere was that more manifest than on special teams. Against Watchung Hills, Westfield muffed three punts and lost possession on two of them. Against Elizabeth, Westfield scored a kick-return touchdown and recovered an Elizabeth muffed punt—all in the first five minutes.

The list of special teams successes only grew.

With a few minutes to play in the opening quarter, Westfield faced fourth down and prepared to punt. Dylan Wragg took the snap. Then he pulled the ball down, turned toward the sideline, began running. Arms and legs churning, Wragg barrelled forward for a massive gain.

Westfield failed to capitalize, electing to go for a long fourth down and failing to convert. But the spotless special-teams execution was reassuring after a bumpy start to the season in that department. The kicking team was similarly flawless: Henry Hipschman proved automatic on extra points, nailing all five of his tries, and Dylan Wragg hit the aforementioned field goal.

Westfield scored its third touchdown early in the second quarter. Propelled by a big play—a 30-yard completion on a glittering Brown pass and an athletic Meixner catch—Westfield swept downfield. Aidan Harper surged through the Elizabeth defense, carrying four times to help push to the 3-yard line. His fifth carry ended in a touchdown.

The run game has been Westfield’s strong suit this season. “When you can move the ball on the ground very well, you control the tempo, the physicality of the game, and the clock,” said Gabe Dayon, the senior center. “It’s great being a part of a run-heavy offense.”

Minutes later, Westfield was back within striking distance. Brown tossed the ball to Chris Rosetti, who waltzed into the endzone with Westfield’s fourth touchdown.

Elizabeth, facing a 31-0 deficit deep in the half, made a quarterback adjustment. The Minutemen introduced a new quarterback, purportedly a solid pocket passer. His first pass was a strike that shot the Minutemen deep into Blue Devil territory. 

His second was picked off by Westfield’s Luke Jordan and returned 80 yards for a touchdown.

It would be the last points Westfield scored. Many Westfield starters, including Brown, never saw the field in the second half. 

Elizabeth chugged along admirably in the face of certain defeat, getting on the board midway through the third quarter with a long touchdown pass. 

Westfield was nearly caught napping on the play that followed. Elizabeth tried an onside kick. The ball tumbled forward, bouncing irregularly on the ground. A mob of black Elizabeth jerseys fell on it. It appeared to be a huge momentum boost for the foundering Minutemen.

But a flag, that most deadly of footballing objects, halted the Elizabeth revitalization. Illegal block. Re-kick. Opportunity lost.

The game sank back into the monotony of a blowout. 

But at the end of the quarter, a commotion erupted from the Elizabeth stands. People in the stands sprinted pell-mell to the banister, leaning over to watch the scene unfolding below. A fight, of some sort. 

The disturbance, at least, was a diversion for the Elizabeth fans.

They took solace in a late touchdown that narrowed the margin to 38-20. But the game was long over. The last few minutes ticked away, satisfaction setting in on the Westfield sideline. The players were happy, but not jubilant. 

“Remember [this win] in your head,” Brown said, “but don’t feel good about it, because there’s more to come. We got Scotch Plains next week.”