They were two big, blue battering rams behind a bruising wall of muscle. The big quarterback, Trey Brown, and the ferocious running back, Dylan Wragg, crunched through the Watchung Hills line, marching seamlessly downfield on Westfield’s opening possession. They eschewed the aerial attack in favor of a relentless, ruthless running game.
It was devastatingly simple. It was brutally effective. And it ended with Westfield leading 7-0, Wragg punching in from the 2-yard line to cap a nearly 8-minute drive composed almost exclusively of running plays.
“We did everything right,” Brown said of that first drive.
A scoreboard malfunction mistakenly gave Westfield 16 points. Then 28. Then 30. Was it a harbinger of things to come?
No. The implacable wave that swept downfield on that first possession soon abated. Westfield’s offense sputtered on the next drive, and the next, and the next. It would remain that way for the duration of the game.
“We came out and did some good things early and just didn’t sustain,” coach Jim Desarno said.
Soon Watchung Hills leveled the score, fooling the Westfield defense with some neat handoff deception. The Watchung Hills student section sprayed white confetti skyward; it floated into the air, stark against a dark backdrop of trees, and wafted over the field. The most intrepid pieces reached the Westfield bleachers.
Where the Blue Devils had found success on the ground, the Warriors found it in the air. The Watchung Hills quarterback, Dylan Kelly, a lean kid with an awkward hitch in his throwing motion, led a strong passing game.
Early in the second quarter, Kelly again dropped back to throw. He pumped, then lofted the ball downfield. It fell between his targeted receiver and a Westfield cornerback, who wrestled the ball away from his adversary. The Westfield sideline erupted.
It was the first of the game’s many turnovers.
The second came not long after. Brown whipped a tight spiral about 20 yards over the middle, but it grazed the hands of his receiver and was intercepted. Westfield held firm defensively, though, and a couple more possessions gave way to halftime, Westfield still struggling to reinvigorate its offense.
“It’s not that we were doing anything different [on] the first drive,” Wragg said of the steep offensive decline. “It’s just pure execution, heart and effort.”
Westfield walked off the field at halftime, the last traces of sun turning the sky a brilliant field-goal yellow in the distance. Overhead, a nearly cloudless sky turned a mystical blue hue as the powder blue of day battled the onrushing darkness.
Ringed by trees, Tozier Stadium feels completely enclosed when darkness sets in. There are trees, there is darkness—and there is the football field, awash in light as bodies fly and roars shake the air.
Perhaps we can blame the stadium lights for the second-half turnover fest.
On the first possession of the half, Kelly rolled right, drew back his arm, and threw an interception. Two plays later, Brown was picked off over the middle. “My progressions, my reads—they weren’t there,” Brown said. “They were playing a deep shell, which was just hard to throw against.”
On the next play, Kelly rolled right, drew back his arm, and threw. This time it was a touchdown, to an open receiver in the corner of the endzone. 14-7.
Needing an answer, Westfield again deployed the run game. “We want to run the ball,” DeSarno said. “We felt good early in the game being able to run the ball.”
But Watchung Hills had long since plugged the holes in its run defense. Even when the Blue Devils tried to pass, they were met with airtight coverage.
The Blue Devils caught a stroke of luck, though, in the form of yet another turnover. Wragg, who doubles as a punter, booted the ball downfield. The punt returner bungled the catch, the ball slipped free, and Westfield pounced on it.
But from about midfield, Westfield stalled. Brown and Wragg were repeatedly tossed down by lurking linebackers. Another punt.
The Westfield defense weathered another possession, and the ball was back in Brown’s hands. Westfield threatened Watchung Hills territory early in the fourth quarter, still down 14-7.
The Westfield sideline grew thick with tension. The team needed to score. The players knew it.
Fourth and 5 arrived, forcing DeSarno into a decision. He elected to go for it. Brown ran forward. He was tackled. Short of the line. Turnover. Time slipping away.
On the ensuing Watchung Hills possession, Brandon Love forced a punt with a timely sack. But the punt slipped through Paul Tilyou’s hands, and Watchung Hills fell on it at Westfield’s 20-yard line.
The 14-7 gap, though just one touchdown wide, felt like a chasm. Westfield hadn’t pieced together a quality drive since the first quarter, and the prospect of a second touchdown seemed slim. So when the Watchung Hills kicker pounded the ball through the uprights to make it 17-7, the cheers that erupted from the white-clad home fans were laced with hints of victory.
Westfield had no choice but to try jump-starting its passing game. Two successive completions raised a glimmer of hope.
It was soon snuffed out. With just under four minutes to play, Westfield faced fourth and 28. It was desperation time. Brown dropped back, scrambled, and threw an incomplete pass.
The rest was a formality.
There was one more turnover, though, another Westfield fumble on a punt return. “Too many mistakes, turnovers, breakdowns on offense and defense,” Desarno said. “Too sloppy.”
1 comment
One of the best sports articles I’ve read. Felt like I was at the game. 👍