As the sun began to set in the early minutes of the second half, the lights of Houlihan field shone brightly and so did senior cornerback, Belen Arbelaez. Heading into the half, although Westfield held a seemingly comfortable 13-0 lead over Kent Place, Kent Place still had an opportunity to catch up. In a mere attempt to get a first down, the Kent Place quarterback threw a wobbly pass to her wide receiver. Arbelaez, placing herself right in front of the receiver, intercepted the throw. In a moment of pure adrenaline, Arbelaez weaved through Kent Place’s defense— cutting and spinning— ultimately finding herself in the end zone. Westfield now led, 19-0.
“They performed very well,” said head coach Matt Andzel. “We were a little slow to start, but after that, we were a better team. So we showed it.”
Despite this slow start, Westfield went on to win, 25-6. Arbelaez may have been the Blue Devils shining star during this game, but she was not the only player to have a crucial role in the Blue Devil’s victory. Other essential players included junior Emma Sullivan, responsible for scoring two touchdown passes and an extra point, junior Priscilla Dayon, who threw three touchdown passes, and sophomore Lea Passarelli, who scored a touchdown. On the defensive side, senior Ava Berman halted the Kent Place offense, making key stops and obstructing the movement of the Kent Place receivers.
Although Westfield had performed well, Kent Place continuously made efforts to create scoring opportunities. Their persistence had somewhat paid off, as towards the end of the second half, Kent Place picked off Dayon and ran the ball into the endzone. However, this score of six was not enough, and Westfield prevented the Kent Place offense from scoring any additional points in their extra-point attempt.
Still, Kent Place, with two wins under their belt this season, is a competitive team in the conference. “I think it was challenging, but I don’t think it’s one of the most challenging games we’ve had,” said Arbelaez.
This game, although the result would say otherwise, was in no way an easy game for Westfield to win. Since the beginning of the season, the Blue Devils have been working diligently to complete passes, to run successful game routes and to build defensive strategies.
Dayon said, “We definitely know how to run our routes and how to play defense and we talk to each other a lot more, which is very helpful.”
The Blue Devils will play against Hunterdon Central away on Tuesday at 7 p.m. in an attempt to extend their win streak. But with a home field advantage and a gritty squad, Hunterdon will present Westfield with quite the challenge.
Arbelaez said, “[Hunterdon Central] is definitely going to be a higher-level, tougher game, so we have to be ready for that.”
