On a dreary day, beneath a forbidding gray sky, Westfield and St. Joseph (Metuchen) went to war. For fans, it was a day of jackets and pants, of crossed arms and shaking legs. Gary Kehler Stadium’s enormous American flag waved in the wind. One woman on the St. Joe’s sideline huddled beneath a pale brown blanket. Another couple sheltered under a red tent.
The soggy turf squelched as players hit the ground, but the blustery weather didn’t dampen the riveting display of football.
It was, in the words of senior quarterback and co-captain Trey Brown, “the one game that everyone had circled on their calendars.” It proved a tale of two halves.
St. Joe’s marched methodically downfield on its first possession but punted from midfield. Senior Paul Tilyou coughed up the ball returning the punt, and the Falcons recovered inside Westfield’s 10-yard line.
But the Westfield defense rebuffed St. Joe’s. Resolute defense would be one of the game’s main themes. “Our defense stepped up,” head coach Jim DeSarno said. The Blue Devils escaped after the early special-teams miscue, holding the Falcons to a field goal.
Little could brighten what became a bleak first half for Westfield. Dylan Wragg kindled a spark late in the first quarter on a fake punt, barreling around the corner and dancing past a couple defenders. That spark was soon extinguished.
Westfield punted. Catastrophe struck on the following play. St. Joe’s running back Jeremy DeCaro bulldozed up the gut and broke through the crowd, racing 77 yards for a touchdown. Westfield found itself in a quick 10-0 hole. Irate coaches screamed at their players.
“We were on our backs the whole game,” senior Owen Shakal said. “We couldn’t really move the ball or do anything.”
Kehler Stadium is an artificial turf field—the two teams appeared to be trudging through a bog for most of the second quarter. Drives of more than a few plays appeared miraculous. Both defenses dug in and held firm.
At halftime, Westfield sloped off to the locker room to lick its wounds.
The student section, already meager in size, dwindled. Those that remained had little to cheer about as one play bled into the next, Westfield searching in vain for something to set its motor humming.
Late in the third quarter, the moment came. St. Joe’s was driving, cutting deeper into Westfield territory. Quarterback Daniel Degennaro flicked a pass toward the sideline. His receiver opened his arms, leaning forward to catch the ball.
It never reached him.
Shakal stepped in front and shouldered the receiver out of the way. The ball found a warm home in his arms. The Westfield sideline roared, invigorated. “[The quarterback] looks where he throws every time,” Shakal said, “so I just baited him and knew where he was going to throw.”
Brown recognized the significance of the play. “When I saw that pick I literally gave [Shakal] the biggest hug ever and started swinging him around.”
Momentum, in sports, is fickle. In a blink, one play can flip the momentum. This was that play. “It changed the whole game,” Shakal said.
Just like that, Westfield was rolling. The Blue Devils surged downfield, suddenly indomitable. Brown orchestrated a flawless drive.
With a feathery touch, he dropped a dime over the middle for a big gain. A St. Joe’s defender stretched for the ball like a child reaching for the top shelf, but Brown’s pass floated perfectly over his lunging arm and into the hands of sophomore Colin Coyle. His father, Dave Brown, the quarterback coach and former Giants quarterback, hopped giddily on the sideline.
Brown recalled the play and smiled. “I saw the safety, he was right in the middle of the field,” Brown said. “So I stared one way, and he went. I saw Coyle and he’s a big target so I ripped it at him.”
The pass required a light touch, and Brown delivered. The rest of the drive required the brute strength, the intimidating physicality, the sheer determination that has become Brown’s trademark.
“In the second half we found a little something in the run game and got Trey involved in the run game,” DeSarno said.
First Brown plunged ahead for 4 yards to convert a fourth down. Then he pushed his way to the 5-yard line. Then he sprinted through a hole for Westfield’s first touchdown. Senior Henry Hipschman drilled the extra point, and Westfield narrowed the gap to 10-7 with 11 minutes to play.
The Blue Devils regained possession quickly, storming forward as mist fell. They went straight to the running game, beating a furious rhythm on the ground to push to the St. Joe’s 25-yard line. But a holding penalty forced Westfield back to 3rd and 22.
There was a sense of inevitability about this drive, though, a feeling that the surging Blue Devils would not be denied. Momentum, eh? Brown took the snap from the 35, scrambled away from pressure, and lofted a pass toward the end zone.
A rumble mounted as the Westfield fans spotted what Brown had seen: a wide-open Alex Tilyou. Tilyou, a senior, secured the pass and walked into the endzone. The stands erupted. Players mobbed each other on the sidelines.
Westfield 14, St. Joe’s 10.
The Westfield defense squeezed the life out of the Falcons on the ensuing possession, and the game was over. “Our kids just battled the whole game, tightened up in the second half, and we just did enough offensively,” DeSarno said.
Westfield had weathered the storm—figuratively and literally.
1 comment
Congratulations on a great come back! Good luck going forward.