By Jessica Lloyd
Westfield High Senior
For a minute Saturday night before the kickoff of Westfield’s game at Centreville, the two teams — and their fans — were in complete unison.
Technical difficulties resulted in a silence during what was supposed to be the playing of the National Anthem. Eventually the visiting Bulldogs’ crowd, having waited long enough, began to sing and were joined by the entire stadium for what proved a very patriotic moment.
But that’s where the similarities ended in what proved a 33-0 shut out by the top-ranked Bulldogs, who completed the flawless, 10-0 regular-season they had been aiming for.
“Well, its wonderful,” Westfield Coach Tom Verbanic said of the undefeated regular-season. “I thought tonight just like the rest of the year,
probably the best thing about our team is that it was a total team win
again. We did some great things on special teams. Our defense again
was lights out and just played tremendous. And offensively, we really
played well against a really good Centreville defense.”
On the first play from scrimmage Westfield senior quarterback Mike Glennon launched a throw to senior wide receiver Johnny Pickett for what proved a 76-yard touchdown reception, putting the Bulldogs on the board and silencing the Centreville faithful. Kicker David Skahn failed to connect on the extra point attempt, but brought himself and the Bulldogs back with a 40-yard field goal 3 minutes later for a 9-0 lead.
The Westfield defense was the star of the game, not only proven by the shut-out score, but also by the two defensive touchdowns and fumble recoveries. Senior linebacker Brian Kennedy scored his first touchdown of the night in the first quarter when he broke through Centreville’s line, sacking Centreville quarterback David Toth in his own end zone and causing a fumble.
Kennedy then recovered the fumbled ball, bringing the score to 16-0. Tucker Karl recovered another Centreville fumble, and the Westfield offense took over.
Steven Tabot scored on a 6-yard run up the middle for a 23-0 lead in the first quarter.
The second quarter was more evenly matched, remaining scoreless until the final seconds, as Westfield’s Skahn put a second field goal through the uprights, sending both teams to the locker rooms with a 26-0 game.
The Westfield defense made another strong statement, as Kennedy struck again in the third quarter, snagging Toth’s tipped pass out of the air and returning the interception 30 yards for another score.
The No. 1 seed Bulldogs will host No. 8 seed South County Stallions in the first round of the Division 6 Northern Regional playoffs at 7:30 p.m. on Friday. Centreville, a No. 6 seed, will travel to face No. 3 seed West Springfield.
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