Football: Westfield handles Bridgewater-Raritan to advance
WESTFIELD -- Trey Brown doesn’t care whether Westfield High School’s football team runs, throws or how else the Blue Devils go about getting across the goal line. Just that they win.
That’s how coach Jim DeSarno described his senior quarterback in the aftermath of Saturday’s 28-7 romp over Bridgewater-Raritan in a North 1, Group 5 playoff quarterfinal.
Brown scored on a 1-yard sneak as time expired in the first half to give the Blue Devils a 14-7 lead - after Henry Hipschman’s point after. Brown set up the TD with a 27-yard run on 4th-and-1 to move the Blue Devils to the B-R 8-yard line with 1:01 left in the half.
“Getting that score before the half was huge. Plain and simple, my coaches wanted to kick a field goal, and Trey said he would score,” said DeSarno. “So we put it all on his shoulders and he scored. He’s that type of player.”
Brown ran 70 yards for his next TD to give Westfield a 21-7 lead 1:28 into the third quarter. He ran for 126 yards and two touchdowns on 16 carries. Senior halfback Dylan Wragg finished with 163 yards and a score on 35 carries.
“Trey just wants to win, that’s what type of player he is, in past games if things weren’t working he’d come up to me to tell me something that will work,” added DeSarno.
Much was working for Westfield after a slow start.
The Blue Devils first two possessions ended in interceptions and B-R scored first on senior Antione Hinton’s 22-yard touchdown with 4:57 left in the first quarter. But from thereafter it was the Brown and Wragg show with tackles Jack Martin and Brandon Love, guards Bobby Sisk and Maxwell Romano, center Fabe Dayon and tight ends Gary Prichett and Colin Coyle clearing space.
“Throughout the season, I’ve definitely gotten better at being patient, waiting for all my blocks to develop and waiting for the hole to really be there,” Wragg said “All credit goes out to the line.”
Westfield senior linemen Sergio Cabrera and Brandon Love each had a sack and junior lineman Jeremy Cruz recovered a fumble that led to Westfield’s third TD. Linebackers Jack O’Connor, Daniel Hanlon and Quinn Wojcik and defensive backs Luke Jordan, Paul Tilyou and Senu Gasco had solid games. Bridgewater-Raritan was limited to 121 yards of offense.
“The defense played out of their minds today,” added Wragg. “One bad play that cost us, but after that, they made them pay. They won the day for us.”
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GAME BALLS
- Senior wide receiver Peter Meixner beat double coverage for a 27-yard touchdown reception from Brown with 22 seconds left in the third quarter.
- B-R senior lineman Dominick Little had a strong game from start to finish. He finished with 13 tackles with six solos.
- B-R’s Matt Maciolek had a very eventful, but short game before departing with a shoulder injury. He had an interception then caught a 23-yard pass from quarterback Jack Bray that was followed by Antione Hinton’s 22-yard touchdown. B-R had three picks. Tommy Tremarco and Joe Spirra had the others.
- Dylan Wragg ran for 142 yards on 23 carries with a touchdown in the first half on his way to 163.
THEY SAID IT
“We talk about playing fast. Not being fast, playing fast and being aggressive; playing fast and playing tough. I think they did all those things, but really played fast today,” said Westfield coach Jim DeSarno
WHATS NEXT
Westfield travels to Union City Friday night where the Blue Devils lost 21-7 in a first round game in 2018. Union City beat Union 62-20 Friday night to advance. Union City (8-1) has won eight straight since a season – opening 6-3 loss to Passaic Tech. Bridgewater-Raritan ended 4-6 in its first year under coach Rick Mantz.
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: Big Central Conference NJ football: Westfield tops Bridgewater-Raritan
