FOOTBALL: Westfield withstands inspired Ridge effort to advance in North 2 Group V playoffs

WESTFIELD – The Westfield High School football team has had a way of adjusting to the game put in front of them, no matter who the opponent has been this year or what type of game those teams have wanted to play. With one of the state’s top defenses, to go with an inexperienced but emerging offense, the Blue Devils have proven capable of winning whether it’s a low-scoring defensive battles, a high-scoring shootouts, and even by blowout.

What the top-seeded and two-time defending champion Blue Devils didn’t expect was to be pushed to the brink by eighth-seeded Ridge in Saturday’s opener of the NJSIAA North 2 Group V playoffs, a team Westfield had handled by 16 points earlier this season. But in true Blue-Devils form, they evaluated, adjusted and added a 34th straight victory to their impressive streak, advancing to next weekend’s semifinals with a 17-10 victory at Kehler Stadium.

“Credit to Ridge, they came out with a great plan,” Westfield coach Jim DeSarno said. “We knew (running back RJ) Milligan was going to be a factor, he’s a monster and really hard to tackle and we struggled a little bit with him today. And defensively they came out with a whole different look than we had seen before, so that was something that took us a little time to get adjusted to.”

Milligan certainly was a handful, bruising and battering his way to 166 yards on 25 carries. But while some of the schemes Ridge brought into the contest might have taken Westfield off guard, the Red Devils’ style of play was certainly expected.

“We knew coming in they were the type of team to get down in the trenches and just battle,” senior defensive lineman Jake Vall-Llobera said. “When we went in the locker room (at halftime) we knew what we had to do already. We’d been studying it all week. We just knew they were out-toughing us and we had to step it up and be more physical.”

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Ridge showed it came to play from the start, despite barely making the playoffs after a yo-yo season featuring key injuries – including one to starting quarterback Brandon Radice, who went down for the season with a hip injury a few weeks ago – as well as unexpected losses and even a couple of surprising wins.

Milligan went to work on the game’s opening drive, rumbling his way to 32 yards on four carries. And though that drive stalled at the Westfield 39-yard line, Ridge came up with some huge plays on the Blue Devils’ ensuing drive, including the first of four first-half sacks, as Jack Forand recorded the first of his two sacks on a 3rd-and-13 from his own 32. One play later, Daniel Devine blocked a punt to give the Red Devils the ball at the Westfield 42-yard line, setting up a seven-play drive that ended on a three-yard Milligan touchdown run and a Nolan Hughes point-after kick.

Ridge’s defense stepped up big again on the ensuing Blue Devils’ possession, forcing a 3-and-out, including getting a big sack by Christian Sweeney on a 3rd-and-4 from the 33-yard line to force a punt, but Ridge committed the first of its three turnovers, fumbling the ball near mid-field to set up a game-tying drive by Westfield, capped by a six-yard touchdown blast by Vall-Llobera.

After Ridge’s next possession ended on a fumble recovery by Jacob Dayon on its second play, the Blue Devils closed the half by getting a 22-yard field goal from Aidan Bolland as time expired.

The score remained 10-7 until the final seconds of the third quarter when Vall-Llobera struck again on short yardage, taking the ball in the wildcat and going two yards for a score, capping a 13-play drive that also started on a short field after a fake-punt attempt by Ridge was stuffed near the 50-yard line.

Vall-Llobera, Westfield’s leader on the defensive line, certainly enjoys the chance to excel on offense, especially after losing out to Hank Shapiro for the starting quarterback job in camp. Vall-Llobera gained 29 yards on seven wildcat snaps Saturday, picking up four first downs and a fourth-down conversion, scoring both his team’s touchdowns.

“It’s so much fun,” Vall-Llobera said. “Coach DeSarno told me he knows I’m a defensive player playing offense and he just gives me the ball to run people over. It’s fun to go out there and get to do it.”

“Coming into the season, we weren’t sure who our quarterback was going to be,” DeSarno said. “We play a sophomore (Shapiro), but we have him (Vall-Llobera) on call and he’ll do anything for this team. We hadn’t used him on offense a lot and I think he was getting a little mad at me, but I knew in some shape or form we were going to get him involved today, more than just maybe the one-yard gains. We run these plays every day in practice and he came out and did some really good things for us.”

Trailing 17-7 headed into the third quarter, Ridge was not done, not even against a Blue Devils defense that had allowed just 7.5 points per game this year. The Red Devils responded immediately after the Westfield score, as Milligan anchored a 10-play, 68-yard drive that ended with a 20-yard field goal from Hughes, and then Ridge got a huge break on the other end of the field.

Westfield began its drive on its own 27-yard line, getting a big 24-yard run by Tim Allegrio to get deep into Ridge territory. Shapiro then broke off a huge run on a 3rd-and-6 from the 26-yard line, and it looked like he’d give Westfield the insurance it needed with just over 3:00 left in the game. But the quarterback fumbled as he reached the goal line, with the ball going into the end zone where it was recovered by Ridge with 3:29 remaining.

Ridge couldn’t find any success on the first three downs of the ensuing possession, but Devin Stieglitz made an unbelievable leaping, one-handed grab of a Wesley Hudkins pass on 4th-and-9 from the 21, gaining 26 yards. But after a holding penalty on the next play forced Ridge into a 1st-and-26, the Red Devils couldn’t recover, as Shea Elliott came up with an interception on 4th-and-2on fourth down to end it.

“We wanted to give it a whirl, and hats off to Westfield, they seemed to make each play they needed to make to win the game,” Ridge coach Bill Tracy said. “That’s great coaching and it was a great game to be a part of. We did some things with our guys this week to get them prepared for this game from a mental perspective, and I think the guys really bought into that and it showed today. That’s all you can really do, so we’re proud of our guys.”

The victory is the 34th straight for Westfield, and the seventh consecutive triumph in the postseason. The Blue Devils will play host to fifth-seeded Elizabeth in next Saturday’s semifinals, a team Westfield beat 13-6 in week 6 at Rutgers.

“They don’t panic,” said DeSarno, whose defense was led by 13 tackles from Drew Ortiz. “Being down or having a punt blocked, I think our seniors just don’t allow the rest of the team to panic. They know we can figure it out, and we did kind of figure it out in the second half. This isn’t the type of team that is going to score 100 points to win. We rely on our defense and we have confidence in them.”

“Regardless of the offense and the situation, our defense is prepared for anything,” Vall-Llobera said. “We just dig deep and take pride in being the best defense in the state.”

Simeon Pincus can be reached at SPincus@GannettNJ.com. Follow him on Twitter @SimeonPincus and on Facebook at www.facebook.com/SimeonPincusCN

RIDGE (4-6) 7-0-0-3 -- 10
WESTFIELD (9-0) 0-10-7-0 – 17
SCORING PLAYS:
R – Milligan 3 run (Hughes kick)
W – Vall-Llobera 6 run (Boland kick)
W – Bolland 22 FG
W  -- Vall-Llobera 2 run (Boland kick)
R – Hughes 20 FG
INDIVIDUAL STATISTICS:
RUSHING: R—Milligan 25-166, Hudkins 4-7, Stieglitz 2-4, Sweeney 1-0, Haddad 4-10; W—House 12-43, Allegrio 18-99, Shapiro 4-41, Vall-Llobera 7-29, Smith 1-6.
PASSING: R—Hudkins 2-11-0-1-33; W—Shapiro 9-13-0-1-95, Vall-Llobera 0-0-0-0-0.
RECEIVING: R—Stieglitz 1-26, Haddad 1-7; W—Barden 1-9, Smith 2-9, Freer 4-48, Norris 2-29.