Football: Quick start, strong finish helps Westfield past Ridge

WESTFIELD - Momentum is a funny thing, and Saturday the Westfield High School football team had the last laugh.

The Blue Devils come out firing, building a three-touchdown lead 7:39 into the game, before Ridge refocused and took the momentum back, getting to within 27 yards of tying the game in the fourth quarter. But the Blue Devils defense stepped up, coming up with a pair of crucial interceptions to secure the strong finish, posting a 35-21 victory at Kehler Stadium.

“I don’t think we ever got too overconfident, but we knew they wouldn’t quit, and they didn’t,” said Westfield coach Jim DeSarno, whose club improved to 2-0, running its state-best winning streak to 15 games. “They showed their grit and plenty of it, and we just kept telling the kids it’s going to be a game.”

“First half, we controlled them at the line of scrimmage, and in the second half they just started breaking runs,” said Blue Devils senior cornerback/running back Ishmael Glasco, who grabbed one of those key picks late in the fourth quarter to, effectively, end any chance Ridge had at finishing its rally. “So we just had to settle down and tell everybody to just chill out, and let’s just play like we play and how we practice.”

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Westfield’s early fireworks came in rapid-fire fashion, as it stopped Ridge’s game-opening drive when Steven Barden intercepted a pass, before the Blue Devils converted a 3rd-and-8 with quarterback Phil Martini hitting Mike Moriarty with a 46-yard touchdown toss.

The Blue Devils then added two more touchdowns after Red Devils 3-and-outs, as Martini connected with Moriarty on a 48-yard scoring strike and Glasco ripped off a 79-yard touchdown run with 4:21 left in the opening quarter.

Moriarty, like Ridge kicker Nolan Hughes, was perfect kicking extra points Saturday, and Westfield led 21-0.

But while a lot of teams would have had all the wind knocked out of them down that much that early, Ridge (1-1) wasn’t about to relent, even against the defending North 2 Group V champs. The Red Devils forced Westfield into a 3-and-out on its next drive, and finally got on the board with 6:41 left in the first half, finishing an 11-play, 52-yard drive with quarterback Aiden Murphy hitting Andrew Lusardi with an 11-yard scoring strike.

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It looked as if Westfield was ready for some more rapid-fire offensive success coming out of the halftime intermission, as Martini connected with Jack Shrik on a 72-yard touchdown pass on the second play from scrimmage to make it 28-7. But Ridge responded immediately, getting a 41-yard touchdown hook up from Murphy to Dan Skea, and, after forcing the Blue Devils into a 3-and-out, scored again, this time on a three-yard scoring pass from Murphy to Matt Rusiniak, and the Red Devils trailed just 28-21 with 3:38 to go in the third quarter.

Ridge stopped Westfield again on the ensuing drive, with Mark O’Brien turning in a key sack on 3rd-and-4 to force a punt, and, with the help of some penalties, including a pair of pass-interference flags on Glasco, the Red Devils had 1st-and-10 from the Blue Devils 27 and all the momentum.

“I’m real proud of our guys,” said Ridge coach Bill Tracy, whose quarterback, Murphy, threw for 245 yards on 17-for-30, while Skea paced his team with five catches for 108 yards. “A lot of teams at 21-0 (seven) minutes into the game, they’re going home. But our guys fight all the way back and they take it down to the wire. I love our team. We’ve been blessed with some great guys.”

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But Murphy was sacked on 1st-and-8, before Adam McDaniel came up with an interception, and three plays later Westfield capped the scoring, as Glasco got into the end zone on a 30-yard run.

Ridge tried a last-ditch attempt at a couple of quick scores, but Glasco picked off a pass near the 20-yard line to secure the victory.

 “The crowd on their side was really hyped and they thought they were back in the game,” Glasco said. “So we really needed a stop. Our defense did great.”

“That offense is so hard to defend,” DeSarno said. “They do so many different things, they put you in so many different conflicts, and our kids battled all day. Really, what it came down to, is that when we needed to make big plays, we got the stops.”

Martini threw for 206 yards and two touchdowns, while Moriarty led the receiving corps for the Blue Devils, grabbing three balls for 103 yards. Glasco, who was forced into every-down duty Saturday when starting running back Matt Varano was forced out with illness, finished with 141 yards on 21 attempts.

“My O-line blocked well and my team needed me, so I just had to step up playing both ways,” Glasco said. “You just have to bite your mouth piece and keep going. You can’t complain about it because you don’t want coach to take you out. If you’re a player, you want to stay out there.”

“Ish had to carry the big load today and play both ways,” DeSarno said. “Usually we have two running backs, but Matt Varano was out today, and Ish really stepped up, and we’re really proud of him.

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