Westfield football holds off Somerville's rally for BCC Amercian Gold Division win
WESTFIELD – Each team knows by now that no lead is safe. Westfield and Somerville have been in so many close games this season, it’s really no surprise that Saturday’s meeting featured plenty of drama.
Westfield edged the Pioneers 31-29 in Saturday’s Big Central Conference American Gold Division tussle at Kehler Stadium on a breezy fall afternoon in between rain showers.
Westfield had leads of 16-0 in the first half, 24-8 in the third quarter and 24-16 heading into the fourth quarter, but Somerville kept coming.
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Pioneers quarterback Brenden Pacheco expertly ran the spread offense, scrambling around to find receivers and holes and Josh Rodriguez made a handful of highlight-film catches.
In the end, Westfield’s offense led by quarterback Max Cho, the line and running back Josh Caramagno made the needed plays.
Westfield coach Jim DeSarno joked, “nothing we can do easy. Everything we do is an adventure."
“Our offensive line was the key today,” he said. “We were able to move the chains, get first downs."
Cho rushed for touchdowns of 1 and 11 yards and threw a 36-yard score to Enzo Ferrero in stride with 54 seconds left in the first quarter for a 6-0 lead. Lukis Nicholas added a 20-yard field goal in the second quarter.
Caramagno scored on a 6-yard run with 9:35 remaining in the third quarter to give the Blue Devils a 24-8 lead.
Somerville (4-3) cut it to 24-16 with 2:49 left in the third quarter on Terrell Mitchell’s 5-yard run. Rodriguez hauled in the two-point conversion pass with his right hand.
Somerville’s last five games were each decided by eight points or less. The Pioneers went 2-3 in that span.
“Our kids never will give up,” Somerville coach Matt Bloom said. “We work and we get them to understand that you’re always in the fight. We just can’t dig ourselves in the deep holes we dug ourselves in, but we’re always going to keep swinging.”
Rodriguez made another great snag on fourth-and-26 at Westfield’s 42-yard line. Pacheco avoided Westfield’s rush and threw it in the middle of the field. Rodriguez jumped and snagged it at the 1-yard line. Following a Somerville penalty, Pacheco scored on a 6-yard run to make it 24-22 with 6:58 left. His two-point pass was knocked away.
The Blue Devils (3-3) put together a quick drive capped by Cho’s 11-yard run. Nicholas’ extra point made it a seemingly insurmountable 31-22 lead with 2:20 remaining.
Not so fast.
Terrell Mitchell fielded the kickoff and raced 85 yards, just missing scoring. He finished with a 5-yard TD run to make it 31-29 with 2:01 left
Westfield sealed the win when Cho picked up the first down in the final minute on a 13-yard run. He faked the handoff left to Caramagno and then bolted right.
Then, the Westfield celebration was finally on.
“We’ve been in many situations where we’re up at half and then we kind of just lose our lead and the confidence,” Cho said, “but we kind of learned through that to stay strong, play four quarters of football and win.”
This article originally appeared on MyCentralJersey.com: NJ football: Westfield defeats Somerville
