No. 1 Westfield 58, No. 3 West Springfield 34

By Angela Watts
Content Editor

There was a carnival-like feel to Saturday afternoon's Northern Region Division 6 championship game at Westfield, as the thousands of Westfield and West Springfield fans who walked through the gates were greeted by balloons, lively music and an array of food and souvenir vendors.

And by the sheer numbers the game itself was its own offensive extravaganza, with the Bulldogs and Spartans combining for 1,027 yards and a whopping 13 touchdowns.

There were flashy plays by West Springfield junior quarterback Bryn Renner and senior wide receiver Josh Vallejos as well as Westfield senior tailbacks Brian Kennedy and Steven Tabot and senior tight end Ross Lavin.

But in the end, it was straight power football that proved the difference in the Bulldogs' 58-34 victory over the visiting Spartans -- and much of that credit goes to the players who don't get it often enough: Westfield senior fullback Brandon Ferrell and offensive linemen Tyler Barfield, Greg Bush, Brett Kourey, Jacob Ryder and Kevin Stewart.

Kennedy and Tabot, who combined for 370 yards rushing and five touchdowns, didn't even want to be interviewed post-game without Ferrell by their side.

"The o-line takes care of most of the work, Ferrell takes care of all the blocking ... I don't get touched," said Kennedy, who rushed for 190 yards on 13 carries, an average of 14.6 yards per carry, and three touchdowns. "I just score."

With the win -- and its second Northern Region Division 6 title in the past fives season -- Westfield advances to face Oscar Smith in Chesapeake, VA at 1:30 p.m. Saturday in a Virginia AAA Division 6 state semifinal. The Bulldogs (13-0) won their only state title in 2003, their only appearance in the title game. Oscar Smith (13-0) has yet to play for a state title: The Tigers' 17-9 victory over Salem marked their first Eastern Region Division 6 championship after losing in the regional final each of the past three seasons.

"I know they're real good, and I know they have a lot of athletes," said Westfield Coach Tom Verbanic, who laughed and said that the ice-water bath he got at games' end felt good despite the rapidly dropping temperatures. "It's going to be a war. But we'll show up and play as good as we can."

If the Bulldogs play as well as they can next Saturday, they'll be awfully tough to beat. Just ask West Springfield.

Westfield used seven different rushers to total 523 yards on 57 carries Saturday afternoon against West Springfield, an average of 9.2 yards per play. That was in addition to standout senior quarterback Mike Glennon, who efficiently completed 6-of-9 passes for 89 yards, including a key, 44-yard touchdown pass to Lavin as time expired in the first half. Levin caught the ball in the right flat, got a sensational, path-clearing block downfield by Stewart and raced up the sideline and into the end zone to put Westfield ahead, 27-21, at half time.

"That just gave us all the momentum going into the half," Glennon said. "It was a big play. That's two games in a row where we've ended the half with a big touchdown."

The Bulldogs added four more touchdowns -- and a defensive safety on a sack by defensive lineman Murphy Luatua -- on their first five possessions of the second half to pull away from the Spartans.

"Everbody is doing their job and doing what they have to do, and this is what happens," Ferrell said. "You win championships."

Twenty five of Westfield's 27 offensive plays during those first five second-half possessions were running plays, including nine by Ferrell, seven each by Kennedy and Tabot and two by Glennon. More importantly, four of those 25 runs went for touchdowns , including scoring runs of 41 yards by Tabot, 26 yards by Kennedy and 17 and 12 yards, respectively, by Ferrell.

"Their running game is just real strong," said West Springfield Coach Bill Renner. "And we haven't had trouble all year, but we have in that we've given up a lot of yards rushing, and we knew in the second half when they had a lead they'd push that. And our kids just got tired. I mean, they're big and we got a little tired.

"I thought these were the two best teams in the region that were playing in Division 6, without a doubt, and I felt like we earned our way here and that's a big deal for our kids. It's been a long time, and they took the challenge that we put before them and they kept getting better and better and they put themselves here. I'm real proud of them. ... Hopefully this is a stepping stone for us."

Westfield's dominance in the run game was enough to negate a sensational performance by Renner's son, Bryn, who completed 19-of-32 passes for 291 yards and four touchdowns and rushed for 84 more yards and another score. Renner spread the ball to seven different receivers, but his favorite target Saturday was Vallejos, who hauled in eight catches for 110 yards and a two touchdowns.

"It's extremely tough," Kennedy, who is also a standout linebacker, said of defending against Bryn Renner. "But like Coach Renner says, the best defense is a good offense. And our offense took care of work today."


** To see a complete gallery of photos taken by professional photographer Jesse Neider, go to http://www.printroom.com/ViewGallery.asp?userid=dsmvp&gallery_id=919254.