Post 967 – Westwood 38 Ramsey 14

Westwood blew the doors off with three third-quarter touchdowns to beat Ramsey, 38-14, in a battle of unbeaten teams. Westwood had a 17-6 halftime lead and those three touchdowns put the game out of reach. 

First Quarter: After a Ramsey punt, Westwood struck quickly when Robby Carcich found David Gaboardi for a 43-yard touchdown and a 7-0 lead. Aidan Carrazana intercepted for Westwood on Ramsey’s next possession and returned it 20 yards to the Ramsey 40. Aided by two Ramsey penalties, Westwod had a first-and-goal on the 6-yard line. On fourth-and-goal on the 1, Westwood was hit with a false start penalty, forcing them to kick a 23-yard field goal from Jack Dugan for a 10-0 lead. 

Ramsey successfully executed two jet sweeps to the right from Dillon Kelly – the second would have been a touchdown, except Kelly hot-dogged it by turning around and running backwards into the end zone. A penalty was called with Ramsey on the 20; they were on the board with a Sean Hali 2-yard run. The extra point failed and it was 10-6 over one minute into the second quarter. 

Second Quarter: Westwood wasted no time, striking first on a Carcich-to-Tom Bussanich pass of 55 yards to the 3-yard line and Colby Laughton scored on the following play to extend their lead to 17-6 with nine minutes left in the half. The teams exchanged punts and Ramsey was in punt formation again when Kelly ran for a first down. Two successive passes from Robert Fuerst to Noah Laurino brought the ball into Westwood territory, but Steve Klein intercepted for Westwood. 

Third Quarter: Westwood put the game away on their next three possessions. On the first play of the half, Dugan went 79 yards through the middle for a 79-yard score. On their following drive, Dugan ran 32 yards for the touchdown, followed by a Laughton touchdown run of 16 yards to make it 38-6. 

Fourth Quarter: Ramsey scored on a 5-yard touchdown to Laurino with eight minutes left.  

Comments: Westwood showed their big-play capabilities, both running and passing. Dugan did not have a carry in the first half, but his two touchdown runs totalled 111 yards and he gained 192 on 11 carries (courtesy of Greg Mattura of northjersey.com). Carcich, who can hurt a team with his legs, hurt Ramsey with his arm tonight on a long touchdown to Gaboardi and a long pass to Bussanich to set up another score. The second pass came right after a Ramsey touchdown that made the score, 10-6, enabling the Cardinals to take control of the game. The Cardinal defense was also in good form and they seemed to have several players getting to the ball for much of the evening. It was team defense and they have players who can run to the ball. 

Ramsey was without Luca Gemma and Joey Lis and while it hampered the Rams, Westwood was going to win the game. This was a game where the Rams were punched in the mouth and played a team near the top of its game. Westwood was a step ahead in all three phases of the game all night. They have Mahwah next week, followed by a tough game at Newton. 

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