Content submitted by Mike Saunders. Email sports news to news@westfordcat.org.
The Westford Jr. Ghosts D Team capped an undefeated season with a 19-7 victory over the Foxboro Warriors in the Pop Warner New England Regional Division III Championship.
A 12-0 campaign that began with four-day-a-week practices in early-August heat  ended in the cold and damp of late November and yielded the biggest win in the history of the Westford program.
As in nearly every contest this year, the Jr. Ghosts struck early and used a stifling defense to control the pace of the game. On the first play from scrimmage, Westford’s Bobby MacCormack took a snap 65 yards around the right end for a touchdown. Andrew Stodden scored the extra point with a run through a canyon-sized gap opened by Faith Williams and Thurman Hargrove.
Westford’s stingy defense shut down the Warriors’ opening drive behind stout defensive line play from Carter Scanlan, Tony Babineau, and Tanner Whitehouse. The Warriors turned the ball over on downs and Westford’s deceptively varied offense gnawed chunks of yardage on the next series. Tough runs from James McDermott, Kaden Silton, Matt Morash and Stodden kept the Warrior defense guessing on runs and grasping at air.
Several long Westford runs, including two into the red zone, were called back on penalties. The Jr. Ghosts appeared to sputter slightly before MacCormack scored on a 12-yard keeper around the left end behind blocks from Tyler Schutt, Morash and McDermott. An attempted extra point run fell just short of the goal line.
Down 13-0 early in the second quarter, the Warriors began playing with urgency. They opened their drive with a 16-yard pass completion that caught Westford flat-footed, but the Jr. Ghosts responded with a defensive stand highlighted by a 6-yard sack by MacCormack and a pass deflection by Tommy Galvin.
Tenacious blocking from Charlie Bonenfant, Odin Scott, TJ Kane, Quinn Reynolds, Ben Schaffer, Christopher Fahlman, and Dominic Scaffardi helped Westford march down the field. Unfortunately for Westford, the team’s advance was slowed by a series of miscues that forced the team to turn the ball over on downs.
With the Warriors sensing their chances fading, they attempted to overpower the Jr. Ghosts with runs into the middle of the defense. Westford allowed a Foxboro back to escape for an 18-yard gain, but the defense clamped down due to the efforts of Alex Scott, Mason Bergeron, Orion Saunders and Billy Galvin. Jack Hermann, who didn’t dress for the game due to an injury sustained in the previous game, was among the first to congratulate his teammates on the sideline.
MacCormack scored on a 63-yard run down the left sideline that was almost a mirror image of his first TD, all but ending the Warriors’ chances.  Late in the fourth quarter, Foxboro was able to cobble together a lengthy drive that ended the shutout but drained the clock and secured the win for Westford.
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