Westford Jr. Ghosts Unlimited Team 19, Lawrence 18
The Jr. Ghosts earned their first win of the season Sunday in a hard fought nail biter against a speedy and hard-hitting Lawrence Hurricanes team. Sean Brown led the charge on offense, running for a score and throwing a pair of touchdown strikes to Luke Wauford. Brown added the extra point on one of Wauford’s scores. Ryan Battle, Mohammed Warde and Kevin Ma made several big plays on defense, and Anthony Penta picked off a Lawrence pass to begin the winning touchdown drive for the Ghosts.
The Jr. Ghosts will play Malden on Sunday.
Lawrence 12, Westford Jr. Ghosts B Team 13
It took double overtime to do it, but the Westford Junior Ghosts B Team held off the Lawrence Hurricanes 13-12 to earn their first win of their young season.
The Ghosts were led by Michael Kennedy who seemed to do it all on this early fall Sunday afternoon. He rushed for over 150 yards, came in as starting quarterback when Ben Gomez left the game in the second quarter with an apparent wrist injury, scored the game tying touchdown in overtime and capped the day off with the game winning PAT.
After holding the Hurricanes to minus 18 yards on three plays to start the game, the Ghosts marched down the field on their first possession, going 50 yards in four plays. The drive was capped off by a Tadgh Murray touchdown run to give the Ghosts an early 6-0 lead. Then the defense took over.
On Lawrence’s second possession, they drove 76 yards to the Westford four before Kennedy intercepted a fourth down pass in the end zone to preserve the lead.
With the defense getting strong efforts from Elliot Kane, Cole Stickel, and Michael Witkum, to name a few, they held the Hurricanes in check for most of the afternoon. But with about 8 minutes to go in the game, the Hurricanes put together the game tying drive.
Starting at their own 45 yard line, they were immediately helped out by a 15 yard face mask penalty. But the Ghosts responded and after Lawrence’s Javious Calderon was tackled for a 6 yard loss, the Hurricanes were facing a fourth and 10. A Westford stop would almost certainly guarantee victory. But a 20 yard pass completion to Elvoris Mercedes kept the drive alive. They would convert another fourth down three plays later and Joenel Figueroa would tie the game with 3:23 to go. The point after attempt was stuffed by the Ghosts at the 3 yard line.
Neither team scored in the final minutes of the game so into overtime it went. After winning the coin toss, the Hurricanes scored the go ahead touchdown in just three plays. But the point after run attempt was snuffed out by the Ghosts.
Westford quickly answered. Kennedy ran for 2 yards on their first play, then scampered into the end zone on second down, tying the game. Finally, he sealed the victory with a point after run to the left side giving the Ghosts the 13-12 victory. The team would like to dedicate this win to Ben Gomez, who suffered a season-ending radius bone break on his forearm in the game.
On October 2nd, the Ghosts travel to Saugus for their fourth game of the season.
Westford C Team 14, Lawrence 0
Captains Nate Brown, Tyler Murray, Conor Moncreaff, Peter Burdin, Joey Bella and the rest of the Jr. Ghost C team stormed their home field last Sunday looking to add to their winning record against a tough Lawrence team.
The Westford offense took control early in the first half with blocking by Michael Picanso, Bella and CJ Schuster to allow Luke Reynolds to complete two passes to Ethan Ewing to find the end zone. Burdin made a magnificent kick through the goal posts for two extra points. First half defense was led by Bella who sacked the Lawrence quarterback and Drew Wilson who was vital in forcing several turnovers with his hard-hitting tackles along with Moncreaff, Ryan Blagg, Aidan Murphy and Henry Babineau. Before the halftime whistle, Westford linebacker Joshua Keith helped to break up a Lawrence pass and Wilson, Bella and Luke Fremault contributed to another sack on the Lawrence QB.
Second half action included a fumble recovery by Sam Brewster, some harsh tackles by Jake Moore, another sack by Bella and more thrilling passes from Reynolds who was able to find Fremault in the end zone for Westford’s second touchdown. Schuster made a fierce tackle on the kick return, Ewing made a perfect interception and Fremault had some great tackles in the backfield before the final whistle.
Westford plays in Saugus next Sunday at 11:00 a.m.
Westford Jr. Ghosts D Team 33, Lawrence 7
Fueled by a strong running game and crucial completed passes on critical downs, the Westford Jr. Ghosts D team powered past the Lawrence Hurricanes 33 to 7.
Westford jumped to an early 12-0 first-quarter lead behind a potent offensive attack.  Despite Lawrence’s speed advantage up front, Westford’s offensive line was able to create lanes for slashing runs by Bobby MacCormack, James McDermott, Kaden Silton and Andrew Stodden.
Carter Scanlan, Ben Schaffer, Faith Williams, Odin Scott, Jack Hermann, Christopher Fahlman, and Mason Bergeron anchored an offensive line that kept the Hurricanes reeling for most of the first half. MacCormack scampered around the end for Westford’s third score of the half, bringing the score to 19-0.
Westford’s defense was rock solid for most of the game, allowing a lone touchdown late in the second quarter on an outside sweep that escaped Westford’s pursuers.  After that momentary lapse, Westford’s defense held fast behind the efforts of Tanner Whitehouse, Quinn Reynolds, Billy Galvin, Tommy Galvin, Dominic Scaffardi and Orion Saunders.
Westford seemed to grow stronger in the second half, shutting down multiple Lawrence drives with a stifling defense that enabled the Jr. Ghost offence to start drives with great field position. Tyler Schutt, TJ Kane, Matt Morash, and Charlie Bonenfant produced key defensive stops at critical moments. On the offensive side of the line, Bergeron and Scott hammered defenders with devastating blocks that bored holes through the line.
Westford plays Saugus next Sunday in a highly anticipated game against the team that knocked Westford out of last year’s playoffs.
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