LONGMEADOW – The Longmeadow High School football team may have two blemishes on its 2011 resume, including a league loss to Central, but they’re still a powerhouse as far as the rest of the league is concerned.
The Longmeadow Lancers ran, ran, and ran some more, outdistancing itself from the Westfield Bombers 42-7 at home Friday night to remain on course for another postseason run.
Longmeadow (6-2) overwhelmed Westfield (3-4) from the outset.
Westfield went three-and-out on its first three drives; Longmeadow scored touchdowns on all five of its series.
Longmeadow established the ground game early, choosing to run the ball on nine of its first 10 plays. The Lancers drove the ball a total of 75 yards on the opening series, scoring on a four-yard touchdown run from senior running back Terry Norris.
Norris scored three more first half touchdowns on runs of 5, 15, and 2 yards. He compiled 139 yards in the half on 14 carries.
Junior RB Frankie Elder had nine first-half carries for 124 yards. Another junior back, Devante Clarke scored from four yards outs on his second carry of the game to give Longmeadow a massive 35-0 lead with just five ticks left on the first half clock. The Lancers limited the Bombers to just 31 yards of total offense in the half, and their senior defensive back Nate Scyocurka had an interception.
The onslaught continued in the third quarter.
Longmeadow, with four big plays, punched the ball in early in the second half to go up 42-0 and effectively end the game. The Lancers opened the series on their own 28, moved the ball to the 38, and then ripped off a 17-yard run from Clarke, a 13-yard run from junior running back Austin Sierra, a 22-yard run from Michael Woods, and a 10-yard TD run from senior RB Connor Samuelson.
In the fourth quarter, backup senior quarterback DJ Moltenbrey attempted to will the Bombers to a score. Westfield’s QB led a 16-play, 59-yard drive all the way down to the Longmeadow 1, only to be stopped on fourth down.
On the drive, Moltenbrey had one rushing attempt after another and even completed a nice pass to senior wideout Bobby Paul.
Moltenbrey finally scored on a long run in the waning seconds.
BOYS’ SOCCER
St. Mary 3, Pioneer Valley Christian School 0
Mark Dobek scored two goals – on assists from Jeff Turini and Alex Hines, and Zach Slepchuk added an unassisted score to help St. Mary stay in tournament contention. The Saints must now defeat Easthampton Monday at Westfield North Middle School to earn a postseason berth. The game begins at 3:30 p.m.
Westfield Voc-Tech 6, Pathfinder 1
Bryan Robles netted a hat trick for Voc-Tech, and Mike Makarchuk, Tyler Cyr and Dmitri Stepanchuk had one goal apiece. Tigers’ Paul Krapova had a solid game in his first varsity start at right fullback.
GIRLS’ SOCCER
Smith Academy 4, St. Mary 0
St. Mary dropped its final game of the regular season and now awaits tournament seeding.
FIELD HOCKEY
Westfield 2, Amherst 1
Jordan Swift scored two goals, including the game winner, to lead Westfield to its first league victory in its final regular season game. Andrea Onyski and Jenna Rowbotham each earned an assist.
Bombers freshman goalie Karly Mastello finished with six saves.
JV FIELD HOCKEY
Westfield 1, Amherst 0
Mary Boudreau scored the lone goal for Westfield, which won its 11th game of the year. The JV unit’s nice run this season should bode well for the 2012 varsity squad.
