Westfield High School Head Coach Bill Moore, center, joins two of his players for a photo. (File photo by Frederick Gore)
WESTFIELD – It’s been quite the run for Westfield High School football coach Bill Moore, who is set to step down from the position he has occupied for a dozen seasons.
After taking over a then-laughingstock program which was ranked second to last statewide in 2001, Moore not only got the Bombers off the runway, but got them flying high, leading them to their first winning season in seven seasons in 2005 and their first playoff appearance in two decades in 2007. The next season, Moore led Westfield to the first of two consecutive western Mass. titles and two Super Bowl appearances.
His tenure has also been noted for sending multiple Westfield Bombers off to play in the college ranks, including scholarship players at the University of Maine and the University of Rhode Island, along with a host of Division II and III schools.
While the Bombers are coming off a trying 2012 campaign that saw them post victories over only Agawam, Minnechaug and Cathedral and the 2013 season set to served as his final act, the Moore’s goals aren’t straying from the norm.
“The playoff format has changed,” said Moore, who came to WHS following stints as an offensive coordinator at Western New England University and on the coaching staffs at Princeton University and Springfield College, where he attended graduate school. “But our ultimate goal is a Super Bowl, so after week eight, that’s our focus.”
Westfield’s Jake Toomey, right, hands off the ball to Ben Geschwind. (File photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
Moore listed his seniors, a savvy group which will determine his squad’s destiny, as his focal point.
“(Jake) Toomey at quarterback, Ben Geschwind at fullback, Garrett Fitzgerald at tight end and Rashaun Rivers at running back,” said Moore. “We have a really strong senior class, and I hate to mention one without mentioning the others.”
A former offensive lineman for the University of New Hampshire Wildcats, Moore also mentioned left tackle Jason Howard along with defensive studs Nate LaValley and Noah Swords as impact seniors who will need to play up to their vast potential for the Bombers to successfully complete their championship mission this fall.
Moore, who has also worked as a history teacher at the school since being hired as head coach, believes that there will be numerous hurdles for his team to overcome this season, specifically a conference which is only increased in strength since the defections of Agawam and Northampton, who left the Division II AA league to join the Division IV Suburban league.
“Longmeadow has the state record for consecutive Super Bowl appearances, so they’re the team to beat,” Moore said. “Central in Springfield is going to be good, too. We’re in the strongest league in western Mass.”
Westfield’s Rashaun Rivers, right, stiff arms a Minnechaug tackler. (File photo by chief photographer Frederick Gore)
Moore mentioned the arrival of a combined squad made up of players from the High School of Science and Technology and Putnam Vocational-Technical High School which should serve as another big challenge for his Bombers.
“Holyoke, Minnechaug, all the rivals will be formidable,” he said.
However, with a squad made up of the aforementioned, battle-tested veterans, as well as some solid juniors, and perhaps even a few stud sophomores, Moore likes his team’s chances in the western Mass. division from hell.
The New Jersey-bred Moore hasn’t ruled out coaching elsewhere at the end of this season, but is looking forward to other ventures.
“I wrote a book this summer,” he said, referencing the coaching tome Character and Mental Toughness. “But it’s a year round thing (coaching), from the season to conditioning and weight training. I think it’s time for someone else to take it, to fight some battles.”
Judging by the team expected to take the gridiron in a few weeks, Moore may go out just as he came in: a winner.
