Westfield freshman running back Chris Barber (8) makes his way down the sideline for a first-quarter touchdown Friday night at Holyoke High School. (Photo by Marc St. Onge)
HOLYOKE – There was so much scoring in the Westfield-Holyoke Friday night football game that even Linda Blair’s head was left spinning.
Westfield and Holyoke combined for 18 touchdowns as the Bombers tipped the scales with an eye-popping 69-54 victory.
Westfield sophomore quarterback Matt Adamites threw touchdown passes of 17, 33, and 46 yards, and also ran for a 26 yard score. Bombers’ freshman running back Chris Barber ran for three touchdowns, including a 52-yarder; senior running back Nick Clauson had a 29-yard TD run, senior fullback Anthony Suhocki scored on a one-yard TD plunge, and sophomore back Ryan Cimini had a six-yard scoring run.
Holyoke senior quarterback Gabriel Fernandez finished with eight touchdowns, six of which came through the air. One of those went for 55 yards; and another, 46.
It was a see-saw scoring affair that lasted nearly three hours, and more often than not leaving Westfield looking down at the competition from above.
Westfield enjoyed a two-touchdown lead for much of the first quarter. In the second quarter, Holyoke rallied to tie the game 28-28 with 9:35 remaining. In “real time,” the two teams were averaging nearly a point per minute. It was obvious in this one, that neither team was slowing down.
The difference came down to Westfield’s well-timed defensive plays. The Bombers forced a fumble on Holyoke’s first kickoff return, intercepted Fernandez twice in the second quarter and recovered an onside kick. All three turnovers resulted in touchdowns.
Westfield improved to 5-2; Holyoke fell to 2-6.
GIRLS SOCCER
St. Mary’s 4, Commerce 3
Emma Goodreau had two goals and an assist, Emma Bialas had one goal and one assist, and Amelia Willenborg scored once in St. Mary’s narrow victory. Chloe Lussier had two assists.
St. Mary’s goalie Jess Crosby made three saves.
Thurs., Oct. 24
FIELD HOCKEY
Southwick 5, Athol 0
Emily Martin started off the scoring 3:30 into the game with an unassisted goal and Devan Fox had an unassisted goal after some quick stick work from a free hit at Southwick built a 2-0, first-half lead.
Nine minutes into the second half, Marissa Longhi scored on a penalty corner off a great pass from Martin. Martin scored two more goals to complete a hat trick. Alex Grimaldi and Marisa Coviello assisted.
Southwick goalie Clare Stratton had two saves in the shutout victory.
Stratton was assisted by the Southwick defense, which did not yield a single penalty corner and recorded its seventh straight shutout.
BOYS SOCCER
St. Mary’s 4, Franklin Tech 3
Brady Collins scored at the 8:00 mark of the first half off a cross from Joe Lucardi. Franklin Tech answered at the 28-minute mark with an unassisted goal by Sam Lashtur and it was 1-1 going into the half.
Franklin Tech scored at in the 43rd minutes on a shot from Dylan Mallet. Sam Lashtur assisted.
Play was back and forth until the 56th minute when Jack Lamirande broke free from the defense and scored (unassisted) to tie things up.
The duo of Collins and Lucardi put St. Mary’s ahead when Collins connected with Lucardi’s corner kick at the 77-minute mark. Franklin Tech answered on another unassisted goal by Sam Lashtur with two minutes remaining in regulation.
St. Mary’s was not done though.
Collins fed Jack Lamirande on a run where he broke free of the Franklin Tech defense and put another great shot in the net give the Saints the win.
“Truthfully we were a bit flat today compared to our last few games and Franklin Tech capitalized when we broke down,” St. Mary’s boys soccer head coach Andy Lussier said. “We’ll always take the win but this wasn’t our best soccer. The team has really come along way in the last three weeks though … to finish out the season strong.”
Wed., Oct. 23
GIRLS VOLLEYBALL
Southwick def. Athol 25-20, 25-10, 25-17
Alexandra Methe (7 kills, 2 digs, 1 kill), Jen Motsko (3 digs, 4 kills, 1 ace), Kaitlyn Haseltine (6 assists), and Kayla Andrade (5 assists, 2 kills, 1 ace, 1 dig) fueled a Southwick victory.
Tues., Oct. 22
BOYS CROSS COUNTRY
Westfield 24, Putnam 32; Duggan Academy 29, Westfield 30
Antonio Phaneuf led Westfield, finishing eighth overall in a meet at Stanley Park. Phaneuf clocked in at 21:41.
Andrew Dion (10th, 21:50), Kaleb Cree (11th, 21:57), Nicholas Stathatos (12th, 21:58), and Aaron Muldrew (13th, 22:20) rounded out the top five Bombers.
