By Brad Jones
Staff Writer
The Westford Academy Grey Ghosts took to the gridiron this Friday during their senior night matchup against Lincoln-Sudbury, which defeated the Ghosts 35-14.
Before the game, Lincoln-Sudbury won a coin toss, and elected to kick the ball to the Ghosts to start the game. It turned out to be a wise decision, as just the Ghosts fumbled the ball just a few plays into the drive, and LS took possession of the ball at midfield. That great starting field position would later be too much for Westford to handle, as LS pounded a six yard run into the endzone to take a 7-0 lead to open up the game.
After a short second drive by WA, LS continued to run the ball effectively against the Ghost’s defense. They capped off the drive with a short run for a touchdown to make it 14-0 LS.
After a great kick return by junior Nick Fiorillo, the Ghosts set up shop at their own 36 yard line. After repeated attempts to pass for yards failed, sophomore quarterback Connor Degenhardt decided to put the offfense on his back and ran for a huge 31 yards all the way down to the opponent’s 1 yard line, where the ghosts were able to cap off the drive with a 1 yard rushing touchdown to set up a 1 score game in the second quarter.
As the quarter was coming to a close, LS had posession of the ball with 1:26 remaining in the first half. However, offensive indecisiveness and a poor throw by their quarterback would result in an interception for senior Tommy Jacobsen who returned the interception to the opponent’s 25 yard line. Unfortunately, Connor Degenhardt could not connect on a pass to the endzone and the half ended with the Ghosts down a touchdown.
During the halftime show, the marching band took to the field with renditions of music from the Pirates of the Caribbean, and the varsity and JV cheerleading teams performed their routines.
In the second half, since LS elected to defer, they began with the ball on their 22 yard line. They would continue to rely on a powerful running attack that would eventually lead to yet another touchdown for LS, making the score 21-7.
After more back and forth with the two teams trading posessions in the 3rd quarter, LS once again broke free with their ground attack and scored yet again, making the score 28-7.
The Grey Ghosts continued to work hard and grind the ball down the field, and on 4th and 8 on the opponent’s 22 yard line, Degenhardt flung the ball through the air on a dime to Tommy Jacobsen, who caught the ball in traffic despite tough defense. After the point after, Westford Academy was only down 14 but only had 6:39 left in the game.
Coach Gagne made the tough but correct decision; the Ghosts needed the ball back as soon as possible, and attempted to recover the onside kick. Unfortunately, LS recovered the kick, and continued to run the clock off as well as put up one more rushing touchdown to put this game out of reach, with the final score being Ghosts:14, Lincoln Sudbury: 35.
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