Westwood dominates Ramsey from opening kickoff by Greg Mattura of The Record
WASHINGTON TWP. – Westwood came out like a house on fire and Ramsey was ice cold.
The top-seeded Cardinals opened the postseason with a thoroughly dominating 49-7 victory over the No. 8 Rams in Friday’s frigid North 1, Group 2 football opener.
“Beyond my imagination for us to come out like this and totally dominate them,” said Westwood coach Dennis Hard.
Westwood led 42-0 at halftime, aided by five Ramsey turnovers. Quarterback Sean Hopkins rushed for two touchdowns and threw for a score, and running back Nick Baez rushed for two scores.
It’s hard to believe these teams faced off last month, with Westwood escaping with a 17-14 win.
Westwood’s Joe Kramer turned a Ramsey fumble into a scoop-and-run for a 25-yard TD return to make it 14-0 in the first quarter. Jaden Brown caught an 8-yard TD pass from Hopkins to make it 27-0 in the second quarter.
“We had a great week of practice, so we were definitely prepared,” said Kramer, who also had a first-half interception. “It’s our second time playing these guys, so we definitely knew what we were expecting and we just took it to them right away.”
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Ramsey (4-6) handed Westwood (9-1) favorable field position with turnovers on five of its first six possessions. The Rams fumbled twice and threw three interceptions in the first half and Westwood’s worst field position to start a possession was its 49-yard line.
Hopkins sandwiched a pair of 1-yard TD runs around Kramer’s fumble return to provide a 20-0 lead after the first quarter. Baez scored on second-quarter runs of 1 and 11 yards to make it 42-0. Steven Riedel’s 2-yard TD run in the third made it 49-0.
“We came off a tough loss last year to Mahwah in the state finals,” said Riedel, alluding to the 35-28 loss in the sectional final, “and we have unfinished business, and we want to finish this year.”
Key stat: Westwood only had 195 total yards in the first half because its starting field position on each of its first six drives was fantastic: The opening drive started on the Ramsey 25-yard line, after a 63-yard kickoff return by Baez; the ensuing possessions began on the Ramsey 36 and 21, the Westwood 49, the Ramsey 40 and the 28.
Quotable: “We were expecting a tight game. It’s always a tight game with them,” Hard said. “Last time we played them [Oct. 20] it was 17-14 and they played us real tough. And there were a couple of mistakes we made. But we just came out [Friday] and we weren’t going to take ‘No’ for an answer.”
“[Westwood] played great,” Ramsey coach Anthony Petrock said. “We came out in the first quarter and it was like an ambush. They took the opening kickoff down to the 25, punched it in, and took control of the game. We made a bunch of mistakes early on and they just capitalized on every single one of them. You can’t start a football game out like that and expect to be able to come back.”
Up next: Westwood will host No. 4 Newton (10-0) in the semifinals. Newton won its opener over No. 5 Pequannock, 21-19, the most points the Braves allowed this season.