On Saturday, September 29, 2012 the Westmont Wildcat’s Mighty Mite Black team (5-1) took on the Westchester Raiders at Westchester’s home field. This game had a great deal of importance, as it was a divisional game, but also Westchester’s homecoming game.
Westchester won the coin toss and elected to receive the ball; however, they quickly went 4 and out, as the Wildcat defensive line of Kamari Freeman (1.5 tackles for a loss of 4 yards), Camden Hubeny, Kadin VanHoegarden and James Mendoza (fumble recovery), would not give them room to operate. Both teams had offensive drives stall before the Westmont offense took the field for the second time. They did so in impressive fashion.
The Wildcats would go on a 14 play drive that was enabled when Westmont faced a seemingly impossible 4th down and 15 yard situation. On this play Running Back, Justin Bellas (4 carries for 46 yards, 11.50 ypc) exploded for a 19 yard run. He broke multiple tackles to convert the first down. Outstanding blocks by Tight End Neo Hotchkiss, Tackle Gabriel Lischalk, Guard Riley Dorsey and Tackle Ian Coyle truly made this play possible. The drive was capped off by a powerful 1 yard touchdown run by Running Back Nicolas Gerbasi (12 – 75, 6.25ypc, 2 TDs) giving Westmont an early 6 – 0 lead. The Raider offense would try to strike back as they broke off an amazing 35 yard run. Unfortunately, this would be their only first down of the game as the Wildcat defense just dominated them this morning.
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Westmont would come close to scoring again in the 2nd and 3rd quarters; however, each time they would score it was called back. In all they had 4 touchdowns called back on various questionable decisions.
In the 4th quarter Running Back Chaz Hunter (21 – 120, 5.71ypc) would utilize a crushing block by Cameron VanHoegarden to scamper for a 40 yard gain, leaving the football on the Raider’s 2 yard line. The Wildcats immediately punched the ball in with a 2 yard burst from Gerbasi (2 tackles and 1 sack for 3 yards in losses). Hunter completed the drive with a nifty 3 yard extra point run giving Westmont a 13 – 0 lead. C. VanHoegarden was the “Tank” award, as the team’s best blocker and Gerbasi received the special Coach’s Award.
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The Raiders attempted to put up some resistance but Cornerback D’Andre Ponce would intercept one of their passes as Linebacker Mico Meluzzi (2.5 tackles for 2 yards of losses) and Defensive End Ryan Domin (1 tackles for 3 yards of loss) smashed the Westchester running game. Meluzzi was awarded the “Hitman” award for his defensive efforts. Not to be outdone, Cornerback Cameron Wanda would also intercept a Raider pass and return it for 28 yards.
Westmont’s next game is a special one as it will be their Homecoming game and they will be playing divisional powerhouse Wildwood Gold. This game will be played on Sunday, October 7, 2012 at 10:30am at Westmont High School.
