Westfield Football Hosts West Conn for Family Weekend

Westfield State football hosts Western Connecticut State University for family weekend on Saturday for Westfield's second inner-conference matchup of the 2024 season.

LAST WEEK: The Owls are coming off a hot win last Saturday with a 24-17 victory over the Bears of Bridgewater State to improve to 1-1. Westfield found themselves in a 17-10 hole going into the half when they really kicked it into overdrive. The Owls had a 4-play, 40-yard drive midway through the third quarter that ended in a Jacob Swinehart 24-yard touchdown run on an outside rush. Down one point with the clock dwindling down, QB Gabe Fernandez found WR Conor Schlittler in the back corner of the end zone for a 22-yard touchdown pass to win the game for the Owls.

West Conn improved to 1-1 on the year with a 45-6 win against Massachusetts Maritime Academy as Julian Ferguson had eight catches for 132 yards and two TD grabs.

LAST YEAR: The Owls were held to 135 total offensive yards in a 42-0 loss to the Wolves last fall. 

THE SERIES: The Wolves have won four in a row against the Owls and are 8-1 all-time against Westfield.

WESTFIELD STATE ON OFFENSE: Westfield put up 292 total yards including 164 yards on the ground. Westfield had control the whole game as they had over 40 minutes on the offensive side of the ball, running 69 offensive plays to Bridgewater's 55. 

The Owls had four rushers to rush for over 20 yards including a rushing touchdown from the  committee of Sean Willis, Jacob Swinehart, Logan Gallagher, and Dylan Disabella. The core is headlined by Willis rushing 18 times for 67 yards this past week. 

Westfield got it done through the air as well with 128 passing yards with Fernandez throwing for nearly 100 yards and two touchdown passes, completing 60 percent of passes. The Owls looked to junior Ryan Scott as he completed the longest pass of the day for 32 yards to Swinehart. Wide receivers Jordan Lanoue and Schlittler were both the Owls to come down with touchdown grabs to help propel Westfield to victory.

WESTFIELD STATE ON DEFENSE: The Owls defense last week was highlighted by the efforts of defensive back Zach Allen who had three total tackles and an interception late in the fourth that set up the game-winning drive for Westfield. Allen won MASCAC Defensive Player of the Week honors for that performance.

Blake Simpson leads the Owls with 16 total tackles, while Tommy Bean and Cade Nelson both tallied ten total tackles a piece. Dylan Zuerblis got home to Bears quarterback SP Sparano for the Owls only sack of the afternoon.

WESTFIELD STATE ON SPECIAL TEAMS: Andrew Currier , in his first-year kicking for Westfield, won Rookie of the Week for the MASCAC as he had a 25-yard field goal for the Owls. Currier also punted twice for a combined 93 yards which forced a drop for the Bears returner which set the Westfield offense up. 

The Owls only returned one kickoff and that was at the hands of Swinehart who took the kick back 14 yards.

WEST CONN ON OFFENSE: The Wolves have averaged 391 yards per game with ten total touchdowns on the year. Keion Jones is the starting quarterback for West Conn, he has produced a statline of 326 passing yards, four touchdowns, and a 53.85 % completion percentage through two games. West Conn also returned John Giller at quarterback. Giller has 273 passing yards and five touchdowns on a 75% completion rate.

Kamryn Holmes is the leading rusher for the Wolves with 86 yards on 15 attempts. West Conn averages 102.5 yards a game from the ground with only one of their ten touchdowns coming from the ground and pound. 

West Conn has only turned the ball over twice this year on a pair of Jones interceptions.

WEST CONN ON DEFENSE: Linebacker Eamon Moran leads the Wolves in defensive categories with ten solo tackles, 13 assisted and tied for second most tackles for loss and sacks on the squad.  Second in command for West Conn is edge rusher Justin Ingebrigsten who has 15 total tackles, has the most sacks on the squad (1.0) and most tackles for loss (2.5). Ingebrigsten is also tied for first with Deshaun Hardy-Walker for most interceptions on the team with one. 

The Wolves have yet to force a fumble this season and have both turnovers via interceptions.

WEST CONN ON SPECIAL TEAMS: Anthony Weidtman is currently one-for-one on the season with a 28-yard field goal attempt. Weidtman is also the Wolves punter with six punts on the year for 256 yards for an average of 42.67 yards per punt and a long of 55 on the season.

Weidtman has had 11 kickoffs this far into the season with a total of 654 yards and five touchbacks. 

COVERAGE:   Live stats and video are available at WestfieldStateOwls.com.  The game is also live streamed via the MASCAC.tv app on AppleTV, Roku, AmazonFire, and most major streaming devices.  Note that the app has been updated this summer so please re-install the app on your TV or streaming device to ensure you get full coverage of MASCAC events.

NEXT WEEK: Westfield will be on the road for the first time all season as they visit Worcester State on Saturday, September 28 for a 2:30 p.m. kickoff.  West Conn will have their home opener Saturday, September 28 against Plymouth State for a 5:00 p.m. kickoff.

• Written by Hunter Briggs, Sports Info GA