Westfield boys win first sectional soccer title since 2001

by | Nov 8, 2022

Story by Lauren Knego of NJ.com

Westfield has been dreaming of a sectional championship for 21 years, and on Saturday afternoon that dream finally came true.

The top-seeded Blue Devils, ranked No. 3 in the NJ.com Top 20, rallied for a 2-1, double-overtime victory over sixth-seeded Hunterdon Central to win their first North 2, Group 4 sectional title since 2001. It was also the first time Westfield had played in a sectional final since 2012. Last year, it lost to none other than Hunterdon Central in the sectional semifinals.

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“Last year I know they went out tough, very physical and they had a lot of big players, physical players, and we knew we had to match that physicality,” Westfield’s Ian Schultz said. “We may not have the size but we just fought our butts off and just we played our game, we tried to play the best we could, we adapted and just coming out on top was a phenomenal feeling.”

The Red Devils, ranked No. 4, were looking for their first sectional title since 2019

“I’m absolutely speechless, you dream of this stuff,” Westfield’s Noah Fischer said. “It’s just amazing, especially because they knocked us out last year in the semifinals so we got revenge, it’s awesome.”

After playing to a 1-1 tie in regulation, neither team could score in the first overtime, so the game went to double-overtime. In the 96th minute, Westfield was awarded a corner. Schultz took the kick, and the ball found the head of Fischer who headed the ball into the net to give the Blue Devils the 2-1 victory.

“I thought, I don’t know, he just got it in the box, he floated it to the back, which I absolutely love, and I just jumped over one or two guys,” Fischer said of his game-winner. “I love winning everything out of the air, my grandparents don’t like it all, but I absolutely love it.”

“As soon as I knew that we had that corner I knew I was going to put that ball on Fischer’s head,” Schultz said. “I just knew he would be there, somewhere, just finding his head and I knew he would get to it.”

Hunterdon Central, which had an 11-0-3 streak snapped, scored first when Zach Perron scored on a free kick in the 24th minute. It was the sixth goal Westfield had allowed this season.

“It’s been the same thing all year, communication, but this time we were down 1-0 which we don’t like to be,” Fischer said of Westfield’s defense. “But we’ve been down 1-0 the past two out of the three state games before this. So Watchung Hills and Scotch Plains we were down 1-0, so we didn’t freak out, we were just confident in that position. So confident with this team, I absolutely love them.”

Westfield didn’t trail for long as Benedict Nematadzira scored nine minutes later to tie the game 1-1.

“It’s happened multiple times throughout our season, it sucks but we know we can bounce right back,” Schultz said of being down 1-0. “We know we have the quality and the skill and we just knew as soon as that happened we had to turn up and just play our game and we did that and came out on top at the end.”

Westfield will now face West Orange on Wednesday in the Group 4 semifinals. West Orange, ranked No. 5, won the North 1, Group 4 title with a 2-1 win over Clifton, ranked No. 9.

“It’s just a great feeling,” Schultz said. “I’ve done my part, we’ve all done our part and it’s just a great feeling.”