By Owen Ziegler
Hometown Weekly Sports Reporter
On Westwood’s annual Thanksgiving day rivalry matchup the Wolverines football team faced off against the Holliston Panthers in undoubtedly the most dramatic football game of the year, where Westwood took the edge in the final seconds to win the game 22-19, and improve their all-time Thanksgiving record to 31 wins, 20 losses and 1 tie.
Despite junior defensive back Ryan McCabe’s interception on Holliston's second pass of the game, Westwood's defense could not stop the run. The Wolverines offense has proven time and time again that they thrive and dominate in the passing game, but on such a windy day they were forced to play on the ground, giving the early advantage to Holliston, 7-0 as they entered the 3rd quarter.
Into the third quarter, Holliston's offensive power continued, as a dominant drive ended with a touchdown towards the end of the quarter, but Westwood blocked the extra point, putting Holliston at a slight disadvantage that would come back to bite them. With the score 0-13, and the quarter wrapping up, fans looked to the 4th quarter for the comeback, but with just over a minute left, quarterback and TVL offensive player of the year Ty Pindel threw a 40 yard bomb on 4th down to JR Drayton, who rose up for an insane catch to put Westwood in scoring position. From the 10 yard line, Pindel dumped it off to tight end Murphy O’Malley to make the score 7-13 going into the final quarter.
The last quarter, and the last chance for Westwood to keep their 2 game win streak against Holliston alive, the Wolverines took control. But first, Holliston took an even greater lead, even with a failed two point conversion the score was 7-19 with just 8 minutes left in the game. Pindel finally found JR Drayton in the endzone to make the score 14-19 with only 5 minutes left in the game. On the most important defensive possession of the entire season, the Wolverines completely stifled Holliston's dominant offense, forcing a crucial punt to put the game in the offense's hands. The Wolverines advanced to the 35 yard line with a couple of short passes, then were brought all the way to the 7 yard line by a Teddy McGowan reception and broken tackle. All year, Westwood has been phenomenal in the red zone, hoping to fully tie that achievement here. Holliston's defense showed their excellence, as they took Westwood to 3rd down, then a defensive pass interference which meant another 1st down, then to 4th down, then a false start, so 4th down again, but they just couldn't complete the play. As on 4th down, 6 yards to the endzone, with just 20 seconds left, Ty Pindel, to break the single season passing touchdown record, threw a one on one ball to Keilen McDonald, to tie the single season receiving touchdown record, rose up over his defender and secured the game-winning touchdown to make the score 20-19, with just seconds remaining in the game. The Wolverines finished the game with a two-point conversion to protect themselves from a lucky field goal, and closed out one of the best finishes in Westwood sports history with a win on Thanksgiving of 22-19.
