WELLS – What could conceivably be called the most successful Westbrook High School football season in decades came to an end last Friday night as the No. 5 Blue Blazes fell to No. 1 Wells by a score of 23-6.

While the loss certainly hurts, it cannot totally take away from the fact that Westbrook (5-5) had a wildly successful first season as a Class B football team as the Blazes finished with the most wins the program has seen in years and the team also won its first playoff game in recent memory.

After the loss to the Warriors, Blazes coach Jeff Guerette said the coaching staff told the players that, even with the loss, they had come a long way this fall.

“We know that we took huge strides as a program this year,” Guerette said. “We just talked about the fact that it stings right now, but we should walk out of here with our heads held high. I think we got some great life lessons out of the experience. It’s just a huge step forward for our football program this year thanks to the effort of those kids.”

And the 23-6 score is also a bit deceiving, the Warriors led just 6-0 at the half, and Westbrook had a chance to draw within one score late in the game, before Wells pulled away for the win.

“I though we played really hard,” Guerette said. “I thought Wells was great tonight. I give a lot of credit to their kids. Their coaching staff did a good job getting them ready.”

“We got a great effort from our kids, like we always do,” Guerette continued. “We were just on the short end of the stick tonight.”

Westbrook came out tough in the first quarter, forcing a Wells punt and then driving down the field to get into scoring position as quarterback Terry Webber hit senior Sam Johnson with a 60-yard strike to move the Blazes to the Wells 11. Westbrook’s Ryan Lebel moved the ball down to the Wells 7 on the next play, and it appeared that Westbrook was going to jump out to an early lead.

But then disaster struck.

Webber was hit on a quarterback keeper and the ball sprung loose and the Warriors’ Joey Spinelli scooped it up and brought it back 93 yards the other way for a touchdown with 3:30 left to go in the first quarter. Spinelli, possibly exhausted from his long run, missed the extra point attempt, leaving the score at 6-0.

At the beginning of the second quarter, the Warriors ran off a long drive, encompassing 14 plays, but the big story of that drive was the fact that Wells allowed the Blazes to stay in the game thanks to some costly penalties. In fact, the Warriors actually scored not once, but twice on the drive, only to see both scores called back due to penalties. The Blazes’ defense finally came up big as Magnes Lewis picked off Warrior quarterback Paul McDonough in the end zone to end the almost nine-minute drive with no points, and the score remained 6-0 at the halftime break.

The Warriors made the score 9-0 in the third on a 25-yard field goal from Spinelli and the teams went into the fourth quarter with the game still very much in doubt.

After the Blazes opened the fourth quarter by stopping a Wells drive at the Westbrook 10, the Blazes ran into some trouble as the Wells defense stopped the Blazes, forcing a punt from deep in the Westbrook end zone. However, instead of punting the ball, Westbrook punter Ben Grant tried to run for the first down and was stopped short at the 15.

Guerette said the play was the result of a miscommunication between the sidelines and the huddle. “That was my fault,” he said after the game.

The Warriors were quick to take advantage of the field position, as the Warriors’ Doug McLean blasted through the line on the first play from scrimmage for a 15-yard touchdown that made the score 16-0 with 7:54 left to play.

It appeared that the game was going to get really out of hand as the Warriors picked off a Webber pass on the ensuing drive, giving Wells the ball at their own 34, but the Westbrook defense stepped right up and made a huge play.

On the Warriors’ first play of the drive, McLean fumbled and the Blazes’ Cale Bolig jumped on it, giving the ball back to the Blazes back at the Wells 34.

Just three plays later, Westbrook made things interesting.

With 4:56 to go in the game, Webber faded back to pass and hit Aaron Duncanson on a slant, Duncanson then took the ball 34 yards into the end zone for a score to make it 16-6 after the two-point conversion was stopped just short of the goal line.

The Blazes tried an onside kick, but Wells recovered at the Westbrook 49. The Warriors then added a late touchdown from McLean to make the final score 23-6.

Guerette said he liked the way his team kept fighting in the fourth quarter, even after the momentum turned against them. “We had a chance to make a two-point conversion to make it a one-score game again,” he said. “Our kids kept fighting, we got a turnover and we completed a long pass for a touchdown. We’re going to get 48 minutes from our kids (every game) and we did again tonight.”