Bombers do more than rebuild
By CHRIS KENNEDY
Union-News
Staff writer
11/24/98



The Westfield High School football team was supposed to do
some rebuilding this year.

What the Bombers have built, though, is a pretty good season
that will conclude on Thanksgiving Day with a test against
the best team in Western Massachusetts: Cathedral.

Westfield (4-5, 3-2) and visiting Cathedral (9-0, 5-0) meet
in an AA Conference game set for 10:30 a.m. at Bullens
Field. The Bombers lead the series 29-25, but the Panthers
have won three straight.

In order to pull the upset, Westfield will have to be at its
best and then some. The Bombers, though, can reach .500 for
the season and finish in a three-way tie for second place
with Holyoke and Central in the league with a victory.

"We've had a pretty good season," Westfield coach Bo Reardon
said. "I didn't think we would have as good a season as
we've had.

"We played Central (7-3) tough, Holyoke (6-3) tough losing
by just a point. I'm pretty pleased. The kids could have
packed it in after any of those tough losses."

Some of those narrow decisions have left Westfield thinking
its record could have been even better.

"We had a couple of tough losses, especially Holyoke (7-6)
and Nashoba (27-21) in overtime," Frost said. "Overall,
we've played pretty well, but some of those games we
definitely feel we should have won."

Frost, a quarterback/defensive back who also played a couple
of games at tailback, has been the Bombers' most dangerous
player. "He's a great football player," Reardon said. "We
realized he had good outside speed and wanted to be able to
get around the corner, so we put him at tailback for a
couple of games. That helps because opposing teams had to
worry about his speed, and it loosened things up."

Cathedral coach Matt Ballard said Westfield makes good use
of Frost. "They move Frost all over the field," Ballard
said. "They get the most out of him, maximizing his
talents."

Frost enjoys filling the multiple roles. "I like playing all
the positions, moving around, getting the ball and trying to
make things happened" Frost said.

Westfield also has tailback Bobby Williams and fullback Rob
Shaw, both of whom are causes for concern.

"We have to play smart defense," Ballard said. "Fran Smith,
who calls their plays, does a great job.

"They do a lot of motion, shifting, unbalanced
formations. They don't run too many plays, no more than
anyone else, but they do it out of so many different
looks. They do a good job confusing teams."

Cathedral, for its part, has done a good job at everything
this season. The Panthers have averaged 33.6 points while
surrendering only 6.2. They have scored the most points in
Division I and allowed the fewest -  in both cases by a
large margin.

Regardless of the outcome of the Westfield game, Cathedral
will play the winner of Fitchburg-Leominster Thanksgiving
Day game in the Division IA Super Bowl set for 3:15 p.m. on
Dec. 5 at WPI in Worcester.

"They are by far the best team in the area," Reardon
said. "They are very good.  People say their line is the
best around and I would have agree with that."


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