Two pick sixes and 27 straight points carry Bridgewater-Raynham past Westford Academy, 27-14, into the Division 2 semifinals

RAYNHAM Bridgewater-Raynham's football team is going back to the Division 2 state semifinals after its defense helped turn a halftime deficit into a 27-14 win over Westford Academy Friday night, the final on BTV's broadcast showed.

The No. 2 Trojans trailed the No. 7 Grey Ghosts 7-0 at halftime at Bridgewater-Raynham High School, then scored 27 straight points before a late Westford touchdown made it 27-14. They did not take the lead until early in the fourth quarter, and two of their four touchdowns came on interception returns on back-to-back Westford possessions in the final quarter, the first by senior Cam Knudsen and the second by sophomore Keenan Barnard off a pass tipped by senior Lucas Oliver.

B-R, the regional team for Bridgewater and Raynham, has reached the final four for the second straight fall. The Trojans lost a 31-27 semifinal to Bishop Feehan last November, according to the MIAA's 2025 bracket, and Friday's win stretches their winning streak to six games, MaxPreps' season results show.

How the first half went

Westford scored the only points of the first half in the second quarter on a drive built around senior Brett Moran, who took the snap out of the wildcat formation on play after play, was ruled just short of the goal line on one dive and then went in from a yard out on the next, with senior Tyler Kane adding the extra point. The Grey Ghosts' opening drive had ended with a field goal try that was no good, and B-R's defense held the rest of the half.

Westford's front kept the Trojans' inside running game in check before halftime, closing down the trap play up the middle that had worked for B-R in its 48-7 first-round win over Waltham, the BTV broadcast crew noted.

The turnaround

The Trojans' first drive of the second half lasted more than four minutes and reached the Westford goal line, and on fourth and goal Knudsen took the snap out of B-R's own wildcat look and ran it in from a yard out behind a lead block. That made it 7-6 in the third quarter, after the extra point missed to the left.

Westford tried a fake punt with 3:36 left in the third quarter, and senior Isaiah Baptiste, who had made the stop on the play before, intercepted the pass. Sophomore quarterback Levi Tripp kept the next drive moving with his legs, and senior Breydan Lewis added a 14-yard run, his longest of the night, as the Trojans pushed inside the Westford 20.

Early in the fourth quarter, Tripp threw a 19-yard touchdown pass to junior Gabriel Ocampo, who got both feet down in the end zone, and the Trojans led for the first time, 12-7, with 9:10 left. Tripp then rolled to his right and ran in the two-point conversion himself to make it 14-7.

The next two Westford possessions ended in the end zone the other way. On fourth down, Knudsen read the quarterback, jumped the route and returned the interception about 52 yards for a touchdown with about 7 minutes to play, and the try failed, leaving it 20-7. On Westford's next series, Oliver got a hand on a pass, and Barnard caught the deflection and ran it back for another touchdown, and the extra point made it 27-7 with 5:30 left.

Senior captains Nick Rotondo and Collin Pauline anchored a B-R front that kept stopping Westford's run game in the second half, with Pauline breaking through the middle for a tackle for loss in the third quarter. Westford senior Cameron Croom ran for three touchdowns in the Grey Ghosts' 35-18 first-round win over Quincy, BTV's broadcasters said before kickoff, and he had carried the ball 16 times by early in the fourth quarter. Westford scored its late touchdown and kicked the extra point with 1:54 to play, and B-R ran out the clock from there.

What comes next

Bridgewater-Raynham advances to the Division 2 semifinals against the winner of No. 3 Billerica Memorial and No. 6 Peabody, who were scheduled to play at 7 p.m. Friday at Billerica Memorial High School, according to the MIAA bracket. Both teams still have their Thanksgiving games at 10 a.m. Thursday, Nov. 26, with B-R at Brockton and Westford at home against Acton-Boxborough, their MaxPreps schedules show.

For how both teams reached the quarterfinals, read our preview of Friday's game.

Label: Reported by us, from the town's posted records.