West Lynn Pop Warner A team wins state championship

For the second year in a row, a Lynn Pop Warner team now sits a win away from going to Florida for the Pop Warner National Championships.On Sunday in Ashburnham, the West Lynn ‘B’ Team put itself on the precipice of Florida as Kevin Heing’s four-yard run in overtime gave the Rams a 12-6 win over South County and the Massachusetts state championship.”This, by far, was the hardest game we’ve had to play all year,” West Lynn coach Maurice Cordy said. “They had a good system and were playing tough defense. Both teams left it all on the field.”For the Rams, who moved to a perfect 13-0 for the season, their hopes of a title were nearly extinguished late in regulation. Holding a 6-0 lead in the final minutes, West Lynn watched as South County punched in the tying touchdown with just over a minute to go.South County then tried to punch in the go-ahead conversion, but Devianya Robinson stopped the play a yard short of the end zone to keep the game going.In overtime, West Lynn won the toss and elected to go on defense first with each team getting the ball at the 10-yard line and four downs to score points.The West Lynn defense came up huge, keeping South County from points. On its possession, the Rams didn’t waste much time.Brad Scuzzarella got the call on the first play before Heing carried on the next two to reach paydirt and give the Rams the first state championship in program history.”Both teams had scouted each other real well. It came down to the kids and who executed better,” Cordy said. “It’s not too often that you get to make history and that’s what we did (Sunday).”The Rams got the ball to begin the game and were stopped on downs at the South County 12. Ironically, it would be the only drive either team could sustain in the first half as the teams went to the break scoreless.West Lynn got the ball to start the second half and put together a long drive that ate up almost the entire third quarter. Scuzzarella capped the 75-yard drive with a two-yard plunge that made it 6-0.It wasn’t all roses for West Lynn on Sunday in Ashburnham as the A team came up short in its quest for a state title, losing to Shrewsbury, 37-0.The East Lynn ‘B’ team also came up empty in its quest to give the program back-to-back state titles as the Bulldogs dropped a 28-0 game to Worcester at Brother Gilbert Stadium in Malden.”We just made too many mistakes,” East Lynn coach Duke Wilson said. “And you can’t be doing that against a good team.”East Lynn turned the ball over five times, three of them coming inside its own 20.